Mastodon name upcoming album

Photo by James Minchin

Metal is probably the genre that I listen to the least of those I enjoy, and I seldom cover metal bands on this blog, but Mastodon is one of the best active bands right now and they've now revealed the title of their upcoming fifth studio album. The album will be called The Hunter and the band has also shared a few (amazing) track names from the album; "Blasteroids", "The Octopus Has No Friends", "Stargasm", and "Curl of the Burl".

Download: The Head and the Heart - Daytrotter Session

The fine folks over at Daytrotter have decided to share another excellent session (hint: they do so every day), and this time it's one with Seattle folk-pop band The Head and the Heart who perform four tracks for the session. Three of those; "Sounds Like Hallelujah", "Down in the Valley" and "Coeur d’Alene" are from their self-titled debut lp and the fourth track, "Seat Beside Me", is previously unreleased.

Video: Grinderman - "Mickey Bloody Mouse" (Joshua Homme remix) (official music video)

Last year Grinderman released their second lp, simply titled Grinderman 2, and this year they've been busy releasing proper singles for a couple of the tracks from the album, with interesting remixes and the like as b-sides. Now it's time for the single release of "Mickey Mouse And The Goodbye Man" on July 11, via Mute as usual, and besides the original version the single will include a live performance of the track for French television and, far more interesting, a remix by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age.

The Josh Homme remix version of the track is called "Mickey Bloody Mouse" and you can watch the official video for it below. The video is made out of illustrations by a young German artist called Ilinca Höpfner.

Lou Reed and Metallica to release collaborative album

Yep, that's right, former Velvet Underground frontman, "Walk On The Wild Side"-singing alternative rock icon Lou Reed has just finished recording an album with metal giants Metallica, according to a statement on the Metallica website. There's no word yet on when this will be released or what it'll be called, just that they've recorded ten songs and wrapped it up last week. This could either be really great or completely terrible, with the second being more likely. Check out the full statement below.

Introducing...Hypocrite In A Hippy Crypt

Hypocrite In A Hippy Crypt just released their first record, Tweaker In The Park, on Gulcher Records, which happens to be the now rather famous Kurt Vile's first label. Judging by the three tracks available at their bandcamp page there's some real potential here, with a '90s inspired lo-fi indie sound that  helps bring this batch of very good songs across nicely.

Listen to a three track sampler from the album below, and if you head over to their bandcamp page you can download the first track, "The Town Crazies" for free.

The Horrible Crowes announce album details

A couple of weeks ago we reported that The Horrible Crowes' upcoming debut album would be released on September 6 via SideOneDummy Records and since then it has been revealed that the album will be called Elsie. Today the tracklist for the album has been unveiled and Elsie will contain twelve tracks, and the track titles seems to confirm singer Brian Fallon's statements about the album's darker sound, inspired by the likes of Nick Cave, Tom Waits and The Afghan Whigs.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story behind The Horrible Crowes: it's The Gaslight Anthem-frontman/songwriter/singer Brian Fallon's new side-project with Ian Perkins, a British musician who has worked as a roadie for The Gaslight Anthem. Check out the tracklist below, while we're still waiting for the album cover and a first track to be released.

Video: Bon Iver - "Calgary" (official music video)

Bon Iver are finally releasing their second lp Bon Iver, Bon Iver on Tuesday next week via Jagjaguwar, and they've now released a video for the album's single "Calgary", which you can view below. Even if the album isn't out yet you can give it a listen over here - it's definitely a worthy follow-up to Bon Iver's 2007 debut For Emma, Forever Ago and one of the best albums of the year. Head over here to download an mp3 of "Calgary".

Video + MP3: Purling Hiss - "The Hoodoo"

The announcement of Philadelphia psych rocker Purling Hiss' new 12" ep Lounge Lizards somehow avoided my attention and it was actually released yesterday on Mexican Summer. Before the release of the ep Purling Hiss had shared both an mp3 of the song "The Hoodoo" and a video for the track, which you can download/watch below. The track's got a great '70s rock vibe, covered in the lo-fi fuzz you'd expect from a Purling Hiss release. Also check out the album cover above and the tracklist below the video.

MP3: Kanye West - "Mama's Boyfriend"

Last year Kanye West performed a couple of songs at the Facebook headquarters, one of them being a new track called "Mama's Boyfriend" which was rumoured to be included on his then upcoming album, which later became My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. "Mama's Boyfriend" didn't make the album but it finally leaked online earlier today, and you can check it out below. It's a great track, but it wouldn't have fit on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with it's more vintage Kanye West sound, reminiscent of his pre 808s-era sound.

Video: MellowHype - "64" (official music video)

Odd Future has seemingly been everywhere the best couple of months - there's even posters of them in the Stockholm metro right now - but it's mostly been Tyler, the Creator and the absent Earl Sweatshirt who's received the most attention. That's beginning to change now that the hype around Tyler's Goblin has faded away and other members of the group are allowed to shine, with singer-songwriter Frank Ocean receiving well-deserved praise and MellowHype's (Hodgy Beats + Let Brain) BlackenedWhite being re-released via Fat Possum on July 12.  

BlackenedWhite was originally released in October last year and remains one of the very best Odd Future releases, and the reissue will feature a different tracklist, with both tracks added and removed. One of the new tracks is "64", the album single, and the video for the track premiered earlier today. Check out the Matt Alonzo-directed video below.

MP3: The Tallest Man On Earth - "In The Pockets"

On June 21 The Tallest Man On Earth will re-release his self-titled debut ep from 2006 on vinyl via Gravitation, with distribution handled by Dead Oceans/SCD, and the re-release will include one previously unreleased track called "In The Pockets". "In The Pockets" was originally written for the ep but was never included on the official release, and The Tallest Man On Earth fansite Impossible Trees is now hosting a video competition for the song. In short the site urges the fans to create their own video for "In the Pockets" and then send it in, and a vote among the fans will follow deciding which is best, and the winner will receive a special prize from the label.

Album Review: Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See

[Domino Records / 2011.06.06]