Bright Eyes have announced their first live shows in more than nine years, along with plans to release new music. Unlike their previous nine albums, this project won't be released through Saddle Creek Records - they have signed with the Indiana-based indie Dead Oceans. The label has just posted a minute-long teaser of the band in the studio; a warning - no guitars or voice, just plenty of strings, like at a symphony rehearsal.

Cardi B carried on for only 50 minutes last summer at Target Center. The over-the-top hip-hop hitmaker might have spent more time doing her hair and makeup. ZZ Top exited the Minnesota State Fair grandstand after just 63 minutes. Does their Rock Hall of Fame career still have legs after 50 years of touring? Minneapolis music hero Alexander O’Neal performed for a mere 45 minutes at the Dakota last month. How long should a concert headline set last?

Late last year, when Roddy Ricch’s debut album 'Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial' dropped, meme-makers and especially TikTok users keyed into the opening seconds of the song 'The Box' - particularly the squeaky-wheel noise at the start, which, it turns out, is ideal for micro-videos. Three official singles were issued from the album last year, and 'The Box' still doesn't have a video - "When the rapper with the biggest song in America couldn’t foresee what song would take him to the top of the charts, it’s a reminder that nobody in this business ever really knows exactly what might squeak through".

Toy and figure makers Funko are presenting a slew of new collectible vinyl Pop! figures at the annual London Toy Fair. They’ve unveiled a bunch of new additions to their “Pop Rocks” music collection, including Slayer, Motörhead, Willie Nelson, ZZ Top, James Brown, Salt N Peppa, Lil Wayne, Slipknot, Eazy-E, Papa Nihil of Ghost, and Rivers Cuomo of Weezer.

Music period drama 'Wu-Tang: An American Saga' about the iconic New York rap collective, has been renewed for second season by Hulu. The series debuted in September to rave reviews. The series chronicles the history and formation behind the Wu-Tang Clan as they deal with the daily struggle of balancing their music career amidst the drug-induced early 90’s.

The NME released the shortlist for its 2020 awards, with Billie Eilish, Slowthai, Stormzy and The 1975 all achieving multiple nominations. Emily Eavis has been named a Godlike Genius, in recognition of her "outstanding contribution" to the Glastonbury festival.

Event organizers from Hydro club in Glasgow have banned numerous accessories ahead of Slipknot gig on Saturday, including spiked collars, large belt buckles, and large chain wallets. The band's promoters have requested similar restrictions at previous gigs, and fans were quick this time to criticize and make fun of these regulations.

The third album by the Atlanta quartet was released last week, and critics like it a lot: "The music is as electrifying, unpredictable and chaotic as ever" - the Guardian said, adding how the band enriched their gothic gospel funk with the "right balance of doomy melodrama, metallic Motown and floor-pounding post-punk". AllMusic says the album is "so emotionally charged, it leaves the listener breathless and exhausted, as well as compelled and excited", and Music OMH wrote that "'There Is No Year' reveals subtleties amidst the powerful energy with each play".

Radiohead have launched Radiohead Public Library, a new online archive of their music videos, live TV performances, artwork etc. Out-of-print T-shirt designs from each era of the band’s history can be custom-made via the site. The band have also uploaded songs from their first ever release, 1992’s 'Drill' EP, the 2005 song 'I Want None of This' from charity compilation 'Help! A Day in the Life', and the 2011 remix release 'Tkol Rmx 8'.

Madlib produced all the beats on the album by The Professionals, and his younger brother Oh No rapped on all the songs. It turned out "really good", Brooklyn Vegan reviews - "Madlib’s production is as warped and psychedelic as ever, and Oh No keeps everything grounded with cold, forceful rhymes that act as a well-matched foil to Madlib’s trippier production".

Queen have become the first band with an official U.K. coin - the commemorative coin is launched today, with Queens on both sides: her majesty Queen Elizabeth II on one face, and the band on the other. The coins' design features the instruments played by each founding member: Brian May’s Red Special guitar, John Deacon’s Fender Precision bass, Roger Taylor’s Ludwig bass drum decorated with the Queen crest, and Freddie Mercury’s Bechstein grand piano with the opening notes of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' pressed down. Prices range from £13 for the limited edition “brilliant uncirculated” coin, with the silver and a gold proof edition going for £2,100.

Late-night host Stephen Colbert made a joke about the new James Bond theme song that Billie Eilish had recorded (the movie will be out in April, the song is expected at about the same time). Colbert made a spoof-song based on Eilish's 'Bad Guy' video, witch lyrics - "James Bond/ You are a super spy/ Movie/ It's called 'No Time to Die'/ Get drunk, have sex and shoot a gun/ Being James Bond sounds fun/ He's a Bond guy... duh". A green-haired Eilish doppleganger whisper-sang in the spoof while bopping through scenes of artfully fired guns and men in suits, all while in a yellow sweatsuit similar to the one worn by the 18-year-old star in the original video.

"There is no band that emphasizes becoming greater than the sum of their parts than the Band" - Bruce Springsteen says in the new documentary 'Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band'. In was produced by Martin Scorsese, directed by Daniel Roher, it hits theaters February 21, and it largely focuses on Robertson’s personal journey, including a glimpse into his life before the Band. Apart from Springsteen, it includes interviews with Robertson’s friends and collaborators such as Scorsese, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, and more.

Americana singer-songwriter David Olney died Saturday in the middle of his set at the 30A Songwriters Festival in Florida. Olney had played his third song from his set, took a pause, apologized and closed his eyes. He never dropped his guitar, or fell of hist stool. Singer-songwriter Amy Rigby, who was performing alongside him at the 30A Songwriters Festival, was there when it happened: "He was very still, sitting upright with his guitar on, wearing the coolest hat and a beautiful rust suede jacket".

Madonna has canceled her Sunday night show in Lisbon saying - "I must listen to my body and rest!". She gave her fans just 45 minutes' notice that her show in Portugal's capital was being called off. It is the eighth time Madonna has had to cancel a show on her current world tour. In a video posted to social media last week, she was shown wearing knee supports while rehearsing for an earlier show in Lisbon.

"AJJ have rolled up so many things that are wrong with our society and tackled them head-on without metaphor, in a darkly funny, near-stream-of-consciousness way... It always sounds like smart and incisive commentary, and still functions as enjoyable music even when you’re sick of political commentary" - Brooklyn Vegan says in a review of new album by American folk-punk band AJJ.

Speaking in a new interview, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor took aim at exploitive royalty rates - “A million streams on YouTube is 0.04 percent of a penny. On a million streams you get $400". He thinks it's bad business for everyone, including the companies: "The streaming services are not willing to pay the talents who write the songs and makes the music and yet they are sitting on billions of dollars. They are buying whole blocks of buildings and then taking over floors in there and yet they don’t want to pay the people who made the money for them".

“'I’m not physically or musically capable, but thanks for the offer', said Dave Grohl when it was suggested he replace Neil Peart in Rush after the legendary drummer retired from the group in 2015... Peart was nick-named The Professor thanks to his meticulous, intricate, firebrand drum work in all manner of exotic time signatures, which was key in making Rush one of the most renowned bands of classic rock and inspired countless drummers to take to the sticks in awe of his skills".

Critics really like Bill Fay's new album 'Countless Branches'. They say that "it’s a lot to take in, and fresh corridors reveal themselves with each listen", and a "masterpiece". English folk singer-songwriter used mostly just his voice, piano, and a guitar to record it, but that was enough - "he sounds best at his most intimate".

OutKast's André 3000 is coming to the TV-screen again - he is one of the four main characters from 'Dispatches From Elsewhere', a new TV show for AMC co-created by Jason Segal. The show follows four individuals who play a game that promises to expose new realities behind everyday life. The show received a boost of publicity when André 3000 was filmed playing the flute at an airport in Philadelphia, where the show was filmed.

Björk has created a generative score for the boutique Manhattan hotel Sister City, using AI tech from Microsoft to pull a selection of snippets of her favorite choral arrangements from her archive. Björk said this in a statement: "My choir archives, written over 17 years that will float through the pinball of artificial intelligence by the grid of bird migrations, clouds, aeroplanes and that voluptuous thing called barometer".

MewithoutYou's singer Aaron Weiss has used the "f-word", which had them, as a Christian band, banned from radio and the album got pulled from record stores. The band is to disband this year, and meanwhile, his fans ponder band's parodying of cultural mores.

“If you’re hopeful without pessimism it’s quite naive, and if you’re just pessimistic, it’s fucking cynical” Ryan Mahan, bassist in Algiers, says about band's new album 'There Is No Year' (out today). This idea permeates the album sonically, as frontman Franklin Fisher explains - “there’s a larger theme of sound that’s revisited throughout the record. Sound as something that is redemptive and threatening and soothing and everything in between”.

Nick Cave was asked “Do you like Kanye?” on his blog. This is his not-so-disambiguous answer: “Making art is a form of madness – we slip deep within our own singular vision and become lost to it. There is no musician on Earth that is as committed to their own derangement as Kanye, and in this respect, at this point in time, he is our greatest artist”.

TV host Samantha Bee devoted an entire segment of her show 'Full Frontal' to the lack of women on country radio. Her journalists talked to artists Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker, Mickey Guyton, and Margo Price, with Carlile posting the essential thought: “Ask yourself this question, what do you want your daughter to know about herself? And if you can’t get that from country music or you can’t get that from country radio, it’s a problem”.

British soul singer Izo FitzRoy with a mighty voice has released ‘Blind Faith’, the third single from her album ‘How The Mighty Fall’, an up-tempo song about second chances in relationships, a powerfull, dancey, melodic record.

Matt Wilson & His Orchestra released a lovely song 'When I Was a Writer' about Wilson's fear of dementia - "I live so much in my mind and because so much of my joy is in thinking and writing, the idea of the window shutting on that part of my life started to terrify me", he said. Inspirations also come from different places now - "When I was young, I was just awash in hormones like any kid. My greatest inspiration was girls. I don't write about that anymore for the most part. I think a little bit more about life. Trying to be a good person. What does life mean?".

First Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno will perform with three other former members of the band for a one-time-only concert this summer, at Worcestershire, England's Beermageddon Festival 2020 on Sunday, Aug. 30. It will be Di'Anno's "final ever" performance following the musician's recent health issues, and he will sing next to the classic Maiden members. They will come out to the stage under the Ides of March moniker.

"Lack of predictability is what's kept them vital" - PopMatters says in a review of 'Nijimusy', new album by the noise-rock-jazz band OOIOO. The Japanese four-some is an "astonishingly talented band that can often be jarring, unsettling, and even occasionally off-putting. But their spirit of innovation and originality is always present. And they are never, ever boring".

Today at midnight Eminem surprise-released his 11th studio album 'Music to be Murdered By', and the first video from it is a very dark song 'Darkness', about mass shootings. It shows a loner in a hotel room who turns to tablets and booze, before he takes a gun and starts shooting at people - a direct remake of the night in 2017 when Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd of music fans in Las Vegas, taking 58 lives (not including his own). Video wraps up with a compilation of news items from mass shooting in the USA, being shown on TV-screens assembled in the geographical shape of the US. The leitmotif through the song is the piano riff and opening lyrics from 'The Sound of Silence' - "Hello darkness my old friend".