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St. Vincent has released their new video, "Laughing with A Mouth of Blood" which features an appearance by Thunderant.  Thunderant is a comedy-duo featuring Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live) and Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney).  Check out the video by clicking "Read More".

As previously reported, Jonsi is the frontman for Sigur Ros and is heading out for a North American tour.  His album will be released in April and he has recently released the second track from the album on youtube (click Read More for the video).  The track is called, "Go Do", is vastly more upbeat then the Sigur Ros tracks.  His first track from the album, "Boy Lilikoi" is also available on youtube.

You know you've always wanted one and now someone has created it:  The Morrissey Ouija Board.  The artist that made these is maasproduction and unfortunately they are already sold out.  Hopefully he decides to make some more because I would totally buy one!

The headline of NME's story is Shaun Ryder Reforms Black Grape.  Which is fine, but what I found interesting is, "[the reunion] will coincide with the release of a Shaun Ryder greatest hits album".  What the?  I'm not a walking music encyclopedia but this is the first time that I heard of a singer of two bands releasing a greatest hits collection.  I tried using my google-fu to get more information about this release but didn't find anything substantial.  In any case, it should be interesting to see the tracklisting when it comes out.

Jonsi from Sigur Ros will be touring North America to support his solo album, "Go", which is set to be released on March 22nd.

Sigur Ros had been working on their next studio album when they decided to scrap it and start over.There's a question to how far along the album was when they decided to ditch it.  In a blog post on sigur-ros.co.uk, they say that the album is "nearing completion" which was posted on May 27, 2010.  Then seven months later, Jonsi tells Spinner Music that, "We haven't got another [Sigur Ros] album ready. It was just a rumour."

Not sure why the sigur-ros.co.uk "official blog" is spreading rumors, but until they return, we can enjoy Jonsi's solo album and his upcoming tour.

Killing Joke have reunited with their original lineup which includes Jaz Coleman, Geordie Walker, Youth, and Paul Ferguson.  They have recorded a new album, "Feast of Fools", which will be released in April.  They will also have a very brief visit to the US, New York on May 21st, and LA on June 5th.  There are more summer dates in Europe.

I know I've beaten up the Charlatans in some of my past reviews, but I am excited to hear that they are playing their debut album, 'Some Friendly, in full at the Roundhouse in London.  The show takes place on May 31 and will celebrate twenty years since the album came out.  I would really like to see them do the same for 'Between 10th and 11th' which was my favorite Charlatans album.

Last week, we reported exclusively that the fine folks at Daytrotter would be unveiling a session from our favorite Scots, The Trashcan Sinatras.  Well, all week went by... and no session.  We contacted Sean Moeller at Daytrotter, who informed us that the Trashcan session, which was recorded last summer, was delayed at the last minute by request of the band to coincide with the release of the next Trashcans single... so look for it in the coming weeks.

Ticketmaster (ticket broker) and Live Nation (concert promoter) are set to join and create a new company, Live Nation Entertainment, now that the Department of Justice has approved the merger.  If you read the press releases, everyone is claiming how this is a "win" for consumers.  But if you talk to any consumers or independent concert promoters, the merger is anything but.

The new company is set to manage everything about the concert industry, selling tickets, managing performers, promoting shows, and even selling concessions.  But it's not a complete win for the new venture, Ticketmaster must sell a small subsidiary to a sports promoter and also share its ticketing software with AEG Live.  The DoJ thinks that this will increase competition and thus reduce prices for us fans.

The real problem is that Ticketmaster has an exclusive contract with most major concert venues across America.  And those contracts won't expire for another five to ten years.  So until then the venue's won't be able to switch to a competiting ticket service.  And for those of you that remember, this issue was looked at by the DoJ back in the 90's when Pearl Jam took up the cause.  And of course, nothing was done.

What's funny is the relationship that the govenment has to these two giant companies.  On the board for Live Nation is the Hollywood agent, Ari Emanuel, brother of Rahm Emanuel, who is Obama's cheif of staff.  Ticketmaster had Julius Genachowski on the board until he resigned to become the chairman of the FCC.

Bottom line is that while the average ticket prices have doubled in the last ten years, don't expect them going down anytime soon.

Of Montreal have done the impossible -- they've figured out a way to become even WEIRDER.  This week is the dawn of a quick east coast mini-tour for Kevin and the gang, and last night was the tour opener at the Highline Ballroom.  Most fans expected the tour to be a testing ground for tracks from the band's forthcoming album, due in the fall.  Those fans were right.  In fact, one of the tracks -- the innocently-titled "Teenage Unicorn Fisting" -- is already making its way around the Youtube circuit.  Some fans were hoping for a cameo from Solange Knowles, Beyonce's little sister and outspoken Of Montreal fan.  Those fans were right. Solange jumped onstage and duetted with the band on a cover of The Jackson Five's "I Want You Back."  What NO fans were expecting was Academy Award winning actress Susan Sarandon (Dammit, Janet!) hopping onstage to spank the hell out of some guys in pig costumes.  Go re-read that last sentence.  We're not making it up.  Don't believe us?  Stereogum has the whole thing on tape.