Wednesday Music News

Legendary Mississippi blues guitarist T-Model Ford died yesterday. Though his exact date of birth is uncertain, "The Taildragger" spread his influence upon other blues artists new and old, including Seattle's own GravelRoad, who recorded with him in his later years. The man, his music, his humor, and his uncompromising lifestyle (just hearing him yell "Jack Daniels" was always a delight!) will truly be missed.

• In case you missed it, Earl Sweatshirt premiered "Hive" from his upcoming album, Doris, along with a possibly-Miyazaki influenced video. In it, Sweatshirt is a suburban kid in a world where the suburbs are haunted by ghosts with simple faces and a quiet overbearing spookiness. Are they are faces of the past, faces of the bad things that happen, or just ominous creatures that dwell between pre-fabbed buildings and flicker between blinking streetlights? The heavy track also features Vince Staples and Casey Veggies and was directed by Hiro Murai who has worked with Sweatshirt before. [Pitchfork]

• Mazzy Star has officially announced a new album, Seasons of Your Day, which will be released on September 24th. The last album released by Mazzy Star was in 1996, which means they've been on an over ten year hiatus. Along with the announcement, they have also released "California". The final bit of good news for fans: they will also be announcing tour dates soon. [Pitchfork]

• Bob Dylan, Will Tweedy, and Jim James joined forces on stage in Toronto yesterday night to sing "Twelve Gates to the City". All three are touring together with their respective bands as a part of Dylan's AmericanaramA Festival of Music tour, so it was natural that they would eventually sing together. Check out the live video shot from the audience below. [CoS]

• So good to see something from the non-imprisoned members of the Russian riot girl group Pussy Riot. Today, they released "Like a Red Prison" which features their raucous screaming vocals over grinding guitars and drums. The track and video apparently are commentaries on Vladmir Putin's involvement with their oil industry, which you can tell from the video in which they perform on gas stations, oil tankers, and oil refinery equipment. [Stereogum]

• Whodunit!? Who kidnapped Mr Kilums from El-P and Killer Mike? Was it Andrew W.K.? Was it Amber Tamblyn? Was it your grandma? Run the Jewels is going to find out if they have to kill the entire city for their beloved but questionable friend in the new video for "36" Chain". [Stereogum]

• Lightning Dust has premiered a new less-than-comfortable video for "Loaded Gun" off their album Fantasy. Eerie in its starkness, the video features lines of flickering lights and some kind of slime covering muscular close-ups of body parts. As stark as the track is, the video matches it beat for beat. [Stereogum]

• Vancouver's one-woman looping project White Poppy has a new album coming out on Not Not Fun Records in September, and this week she delivered "Wear Me Down". As the title suggests, the track works like a steady wearing donw - but while it wears us down with a constant drone of ohm-ing vocals and a wicked guitar that sings out like a siren, we are also shown how the creator is worn down as well. [Spin]