That's right, over at amazon.com they are selling a USB drive which is shaped like an apple.  The drive has re-mastered audio for all 14 Beatles albums.  It also includes visual elements, including 13 mini-documentary films about the albums, original UK album art, rare photos, and expanded liner notes.  The apple is 16 GB flash drive and the audio comes in both FLAC and 320Kbps MP3's.  Pretty impressive collection, too bad it's $270 bucks.

Liam seems pretty confident that the next Oasis album will have the same sound as previous records despite the fact that Noel, the primary writer, has left the band.  They plan to have the next record out in the summer and according to Liam:  "We're not making reggae music or rap music. It might have a bit more energy and be fresher.

John Lydon played a bunch of shows in England last month with a reunited Public Image Limited.  Stereogum's post about the show also included a video which shows the band sounding rather amazing on stage.  Hopefully they will make a stateside visit by themselves or do the summer festival circuit.  The set was comprised of mostly earlier tracks with the surprising inclusion of "Open Up" which is a Leftfield track that Lydon provided vocals for.  The full setlist for one of their shows is inside.

Verve hasn't formally broken up as they have two times in the past.  There were rumors that another US tour was in the works, but that has been shelved and the members are now working on their own projects.  Nick McCabe and Simon Jones have formed a new band called The Black Ships, check out their myspace page for some samples of their sound.

Back in 1985, the biggest "boy band", Duran Duran, split up into two bands.  Two members, John and Andy Taylor, went off to create the Power Station and the remaining three members (Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, and Nich Rhodes) went off to create Arcadia.  While Power Station sound more rock-ish, Arcaida had a different unique sound.  At the time I was nine years old but I distinctly remembering playing the vinyl for "So Red the Rose" over and over again and I was glad to read from Slicing Up Eyeballs, that they are going to reissue the original album with the original album, remixes, and a DVD with all the videos plus "making of" vignettes for each video.  Full tracklisting inside...

Chris Cornell announces that Soundgarden will reform in his twitter feed.  Rumors have been flying around for quite some time and now it's official.  Out of the whole 90's "grunge" movement, they were one of the few highlights, IMO.  It's also being said that they are reuniting for the 2010 Coachella festival which is quite possible since it has been the stage for many reunions over the years (ie, Pixies, Verve, Throbbing Gristle, Rage Against the Machine, etc.). 

Last year we told you MGMT were set to appear on season two of Nickelodeon's Yo Gabba Gabba! as space Vikings performing a song called "Art Is Everywhere." We weren't lying, but it took some time to track down the footage via an obscurely tagged YouTube clip ("Russian Rugrats") uploaded this summer. Some would argue that MGMT basically always make children's music. Whatever your stance, they definitely look comfortable (and stoned?) piloting their avian longboat and making like Abstract Expressionists.Continue reading MGMT Teach "Art Is Everywhere" On Yo Gabba Gabba!...

The Smiths' singer rebuffs claims by bass player Andy Rourke that he was sacked by a handwritten postcard from the frontman.
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Yesterday Judge Pregerson dismissed Joe's "Viva La Vida" copyright infringement lawsuit "upon Stipulation" which according to TwentyFourBit means the Chickenfoot guitarist got himself paid. Parse the dockets here if you can.

Sean Pecknold got his first mentions around here by directing videos for Fleet Foxes, the band of his folk bro Robin. But as we've noted, that partnership wasn't (just) nepotism: "Mykonos" was a lovely oragami-inspired, choreographed visual meditation, and of "White Winter Hymnal" I said "Basically if psychedelic folk music could be made out of animated clay, it would look like this." So while Sean could theoretically guilt trip Fleet Foxes into hiring him repeatedly, other acts now are hiring him just because he makes compelling clips.