Stream the Entirety of the Them Crooked Vultures Self-Titled Album, Which is, In My Opinion, a Bit of a Let Down (But, Hey, I Think Led Zeppelin’s Entire Career is a Bit of a Let Down…) [Youtube]

The Magnetic Fields Announce New Album, Realism, Set to be Released January 26; Stephen Merritt Remains Better at Naming Songs Than Just About Anyone, With Song Titles Like “We are Having a Hootenanny” and “Everything is One Big Christmas Tree” [Pitchfork]

Watch Claymation Video From anticon. Founders Themselves, “Roman is as Roman Does,” Which is Nearly as Frightening as Lady GaGa’s Video For “Bad Romance” [Prefix]

Stream Beck, Binki Shapiro, and Devendra Banharts’ Version of Leonard Cohen’s “One of Us Cannot Be Wrong;” Grow Frustrated When Finding Out That Banhart Still Shows a Lot of Talent Even Though What Will We Be Was Awful (And Self-Fulfilling: A Poorly Conceived Album is What We Will Be) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

British Electro Rockers Hot Chip Announce New Album, One Life Stand, Which is the Quality of Emo-Pun I’d Expect from the All American Rejects; Released Februrary 9 [Spin]

The Drums Announce New Single Release of “I Felt Stupid” from the JM Approved Summertime! EP; I Look Back Fondly On When the Drums Were Our July Featured Artist, and Encourage You All To Go See Home Video (Our Current Feature Artist) This Thursday [NME]

Stream Delorean Remixing Franz Ferdinand’s Tonight Track “Live Alone,”and Turns It Into One Big World Music Party Jam! Drinks All Around (Preferably Served Out of Some Kind of Exotic Balearic Fruit…Perhaps a Kiwi) [Pitchfork]

Stream New Single from that Swedish Glow-Fi Band jj, “Baby,” Which is Set to an Understated Montage of Graceful Horses, and is Deliciously Auto-tuned (As Much as a Song Can be Delicious, as Sound is Not Edible) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

compiled by Max Sebela

Stream New Small Black, “King of Animals,” Which Is So Good That It Makes Up For the Fact that the Rest of My News Write Up Will Be Meaningless, Full of Fluff; Read My Review of the EP, Consider Them As Contenders For Best Debut of the Year [Stereogum]

Singer Songwriter Dean Johnson Takes Lyrics George Harrison Wrote About Not Getting Along With John Lennon and Turns It Into His Own Song, Possibly Unaware That He is Not a Former Beatle, and Has No Perspective on What Song Might Mean; Listen to It! [NME]

Chris Brown’s New Album Cover Is Some Awful Amalgamation Between the Poster For Resident Evil Apocalypse and Eek! The Cat; Meanwhile, News Day Slow – Let the Obscure Pop Culture References Begin [Idolator]

The Pixies to Play Conan – If Read 15 Years Ago, One Could Mistake That For an Episode of Conan The Barbarian, Where Pixies Are Up To Usual Trickery, General Wackiness [Prefix]

Download a New Them Crooked Vultures Song, “Mind Eraser, No Chaser,” Which is Good, But Not as Good as the Band Mind Eraser [Pitchfork]

Black Sabbath Guitarist Tony Iommi Is Recovering Well After Having Stem-Cell Treatment in His Joints; Elsewhere (Specifically, In the Future), a Fully Cyborg Version of Iommi Begins the Robotic Takeover [NME]

Stream Basement Jaxx’s Zephyr EP, Which Is Super, Super Boring, and Begins With an Extremely Long Introduction in Which They Say Basement Jaxx 50 to 60 Times [Stereogum]

compiled by Max Sebela

Stream Previously Unreleased Track From the Late Great Arthur Russell, “Come to Life,” Recorded in the Late 70s, Which Is Quite Lovely [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Stream New Track From Chicago’s The Lawrence Arms, “Demons,” Which Is Teeming With Midwestern Values (Which Really Just Means It’s Emotive, Non-Blushing Pop Punk); Ask Yourself When The Hell Spin Started Releasing “Exclusive” Tracks From a Local Chicago Band [Spin]

Fantastically Indie-fied Charity Compilation Dark Was the Night, Which Was Released in February, Raised Over $650 Thousand For AIDS Awareness [Pitchfork]

Arcade Fire Working on New Album For 2010? TwentyFourBit Lays Out The Evidence, Forgetting the Fact That Win Butler Has Said Over and Over Again That They Are Currently Writing Material For New Album [TwentyFourBit]

Stream First Official Them Crooked Vultures Song (Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones (For The Youngins, That Dude Was In Zeppelin)) Track, “New Fang,” Which Has Guitar So Filthy I Need To Take a Shower; Them Crooked Vultures Released November 17 [Pitchfork]

The Always Innovative Sufjan Stevens To Release “Album” Next Year, Which Will Contain “Songs,” Instead of the High Conceptual Art Pieces Rooted in the Folklore of the 50 States That Have Become So Blasé; Elsewhere, All Albums Contain Fucking Songs, Sufjan [The Tripwire]

NME Quotes Jarvis Cocker: “Pulp Could Reunite for Glastonbury 2010;” Elsewhere, Jarvis Cocker Never Said This In the Referenced Interview; I Make Toast to Poor Music Journalism (And to the Hope That Pulp Actually Does Reunite, Cheers) [NME]

Stream Weez(y)er Collaboration, “Can’t Stop Partying” Off Weezer’s Upcoming LP Ratitude in Which You Can Literally Hear Lil Wayne Lighting a Joint, Which is Risky Considering The Man Is Going to Prison [Idolator]

compiled by Max Sebela

Watch Video For Fever Ray’s Cover of Nick Cave’s “Stranger Than Kindness,” Which Is Scarier Than Either The Strangers, Dr. Strange, or Quark-Based Strange Matter (Only Barely, Though…That Shit Is Mysterious) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

In Other Fever Ray News, She’s Giving Away a Live Version of Her Self-Titled Debut With This Weeks The Guardian In the U.K….Good News For Those In The UK. Bad News For Us Running New York Based Music Blog [NME]

Josh Homme/Dave Grohl/John Paul Jones Supergroup Them Crooked Vultures Announce Album Details; Self-Titled LP Released November 17, Containing Song Called “An Interlude With Ludes” Which is Such a Dated and Awesome Drug Reference That I’m Red Faced With Joy [Pitchfork]

R.E.M., Rage Against the Machine, and Pearl Jam Push For Closure of Guantanamo Bay, Joining The Rest of Rational Americans Who Believe Torture Is Even A Little Not Cool [BBC]

Hold Steady Frontman/Promoter of All Things Positive Craig Finn, To Co-Adapt Chuck Klosterman’s Fargo Rock City Into a Movie; Finn Says of the Subject: “I’m Writing a Screenplay/ Camera, Lights, and Clever Kids Getting Action, Bab-ay/ I Hope The Oscars Recall It Fairly Fondly” [Idolator]

Former Island Records Boss Marc Marot Wants a Clause in Record Contracts That Allows Record Labels To Intervene When Artists Are Suffering Drug Problems; Next Year, Labels Set to Introduce “Nap Time” Clause, Requiring All Artists To Take 20-Minuter Whenever Label Deems Them “Cranky” [NME]

Stream Former Pulp Frontman Jarvis Cocker’s Contribution To Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox Adaptation, “Fantastic Mr. Fox AKA Petey’s Song” – It’s Cute and Stuff [Stereogum]

Watch Video For Weezer’s “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” Off Upcoming LP Ratitude; It’s Very 1950s-Chic; Meanwhile, Rivers Is Probably Knee-Deep in a Melding of the Minds With Katy Perry Right Now [Babelgum]

compiled by Max Sebela

TOP DOG
Ahh, super groups. The anticipation, the hype… the usual disappointment resulting from all that anticipation and hype.Whenever a group of big shiny names are put together, it makes it hard to remember that a mix of great things doesn’t always equate to greatness. Take, for example, bacon and vodka or aliens and predators. One can still hope, however, that the latest, most shiny super group will be half as awesome as they should be.

Dedicated JM.com readers are already up to speed on the Vultures, but for those of you who aren’t, Them Crooked Vultures involves three really talented people: Josh Homme (of Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (of Foo Fighters), and the great John Paul Jones (I won’t patronize you). Oh yeah, and Grohl’s on drums. That’s right, a rhythm section consisting of Dave Grohl and motherfucking John Paul Jones. Keeping things round, Homme’s longstanding band mate Alain Johannes has been brought along to assist on guitars.

Well, some speculation on the band can now be lifted, as their gig yesterday at the Belgian music festival, Pukkelpop (www.pukkelpop.be/), has yielded some worthwhile YouTube fruit. The audio isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough to give you a solid idea of the band. Hommes seems to have a strong handle – the riffs have that gloomy, stoner-rock edge he’s known for. But both Homme and Grohl have often shown a large admiration for classic rock, and having JPJ around is definitely pushing them further in that direction, with one of the songs even having a strong Cream vibe to it.

So the good news is that the band seems not to suck. The bad news is that the album release date that was floating around early this month was bogus, and that there isn’t even a title for such an LP, or any idea of when it might be out. But recently a clip surfaced showing the band in the studio, which is a pretty good indication that an album is coming. How soon, however, remains a mystery. For now, keep your ears to the ground and your eyes on YouTube.

by Geoff Anstey

Them Crooked Vultures performing “Dead End Friends” at Pukkelpop:

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Frontman Alec Ounsworth Releases A Surprise Solo Album, Skin and Bones, Buy It Here; Ounsworth’s Solo Debut (Uh, I Guess Not Anymore…Follow-up?) Mo Beauty Released October 20 [Brooklyn Vegan]

Stream New Wavves Song, “Cool Jumper,” Allegedly Featuring Hella’s Drummer Extraordinaire Zach Hill…It’s Six Minutes Long, And, Hate To Admit It, Pretty Cool [Gorilla Vs. Bear]

Stream The Notebook Star Ryan Gosling’s Band Dead Man’s Bones’s New Song “My Body’s A Zombie For You”…Weirdly, That’s Exactly What The Song Is About, And Features A Chorus Of Children Singing About Said Zombies; Dead Man’s Bones Released October 6 [Pitchfork]

MTV Gives Up Times Square Studio, Famous As TRL’s Home – Backstreet Boys Unsure Of Where They’ll Announce Umpteenth Reunion Tour, And Perform A Capella Cover of Some Boyz II Men Song In Front Of Dwindling, School-Cutting Preteens [Idolator]

Stream Justin Vernon’s (Bon Iver) New Project Volcano Choir’s First Song “Island, IS” (This Song Is Proof That Bon Iver Could Record A Dance Album); Volcano Choir’s Debut, Unmap, Released September 22 [Pitchfork]

Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones’ Them Crooked Vultures Unveil 14 Seconds of Song, “Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I” [Spin]

The Lower East Side to Tribeca And Now to Williamsburg New York Venue The Knitting Factory Announces Les Savy Fav Will Headline Their Opening Show On September 9; Knitting Factory Also Announces Plan To Get Priced Out In a Few Years, And Be Forced To Move Again [NME]

Popular LA Venue (And Birthplace of No Age and Abe Vigoda) The Smell Announces DVD Live at the Smell; Released September 1 [Pitchfork]

Britpop Giants The Verve Break Up For The Third Time (Which Is Good, Because Without The Verve Making New Music, They Can Be Properly and Exclusively Remembered For This) [Guardian]

Norwegian Electopop Queen Annie’s Second Album Don’t Stop To Finally Be Released October 19, Nearly A Year After It Leaked [Pitchfork]

Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox, AKA Atlas Sound, Releases Fleetwood Mac Cover, “Walk A Thin Line”; Stream It [Deerhunter Blog]

compiled by Max Sebela

The Beatles Get Their Own QVC Store; Weirdest Shop Item: Four Yellow Submarine Themed Baseballs. QVC: Get Authentic. I Want A Set Of Hard Day’s Night Styled Cricket Wickets [Idolator]

Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl and Led Zepellin’s John Paul Jones Debuted Their Very Original Sludge-Rock Band, Them Crooked Vultures (And Apparently, It Was Good) [Spin]

Stream Garage Punk Jay Reatard’s Upcoming Matador Debut LP Watch Me Fall; Released August 18 [NME]

The Upcoming $45 Million Dollar Spiderman Musical, With Music By U2’s Bono and The Edge, Facing Budget Problems “Mary Jane, My Spider Sense Is Tingling – Maybe This Is The Wrong Time To Put On A $45 Million Dollar Musical…Wait, No…That’s My Common Sense” [NME]

Watch New Video “I’m Good” From Virginia Rap Heroes Clipse (Pharrell Sings Really Poorly On It, and I’ve Never Seen Ex-Coke Dealers Having So Much Leisurely Fun); Till The Casket Drops Released October 20 [Pitchfork]

Microphones/Mount Eerie Guy Phil Elverum Does Really Great Interview In Village Voice; Calls Upcoming LP Wind’s Poem Loudest Album He’s Done (Also Has Called It His Best), Expresses Love Of Loud Things In General [Village Voice]

Arcade Fire Multi-Instrumentalist Owen Pallett, AKA Final Fantasy, Signs To Domino, Announces New LP, Heartland; Released “The First Week Of 2010” [Pitchfork]

Stream Brooklyn Garage Pop Trio Vivian Girls’ Two New Songs, “The End” and “Can’t Get Over You”; New LP Everything Goes Wrong Released September 8 [Myspace]

Popular Music Magazine Pitchfork.com Announces Plans To Present “The Decade In Music” Starting Next Week…Four Months Before Decade Ends. Well, So Much For Journalistic Perspective [Pitchfork]

Sufjan Stevens Announces Fall Tour (!!!!); Four New York Dates In October (!!!!); Fans Giggle Like School Girls [Asthmatic Kitty]

Stream Black Lips/King Khan & BBQ Show Supergroup, The Almighty Defenders’ First Song, “Cone Of Light” – This Track Is Throwback, Handclap Soul And Will Be On Repeat For Several Hours; The Almighty Defenders Released September 22 [Pitchfork]

by Max Sebela

ORIGINALITY CORNER
Sunday night in Chicago, some lucky Lollapalooza after-partiers will be the first to hear what happens when Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) have at it. The group has booked a surprise debut show at the 1,100 capacity Metro, following the close of the three-day festival. My guess is that it will be sheer collective rock genius. But for now there’s only speculation.

Going by the name Them Crooked Vultures, the trio has decided it’s time to stop bullshitting and join forces, but it’s all so ambiguous. For four years, rumors have itched ears that one day this could happen. In 2005, Grohl told Mojo about the prospective project that would feature him on drums, a treat in itself. He hasn’t been dedicated to his kit since the flannel days of Nirvana. The only solid information known is that October 23 is the official release date for the album, Never Deserved The Future, on Interscope.

If you look for them on Myspace there’s nothing more than the logos of each of their respective bands – no music, no pictures, no friends, no comments, nothing. There is a website, but again, a state of nothingness – well, except for a simple silhouette of some sort of being, part human, part vulture.

Public relations are keeping a tight lip. Fans will just have to wait until Monday to catch buzz of The Crooked Vultures with hopes that someone out there will be recording and posting clips on YouTube, or something to that nature. Leave it to these guys to make years-long hearsay come true.

In the two day wait, why not listen to “Go With the Flow,” off the now-classic 2003 Queens of the Stone Age LP Songs For The Deaf, streaming below.

by Genette Nowak