Monday Music News

10/14/2013

Katherine Humphreys

One voice that has definitely not been heard in the open letter to Miley Cyrus ballgame is Sufjan Stevens -- but don't worry, because he has finally voiced an opinion. His main advice: embrace grammar! Finding delicacy and delight in the present perfect continuous tense, Sufjan encourages the musician to continue her "Present. Perfect. Continuous. Tense. Intense?" reign as "queen" before signing off with much love, "XXOO Sufjan". [Sufjan.com]

Jimmy Fallon is putting on a Pearl Jam-a-palooza to honor the band, starting on October 21st with a performance from Soundgarden's frontman Chris Cornell and the Avett Brothers covering "Footsteps. Up next on Tuesday is Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold in his first TV performance in several years. Wednesday features Dierks Bentley along with The Roots and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. Finally, Thursday and Friday will be the only two television performances for this album by Pearl Jam themselves. [MSN]

Arcade Fire again leave us with a painfully short tidbit of a song from their upcoming album Reflektor. "Awful Sounds" is anything but that, the 30 second clip reveals a beautiful rising intensity and mirrored images behind a prismatic Arcade Fire "AF" logo. But guess what, if you happen to be in Brooklyn on the 18th and 19th, Arcade Fire will be playing two formal attire required shows. Location has yet to be determined, but the shows have been confirmed. [Stereogum + Pitchfork]

Spiritualized's Jason Pierce aka J Spaceman has offered an excellent remix of Cut Copy's "Free Your Mind". Really very little of the track remains, and in fact, it features new vocals recorded by Pierce. The result is a spiraling, slow building track that feeds on a distorted electricity grounded by the original's oscillating sounds. [Pitchfork]

Phosphorescent did a lovely cover of Vampire Weekend's "Ya Hey" from Modern Vampires of the City. Sweet and easy to feel sad to, the simple cover evokes all the worn heavy emotions of the original. [Pitchfork]

A while back, Chance the Rapper did a remix of James Blake's "Life Around Here," which apparently foreshadows future collaborations between the two, and now there is an amazing black and white video to accompany the track. Blake and Chance slowly drive through a haunted forest full of surreal ghosts that are full of racial charge. The track lays as low as the car rides, but the power behind the jolting lyrics is always overwhelming. [Stereogum]

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