The Odd Future group (OFWGKTA) released a new collective album called OF Tape Vol. 2. They have recently shared the cover art (four different versions of the cover art, actually, which are the pictured above). The one in the lower right corner is the official cover for the album’s iTunes page.

In anticipation for the new album, Odd Future released a music video Monday called “Rella,” which you can view below. The video is directed by Tyler as his alias “Wolf Haley” and it’s filled with outrageous antics via typical OF fashion.

The album, which the song comes from, will feature almost everyone from the group: Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, MellowHype (Hodgy Beats and Left Brain), the Internet (Syd tha Kyd and Matt Martians), Domo Genesis, Taco and Jasper Dolphin. Sadly . . . no Earl. Although, we did get to hear from him earlier.

And if all of that wasn’t enough, there’s two more announcements from the never-ending flow of Odd Future news. (It’s like reading off tickertape.) First, Hodgy Beats tweeted that he will release an EP Friday called Untitled, and he said it will be produced by Flying Lotus, the Alchemist, Juicy J of Three 6 Mafia and Thelonious Martin. Second, Odd Future have an Adult Swim television show premiering in March called “Loiter Squad,” and the show now has an official website. You can view a teaser for “Loiter Squad” below after the “Rella” music video, plus there’s a tracklist for OF Tape Vol. 2 below all of that. Enjoy your Odd Future news—or don’t, cause that’s probably what they want anyway.

—Robert Miller

OF Tape Vol. 2:

01 Hi.
02 Bitches [ft. Domo Genesis and Hodgy Beats]
03 NY (Ned Flander) [ft. Hodgy Beats, and Tyler, the Creator]
04 Ya Know [ft. the Internet]
05 Forest Green [ft. Mike G]
06 Lean [ft. Hodgy Beats and Domo Genesis]
07 Analog 2 [ft. Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, and Syd tha Kyd]
08 50 [ft. MellowHype]
09 Snow White [ft. Hodgy Beats and Frank Ocean]
10 Rella [ft. Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis, and Tyler, the Creator]
11 Real Bitch [ft. MellowHype and Taco]
12 P [ft. Hodgy Beats and Tyler, the Creator]
13 White [ft. Frank Ocean]
14 Hcapd [ft. Domo Genesis, Hodgy Beats, and Tyler, the Creator]
15 Sam (Is Dead) [ft. Domo Genesis and Tyler, the Creator]
16 Doms [ft. Domo Genesis]
17 We Got Bitches [ft. Tyler, the Creator, Taco, and Jasper Dolphin]
18 Oldie [ft. Odd Future]

In a very story-driven quality, The Shins have just released a new music video for “Simple Song,” which you can download for free on iTunes. The music video is directed by The DANIELS, which is comprised of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

This video is a fictional story of frontman James Mercer’s future from his death backward through his elder years with the rest of the band playing his children. They certainly have solidified as a family.

“Simple Song” is the first single released from their upcoming new album, Port of Morrow, which will officially be available March 20. Watch a preview for the music video posted by The DANIELS below, and click here to download the full video for free.

   
     4AD; 2012
     Dropped by Zach Frimmel

Mark Lanegan has dipped his hand in his fair share of musical glitter, having captained the Seattle-grunge band Screaming Trees for fifteen years and recently drafted off acts like Isobel Campbell (from Belle & Sebastian) and Queens of the Stone Age, filling in as a surrogate guitarist. In an effort to pull his own solo weight again—with 2004 holding the title to his last solo release, Bubblegum—Mark Lanegan elicits a darker dignity with his new onus, Blues Funeral. On this 55-minute feature, the down-in-the-doldrums growler sets out to mark his alt-blues territory like any other bestial creature would prowl around and do at high noon when there’s an imminent shoot being talked about in the saloons. With his barrels still smoking, Mark Lanegan shows us his slick shooting on Blues Funeral.

Hard-driving punches like the album’s opener, “The Gravedigger’s Song” and “Quiver Syndrome” assert the 47-year-old Lanegan as an aging raconteur trying to flex the rock gusto still in him, an analogy might be Neil Young releasing “Rockin in The Free World” when he was almost 45. Depending on the song, there’s a dynamic within Blues Funeral where Western-spur grit meets synth-savvy driping of blood. “St. Louis Elegy” and “Leviathan” conjure a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid-scape as the instrumentation intones like rolling clouds, the sun eclipses behind a burnt horizon, and the rugged doll sips his hooch and wears his leather boots, which are as thick as blackstrap molasses. Lyrics like “Down here the winter will cut you quick / These tears are liquor and I’ve drunk myself sick” make the character of “St. Louis Elegy” appear as a maudlin maverick. The eerie patterns embedded in these tracks parallel with the black-hole suction of Gnarls Barkley’s “The Boogie Monster”—odd, yet comparable.

Under the microscope, “Ode To Sad Disco” is a nodding homage to synth influences like Joy Division, but comes off more like The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” in its generically generated synth melody and dragged out, dance-y luster. Undoubtedly, it’s a bold hybridization of genres, but the pop-song refrains could also be truncated. The guitar tones and reverbing riffs on “Haborview Hotel” seem like The National came on board to lay down a few U2-sounding layers, and Lanegan’s lazily deep vocal style adds even more credence to the reference. The vignette “Deep Black Vanishing Train” demonstrates a poetic prowess that is potentially on level with Nick Cave’s caliber as the words: “Transfixed by what isn’t seen / and what will never chance / the time I’ve tried to free myself / It’s been hard to look away” vanquish the character’s identity over slow-moving chords and a fluted instrument—the album could have tastefully ended there.

There’s some kind of allure, yet questionable fidelity that resonates within a voice that’s canyon-deep and rambling of troubles. Are these phantasmagoric blues believable or too assuming of their own good. Might one rather just listen to Godspeed!’s “Dead Flag Blues” on repeat a few times than Mark Lanegan’s Blues Funeral? Regardless of preference, this album employs a sense of humanized realism buried in a mausoleum where the jaundice juice of Muddy Water mixes with Radiohead’s green discography to create the amalgam Blues Funeral.

     
          Southern Lord; 2012
          Dropped by Robert Miller

Earth began in the early 90′s as the droning musical project of guitarist Dylan Carlson. It was actually an offshoot of doom metal with its elongated guitars and epic runtime. But after Carlson’s 1996 release, he disappeared into the musical ether for personal reasons, only to return in 2005 with a slightly new musical direction. On Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method, Carlson certainly retained the droning aspect of his composition, but with less distortion and more twang. Suddenly, Earth had an old-time “country”–if not even ancient–feel to its grand sweeping hums.

Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II is the second part of a series of recordings that only adds, rather than detracts, from the ongoing legacy of Earth’s drone doom. But, like Carlson’s other work since 2005, what little traces of metal Earth once held has mostly been done away with (except maybe for the deep chords struck on “Waltz (A Multiplicity of Doors)”). That type of resonating bass is a sign of what truly inspired most of the rock music we hear today. But instead, Angels of Darkness carries a distinct country twang and a blues-like rumbling bass. Angels I and Angels II were recorded together around the same time, so there really isn’t a whole lot of differences between these two albums. II feels like an honest and true continuation of I, but what the first album had that the second doesn’t are a lot of stylish crescendos and near bombastic moments, which gave the album its memorable dissonance. II tends to stick to droning without much fluctuation, which could easily make it ring hollow as it plays unnoticed in the background, or just as easily give a sincere sense of minimalistic comfort that only the most resolute musicians could provide.

Percussionist Adrienne Davies expands to more than just a simple kit. Brushed cymbals, axillary rolls, timpani-like strikes pervade the track straight from the mysterious opener “Sigil of Brass.” Just like on I, strings play a large role alongside Carlsons guitar twangs and slides. Cellist Lori Goldston’s melancholy strings bumble along with Carlson in a complimentary fashion, continually rising and falling accordingly. And while there aren’t nearly as many crescendos as in the first volume, “Waltz (A Municipality of Doors)” showcases Goldston’s hand with free-form jazz in a chaotic whirl of vibrations that breaks the mold in the midst of all the droning.

Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II has a habit of slipping into what feels like the B-side of past Earth material. As wonderful as some of these moments are, if you’ve followed much of Earth’s career, you can’ help but feel you’ve heard it before. That’s not entirely a bad thing, since these moments can be so beautiful, but because the two volumes were recorded around the same time, II has the potential to give off a distinct sense of musical “deja vu.” That may not be that consequential at all for some listeners, but one can’t help but feel a little cheated when an album is more of an expansion than an actual turning point in a band’s repetoire.

Still, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II has a cool, desert-like aesthetic about it, like a screenshot to a dreary western film. But the album’s quiet approach feels like exhaling or humming; it’s peaceful, yet always mindful of itself. Classically conscious, metallically influenced, and stimulatingly built on heartfelt blues and old-time country, Earth’s closure to the Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light series is an oasis worth striving toward.

As if winning two Grammys wasn’t enough, the Bon Iver news just keeps rolling and rolling.

Bon Iver uploaded a video to YouTube of Justin Vernon performing piano-only songs in London’s AIR Studios alongside Sean Carey. 4AD records and Bon Iver’s own Jagjaguwar presented the beautifully shot performance.

AIR, or Associated Independent Recording, is a famous recording studio that was founded by The Beatles in 1965. The studio, which was originally built in 1880 as a church and missionary school, is well known for its acoustic qualities, and Vernon and Carey position themselves on pianos across the room from each other in a complimentary and engaging fashion.

They perform songs from Bon Iver’s self-titled album, “Babys” from the Blood Bank EP, and a cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” All 24 minutes and 45 seconds of this session is gorgeous, and why are you still reading this? Drop your work and scroll down to watch it now.

1. Hinnon, TX
2. Wash.
3. I Can’t Make You Love Me
4. Babys
5. Beth/Rest

This past Tuesday Shearwater released their new album, titled Animal Joy, via Sub Pop. They’ve now released a music video for the song, “Breaking the Yearlings,” directed by Branan Edgens. In it, Jonathan Meiburg wanders around a museum, hallucinating about animals and becoming one himself. It’s part Planet Earth, part Frankenstein. Watch it below:

As previously reported, Jack White from the disbanded brother-sister duo, The White Stripes, is releasing his first solo album called Blunderbuss, and he also gave us a listen to his first single, “Love Interruption.” Now we have a music video to go along with it, which features White alongside back-up vocalist Ruby Amanfu, clarinet player Emily Bowland, and Brooke Waggoner on the Wurlitzer. This dreamy looking sequence was directed by White, as well. Watch it below:

Manchester, Tennessee’s popular music festival, Bonnaroo, just released their official lineup for 2012. It was announced via a Spotify playlist called “So . . . 2012?”

You can view the entire lineup below, but here are some standouts that we saw you might like: Radiohead, Bon Iver, the Beach Boys, the Shins, Ben Folds Five, Childish Gambino, tUnE-yArDs, St. Vincent, SBTRKT, Flying Lotus, Kurt Vile, Das Racist, the War on Drugs, Mogwai, Bad Brains, Kendrick Lamar, Feist, Phantogram, Aziz Ansari, the Roots, Little Dragon, Yelawolf, The Avett Brothers, the Joy Formidable, Laura Marling, Kathleen Edwards, Ludacris, and more . . .

• Radiohead
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Phish
• The Beach Boys (Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks)
• Bon Iver
• The Avett Brothers
• The Shins
• Foster The People
• Skrillex
• Aziz Ansari
• Dispatch
• Feist
• The Roots
• Alice Cooper
• Superjam
• Black Star
• The Word (John Medeski, Robert Randolph and North Mississippi Allstars)
• Ludacris
• Ben Folds Five
• Flogging Molly
• Spectrum Road (Cindy Blackman Santana, Jack Bruce, John Medeski, and Vernon Reid)
• Mac Miller
• Childish Gambino
• Major Lazer
• Tune-Yards
• AfroCubism
• Flying Lotus
• Umphrey’s McGee
• Little Dragon
• St. Vincent
• City and Colour
• The Civil Wars
• Young The Giant
• Two Door Cinema Club
• Punch Brothers
• Needtobreathe
• Fitz & The Tantrums
• Bad Brains
• YelaWolf
• Dawes
• Battles
• Danny Brown
• The Black Lips
• SBTRKT
• Phantogram
• Kendrick Lamar
• Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires
• The Kooks
• The Joy Formidable
• The Antlers
• Kathleen Edwards
• MiMosa
• KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS
• Alabama Shakes
• Das Racist
• Delta Spirit
• Gary Clark Jr.
• Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk
• Laura Marling
• Trampled by Turtles
• Mogwai
• The War on Drugs
• Ben Howard
• GROUPLOVE
• Blind Pilot
• ALO
• The Devil Makes Three
• White Denim
• EMA
• Here We Go Magic
• K-Flay
• The Lonely Forest
• MARIACHI EL BRONX
• Big Freedia
• DALE EARNHARDT JR. JR.
• The Soul Rebels
• Kvelertak
• Soja
• Steven Bernstein’s MTO Plays SLY
• Big Gigantic
• Sarah Jarosz
• Orgone
• Darondo
• Fruit Bats
• Moon Taxi

   
     Heavenly; 2012
     Dropped by Kiersten Holine

After an unexpected flair of modern rock emerged from Fionn Regan’s 2010 release The Shadow of an Empire, numerous loyal fans appeared to be left in a “Dylan-gone-electric” state. The swooping vocals and baroque-styled finger picking were replaced by a sound highly reminiscent of Ryan Adams’ Cold Roses phase. In his third full-length album, 100 Acres of Sycamore, Regan has revived his delicate song-telling and introduced listeners to a permeating orchestral element. The majority of the nature-driven album was written in a small, coastal village on the Spanish island of Majorca. Fionn’s trademark pizzicato plucking (so aptly heard in “The Underwood Typewriter”) is now reintroduced with resonating violins to create an all-encompassing atmosphere similar to the serene environment where 100 Acres of Sycamore was written.

The album proudly displays its versatility with the ominous, graveyard title track resembling a former Fleet Foxes “Blue Ridge Mountains” sound, to the playful doo- doo’s in “For a Nightingale”, to the femme-fatale celebration of “Sow Mare Bitch Vixen” where Regan admits he’s “always had a thing for dangerous women.” Subtle backing vocals from The Staves, a folk-rock trio of sisters from Wortham, England, appear on the album accompanying Regan on soft-spoken ballads like “North Star Lover” where Regan’s voice seems sincerely effortless and fragile enough to break in two; but it never does.

As “The Lake District” crescendos towards the chorus, we are reminded of the raw power Regan’s music can exude while boldly professing his love through perfectly aligned instrumentation and vocals: “Let others publish our thoughts / Take my hand and we will waltz / Below the cathedral vaults / Spinning like a foreign film reel.” An impeccable crafting of lyrics is ever present in this album as Regan consistently paints an elaborate and compelling piece that allows listeners to feel for themselves the dirt under his feet, the smell of the Irish trees he’s walking between, and the tranquility of the house he’s snow trapped. Fionn Regan’s former folk style has valiantly risen up from the grave with 100 Acres of Sycamore to prove that this is not the end of history for the ethereal tones, intricate patterns, and crisp-air vocals we once knew.