SXSW 2013: Flaming Lips Debut Entire New Album in Austin

Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips performs at the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival held at the Auditorium Shores on March 15th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

"We do the thing we really, really want the world to see at SXSW," Wayne Coyne told a 10,000-plus capacity crowd after walking onstage at the Flaming Lips' massive Auditorium Shores gig in Austin last night. "We always want the world to see something radical." Fans who expected to see something as radical, and familiar, as Coyne tumbling over their heads in a man-sized space bubble while confetti canons exploded – a Halford-on-Harley hallmark of the Lips stage show since 2003 – got something a little different, and very new: the band debuting its forthcoming LP, The Terror, in its entirety. And along with it, the band unveiled an entirely new stage production.

Looking back on SXSW 1997, where the band pulled off one of their infamous "parking lot experiments," Coyne said their mentality is still very much the same. "We wouldn't wanna play SXSW if we were just gonna do our normal show," he told Rolling Stone the day before. Later that night, at an exponentially more intimate club gig, the band erred on the side of nostalgia, performing front-to-back their 2002 neo-psych classic, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, also for the first time. That might have been a safer plan for the Auditorium Shores free-for-all. Instead, the band aspired to keep Austin weird, with an album that Coyne expects will freak people out.

The Flaming Lips Take their Antics to New York

"I think our records are getting trippier and trippier," Coyne said, describing The Terror. "We've been a band for so long, but I think our desire to do new things is just bigger than ever because we just know how to do so much stuff now. . . . Our music has always been weird; we've always been weird."

Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips performs at the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival held at the Auditorium Shores on March 15th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

Coyne was as anxious as he was excited about the trial-by-fire reveal at Auditorium Shores. "We're nervous, yeah," he said, "but it's good to be nervous about trying new things. . . . Some of [the new songs] are sort of slow, mid-tempo songs, which are great as recordings, but sometimes to play three or four of those in a row in front of an audience, it can be kind of a challenge. They're songs, you know? We get known for space bubbles and confetti and shit like that."

It'll be awhile before fans see the space bubble again, Coyne says. "I don't know if [we're] retiring it, maybe just not do it for a while, or not do it so much and so much attention to it. . . . I just kind of feel like if we keep doing that, it stops us from doing other stuff."

The band's new stage looks like the inside of giant womb, outfitted as a psychedelic discotheque, littered with various-sized mirror balls and dozens of illuminated umbilical cords leading like roots of a tree to a prosthetic newborn, which Coyne – decked out in a silver suit/Baby Bjorn – cradled while singing and smiling maniacally.

A particularly weird moment came four songs into last night's set, when during "You Lust," Coyne called Phantogram's Sarah Barthel to the stage to help him sing it, which she agreed to if he would pull her hair while she did it. More performance art than festival rock bombast, the sight of Coyne cradling the prosthetic baby in one hand and iron-fistedly grasping Barthel's tresses with the other while she sat at his side, eyes closed, singing the sparse, creepy drone, was as freakish and grotesque as anything the fearless band has ever done. And that's saying something.

Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips performs with Sarah Barthell of Phantogram at the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival held at the Auditorium Shores on March 15th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

Coyne does, however, already envision a pair of Terror songs becoming live staples for the band: "Look . . . The Sun Is Rising," the opening track, and "Try to Explain." "It's pretty heavy," Coyne says of the latter, "it's a little bit like 'Do You Realize?'"

The album's weird potential accessibility might hinge on the universal nature of its lyrical theme: control.

"A lot of it is about this issue of control in your life," he says. "Do you want control? Do you really have control? And I think it's a dilemma of how much of your life is of your own design, and how much of it is really beyond your control. . . . I struggle with that a lot in my life."

As expected, the performance of the heady album — which is heavier on kraut-rock and electro influences than blown-out rock & roll — divided the crowd, testing the patience of some and spellbinding others. To reward the former (and the latter), the band followed The Terror with a five-song encore of Yoshimi favorites, including a closing "Do You Realize?" featuring a guest spot from Jim James, who'd opened the show.

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Little Boots Returns to Studio for Second Album, 'Nocturnes'

Little Boots Returns to Studio for Second Album, 'Nocturnes'The British dance-pop singer gives a taste of her next phase $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); OO.ready(function() { OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer', 'x0dms2YTrgCqvKxYlLS2PfhW3hpqFf1B', {'autoplay': true }); });By

Three years after announcing that she was beginning work on a new project, the British electro-pop songstress Little Boots (a/k/a Victoria Hesketh) is ready to release her second album, Nocturnes. The album is due out May 6th on Heskins' On Repeat Records and was produced by DFA Records cofounder Tim Goldsworthy.

In this exclusive video, Hesketh gives an inside look into her return to the studio, her love for songwriting and Goldsworthy's talent for mixing her signature sound of modern-day disco with progressive electronica. Hesketh explains that Nocturnes is "an album indebted to the night" and was inspired by her experiences as a DJ and her immersion in the club scene. "It's got that nighttime feel," she says.

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Little Boots Returns to Studio for Second Album, 'Nocturnes'

Little Boots Returns to Studio for Second Album, 'Nocturnes'The British dance-pop singer gives a taste of her next phase $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); OO.ready(function() { OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer', 'x0dms2YTrgCqvKxYlLS2PfhW3hpqFf1B', {'autoplay': true }); });By

Three years after announcing that she was beginning work on a new project, the British electro-pop songstress Little Boots (a/k/a Victoria Hesketh) is ready to release her second album, Nocturnes. The album is due out May 6th on Heskins' On Repeat Records and was produced by DFA Records cofounder Tim Goldsworthy.

In this exclusive video, Hesketh gives an inside look into her return to the studio, her love for songwriting and Goldsworthy's talent for mixing her signature sound of modern-day disco with progressive electronica. Hesketh explains that Nocturnes is "an album indebted to the night" and was inspired by her experiences as a DJ and her immersion in the club scene. "It's got that nighttime feel," she says.

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Black Sabbath Set Release Date for '13' Album

Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and producer Rick Rubin.

Black Sabbath's first album with Ozzy Osbourne in 35 years finally has a release date: '13' is slated to come out on June 11th, according to the latest official update for the band. The news was accompanied by a behind-the-scenes video of Sabbath recording in Los Angeles' Shangri-La Studio with producer Rick Rubin.

Black Sabbath's Dark, Twisted Resurrection

"I've been a fan of Black Sabbath my whole life, and getting to come in to work everyday and hearing Black Sabbath play, it stimulates something in me just like when I was 14 years old," Rubin says in the clip. "They just want what's best, and we're all sort of working together to find whatever works best for them."

"He looks like a bit of a guru, but he knows what he's looking for and when he's satisfied with what he's got," Osbourne says of Rubin.

Recorded last fall, 13 finds Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and guest drummer Brad Wilk (of Rage Against the Machine) resurrecting the ultra-heavy sound of early Sabbath records; tracks like "End of the Beginning" and "Age of Reason" stretch out to as long as eight minutes. "I don't know what's going on in the music world," Osbourne recently told Rolling Stone. "My wife mentions bands to me and I don't know what the fuck she's talking about. We just do what we always did."

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Q&A: Alice Cooper Plans Classic Rock Covers Album

Alice Cooper has always incorporated covers into his live show, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has never done an album of other's people music. He plans to change that soon by recording an album of songs inspired by his legendary onetime drinking club, the Hollywood Vampires, a group that included John Lennon, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson and more.

Cooper himself has been sober for three decades. Thinking back to those early days of rock & roll excess he says, "It was another life." But he remembers it well, reflecting here on trying to save Jim Morrison, his healthy rivalry with guys like Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and David Bowie and his thoughts on young artists such as Justin Bieber. Cooper spoke with Rolling Stone at the John Varvatos charity event in West Hollywood last weekend.

You were just talking to Joe Perry earlier. I know you guys are old friends.
We did some writing together back in the Eighties for a movie and it happened to be at [manager] Shep [Gordon]'s house, which was one of the most haunted houses ever. And in the end, it's not like the movies, where you hear stuff in the basement and you say, "Let's go see what that is" – we both ran out of the house. We took off because it sounded like somebody moving furniture in the basement. And then Shep goes, "Oh, they wrote The Amityville Horror there." I went, "Oh, thanks, that's information I could've used before."

500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Alice Cooper, 'Love It to Death'

You have dates coming up with Marilyn Manson. Have you toured together before?
No. In fact, the very first time I met him was in Transylvania. It was the weirdest thing. We had jousted in the press before a little bit ,and we realized we were doing a show together in Transylvania, a big outdoor show, two miles from Dracula's castle. He walked by the dressing room and I said, "Hey, come here." We finally met face to face, and what we talked about was marriage, which was interesting. I've been married 37 years.

And after the tour you start the covers album?
We do a thing in our show, which is a tribute to Hollywood Vampires, my drinking club. And it was Keith Moon, John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Micky Dolenz – a very eclectic bunch of drunks. Half of them are dead, so we do four songs in the show in tribute to them. We do "Break On Through," "Revolution," "My Generation" and Jimi Hendrix's "Foxey Lady." I just kind of said, "We've never done a covers album, let's think about that." So [Bob] Ezrin and I are kind of bouncing it around right now.

What are some of the wish-list songs?
I would keep it right to about '73, '74. I don't want to just go anywhere. I want to keep it right in that sort of drunk era, so it's specific. I would say "Break On Through," that's a really good rock track there. The other ones, think of it – Harry Nilsson, there's a lot of good stuff there that could be rocked out. I think of songs as being clay. Take a song like "Jump Into the Fire" and take that to a harder level, and that'll work.

When will the album be out?
I think it'll be out next year. When the tour's over in December then we'll go right in the studio.

Can you look back on that time now with perspective?
It was another life, honestly – a different life. Bernie Taupin and I are best friends, and Bernie was a vampire. He was a last-man-standing, good British drunk. And we sit and talk about it, both of us. I've been sober now 30 years, and I go, "It was another life." But it was all artists, and that was the cool thing about it. It was all guys that were competing with each other in a really good way. I wanted to hear Bowie's new album, I wanted to hear Iggy's new album, I wanted to hear Lou Reed's new album. To me, it was almost more of a theatrical movement than it was competition.

I had a conversation a couple of years ago with Nick Cave, and we were talking about people having to make their own mistakes.
I feel sorry for young bands. They don't have a chance to make mistakes. One strike and they're done. We got to make mistakes. We got to make albums that bombed right along with albums that were the Number Ones.

You also got to fuck up in public, but now the pressure is so great. Look at Justin Bieber – who didn't see that "rough week" coming?
He came into Phoenix, comes up on stage, turns his back to the audience and throws up. I said, in the press, "Justin, just as a note of professional rock & roll, never turn your back when you throw up. Let the audience see you throw up . . . Because that's a moment they're gonna remember." Make sure the lights are on you when you throw up. If he rides this thing out and still makes records, he's gonna be a seasoned artist in about 10 years, 'cause he makes good records now, but he's got to survive the next 10 years. The excess is gonna come at him so quick.

You got to make those mistakes. You survived it. But with so many public tales of those that didn't make it, what are your thoughts when you see someone like Amy Winehouse?
Hey, Jim Morrison – nobody could talk Jim Morrison out of dying. I was a drunk, but I was a lightweight compared to him, and nobody could talk him out of where he was going. Jim was gonna go there and that was it. Same with Amy. I don't think anybody could've talked Amy out of where she was going. The true artists are always out on a limb. They're always the ones that are just maybe gonna die.

How did you survive?
I had to wake up one morning and throw up blood and realize that was a pretty good sign God was saying, "That's about enough out of you. You could still rock & roll, but you're gonna have to do it a different way." Because I was dying. Doctor said, "You got two more weeks before you join Jimi, Jim and all the boys." I said, "I want to stick around and make records." So I had to stop. Same with Iggy, same with Lou, same with Steven [Tyler] and Joe. They're here because they got in the crossroads and made the right choice. If not, we would've been dead, all of us.

But, as you say, some of them couldn't be stopped.
I think the early guys, the Jim Morrisons, the Janis Joplins, just did not want to see 30. Twenty-seven was the expiration date. And it really came up a lot of times, 27, and I guess they said, "That's too close to 30, I'm just gonna burn out." First of all, rock & roll and heroin, it's not gonna work. Anything with a needle involved is not gonna work, and you add that to a little schizophrenia and a little bipolar, you got Syd Barrett and you got Brian Wilson. Two geniuses. Brian's producing and I've always loved him, I consider him a genius, but what could he have been doing now? He would've been doing amazing stuff. But on top of being schizophrenic and bipolar he's doing acid and speed. That's just like pouring coals on the fire.

Why do today's musicians do it?
It's some kind of defiance. "I know it's gonna kill me, but I'm gonna do it." I always tell kids, I can't think of one guy that I know that took a lot of drugs and sat back and said, "That was a good idea." Now, if they're still alive they're going, "OK, I wrote some good songs when I was smashed out of my mind, but I was really lucky to get through it."

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Black Sabbath Set Release Date for '13' Album

Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and producer Rick Rubin.

Black Sabbath's first album with Ozzy Osbourne in 35 years finally has a release date: '13' is slated to come out on June 11th, according to the latest official update for the band. The news was accompanied by a behind-the-scenes video of Sabbath recording in Los Angeles' Shangri-La Studio with producer Rick Rubin.

Black Sabbath's Dark, Twisted Resurrection

"I've been a fan of Black Sabbath my whole life, and getting to come in to work everyday and hearing Black Sabbath play, it stimulates something in me just like when I was 14 years old," Rubin says in the clip. "They just want what's best, and we're all sort of working together to find whatever works best for them."

"He looks like a bit of a guru, but he knows what he's looking for and when he's satisfied with what he's got," Osbourne says of Rubin.

Recorded last fall, 13 finds Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and guest drummer Brad Wilk (of Rage Against the Machine) resurrecting the ultra-heavy sound of early Sabbath records; tracks like "End of the Beginning" and "Age of Reason" stretch out to as long as eight minutes. "I don't know what's going on in the music world," Osbourne recently told Rolling Stone. "My wife mentions bands to me and I don't know what the fuck she's talking about. We just do what we always did."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Q&A: Alice Cooper Plans Classic Rock Covers Album

Alice Cooper has always incorporated covers into his live show, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has never done an album of other's people music. He plans to change that soon by recording an album of songs inspired by his legendary onetime drinking club, the Hollywood Vampires, a group that included John Lennon, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson and more.

Cooper himself has been sober for three decades. Thinking back to those early days of rock & roll excess he says, "It was another life." But he remembers it well, reflecting here on trying to save Jim Morrison, his healthy rivalry with guys like Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and David Bowie and his thoughts on young artists such as Justin Bieber. Cooper spoke with Rolling Stone at the John Varvatos charity event in West Hollywood last weekend.

You were just talking to Joe Perry earlier. I know you guys are old friends.
We did some writing together back in the Eighties for a movie and it happened to be at [manager] Shep [Gordon]'s house, which was one of the most haunted houses ever. And in the end, it's not like the movies, where you hear stuff in the basement and you say, "Let's go see what that is" – we both ran out of the house. We took off because it sounded like somebody moving furniture in the basement. And then Shep goes, "Oh, they wrote The Amityville Horror there." I went, "Oh, thanks, that's information I could've used before."

500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Alice Cooper, 'Love It to Death'

You have dates coming up with Marilyn Manson. Have you toured together before?
No. In fact, the very first time I met him was in Transylvania. It was the weirdest thing. We had jousted in the press before a little bit ,and we realized we were doing a show together in Transylvania, a big outdoor show, two miles from Dracula's castle. He walked by the dressing room and I said, "Hey, come here." We finally met face to face, and what we talked about was marriage, which was interesting. I've been married 37 years.

And after the tour you start the covers album?
We do a thing in our show, which is a tribute to Hollywood Vampires, my drinking club. And it was Keith Moon, John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Micky Dolenz – a very eclectic bunch of drunks. Half of them are dead, so we do four songs in the show in tribute to them. We do "Break On Through," "Revolution," "My Generation" and Jimi Hendrix's "Foxey Lady." I just kind of said, "We've never done a covers album, let's think about that." So [Bob] Ezrin and I are kind of bouncing it around right now.

What are some of the wish-list songs?
I would keep it right to about '73, '74. I don't want to just go anywhere. I want to keep it right in that sort of drunk era, so it's specific. I would say "Break On Through," that's a really good rock track there. The other ones, think of it – Harry Nilsson, there's a lot of good stuff there that could be rocked out. I think of songs as being clay. Take a song like "Jump Into the Fire" and take that to a harder level, and that'll work.

When will the album be out?
I think it'll be out next year. When the tour's over in December then we'll go right in the studio.

Can you look back on that time now with perspective?
It was another life, honestly – a different life. Bernie Taupin and I are best friends, and Bernie was a vampire. He was a last-man-standing, good British drunk. And we sit and talk about it, both of us. I've been sober now 30 years, and I go, "It was another life." But it was all artists, and that was the cool thing about it. It was all guys that were competing with each other in a really good way. I wanted to hear Bowie's new album, I wanted to hear Iggy's new album, I wanted to hear Lou Reed's new album. To me, it was almost more of a theatrical movement than it was competition.

I had a conversation a couple of years ago with Nick Cave, and we were talking about people having to make their own mistakes.
I feel sorry for young bands. They don't have a chance to make mistakes. One strike and they're done. We got to make mistakes. We got to make albums that bombed right along with albums that were the Number Ones.

You also got to fuck up in public, but now the pressure is so great. Look at Justin Bieber – who didn't see that "rough week" coming?
He came into Phoenix, comes up on stage, turns his back to the audience and throws up. I said, in the press, "Justin, just as a note of professional rock & roll, never turn your back when you throw up. Let the audience see you throw up . . . Because that's a moment they're gonna remember." Make sure the lights are on you when you throw up. If he rides this thing out and still makes records, he's gonna be a seasoned artist in about 10 years, 'cause he makes good records now, but he's got to survive the next 10 years. The excess is gonna come at him so quick.

You got to make those mistakes. You survived it. But with so many public tales of those that didn't make it, what are your thoughts when you see someone like Amy Winehouse?
Hey, Jim Morrison – nobody could talk Jim Morrison out of dying. I was a drunk, but I was a lightweight compared to him, and nobody could talk him out of where he was going. Jim was gonna go there and that was it. Same with Amy. I don't think anybody could've talked Amy out of where she was going. The true artists are always out on a limb. They're always the ones that are just maybe gonna die.

How did you survive?
I had to wake up one morning and throw up blood and realize that was a pretty good sign God was saying, "That's about enough out of you. You could still rock & roll, but you're gonna have to do it a different way." Because I was dying. Doctor said, "You got two more weeks before you join Jimi, Jim and all the boys." I said, "I want to stick around and make records." So I had to stop. Same with Iggy, same with Lou, same with Steven [Tyler] and Joe. They're here because they got in the crossroads and made the right choice. If not, we would've been dead, all of us.

But, as you say, some of them couldn't be stopped.
I think the early guys, the Jim Morrisons, the Janis Joplins, just did not want to see 30. Twenty-seven was the expiration date. And it really came up a lot of times, 27, and I guess they said, "That's too close to 30, I'm just gonna burn out." First of all, rock & roll and heroin, it's not gonna work. Anything with a needle involved is not gonna work, and you add that to a little schizophrenia and a little bipolar, you got Syd Barrett and you got Brian Wilson. Two geniuses. Brian's producing and I've always loved him, I consider him a genius, but what could he have been doing now? He would've been doing amazing stuff. But on top of being schizophrenic and bipolar he's doing acid and speed. That's just like pouring coals on the fire.

Why do today's musicians do it?
It's some kind of defiance. "I know it's gonna kill me, but I'm gonna do it." I always tell kids, I can't think of one guy that I know that took a lot of drugs and sat back and said, "That was a good idea." Now, if they're still alive they're going, "OK, I wrote some good songs when I was smashed out of my mind, but I was really lucky to get through it."

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Walk Off the Earth Ready for Victory on 'R.E.V.O.' – Album Premiere

Click to listen to Walk Off the Earth's R.E.V.O.

After releasing a joyous EP last fall, Canada's Walk Off the Earth return March 19th with their full-length debut, R.E.V.O. – an acronym for the band’s motto, "Realize Every Victory Outright." Starting with the title track, the album adds six infectious, anthemic new songs to the four that were on the EP, along with the Walk Off the Earth's cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know," which has racked up more than 147 million YouTube views. 

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Ai Weiwei Recording a Metal Album

The controversial Chinese artist and outspoken political dissident Ai Weiwei is planning to release his first heavy metal album – a decision that stemmed from boredom during his governmental detainment in 2011.

The sculptor and installation artist, who protests the Chinese government's human rights and democratic actions in his elaborate works, collaborated on the nine-song album with rock musician Zuoxiao Zuzhou. A friend, Zuzhou was questioned during Weiwei's detention by the Chinese government in 2011, reports the Guardian.

Elton John Dedicates Beijing Concert to Chinese Dissident

"To tell you the truth, I never listened to music. Then, during my detention, the guards were so bored they kept saying to me, 'Can you sing a song?'" Weiwei tells the Guardian. "After I came out, I realized I had never really listened to music or sung, so I decided to make an album. I know so many artists and musicians and they were really supportive."

Weiwei is working on his own cover art for the record, as well as a "softer" second album of love songs, though he admits he is unclear on how to release his music to the public. For advice on that, he says, he will turn to a high-profile supporter: Elton John, who dedicated a show in Beijing to the artist in November 2012.

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Ai Weiwei Recording a Metal Album

The controversial Chinese artist and outspoken political dissident Ai Weiwei is planning to release his first heavy metal album – a decision that stemmed from boredom during his governmental detainment in 2011.

The sculptor and installation artist, who protests the Chinese government's human rights and democratic actions in his elaborate works, collaborated on the nine-song album with rock musician Zuoxiao Zuzhou. A friend, Zuzhou was questioned during Weiwei's detention by the Chinese government in 2011, reports the Guardian.

Elton John Dedicates Beijing Concert to Chinese Dissident

"To tell you the truth, I never listened to music. Then, during my detention, the guards were so bored they kept saying to me, 'Can you sing a song?'" Weiwei tells the Guardian. "After I came out, I realized I had never really listened to music or sung, so I decided to make an album. I know so many artists and musicians and they were really supportive."

Weiwei is working on his own cover art for the record, as well as a "softer" second album of love songs, though he admits he is unclear on how to release his music to the public. For advice on that, he says, he will turn to a high-profile supporter: Elton John, who dedicated a show in Beijing to the artist in November 2012.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Walk Off the Earth Ready for Victory on 'R.E.V.O.' – Album Premiere

Click to listen to Walk Off the Earth's R.E.V.O.

After releasing a joyous EP last fall, Canada's Walk Off the Earth return March 19th with their full-length debut, R.E.V.O. – an acronym for the band’s motto, "Realize Every Victory Outright." Starting with the title track, the album adds six infectious, anthemic new songs to the four that were on the EP, along with the Walk Off the Earth's cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know," which has racked up more than 147 million YouTube views. 

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Biffy Clyro Shift Through Dynamics on 'Opposites' – Album Premiere

On their sixth studio album, Opposites, Biffy Clyro offer up an eclectic mix of music that soars to bombastic heights while charting vulnerable human emotions. Opener "Different People" builds slowly around frontman Simon Neil's vocals and space-age keyboards before bursting into frantic prog-rock fretwork. "Little Hospitals" wastes no time getting down to business, immediately rushing out of the gates with pummeling guitars that barely let up.

Photos: 2011 Sasquatch! Festival – Biffy Clyro

But the Scottish alt-rockers don't rely only that loud dynamic: there are plenty of thoughtful ballads and arena-ready theatrics, too. "Opposite" sways with swooning strings to soothing effect, while "The Thaw" inches towards a colossal eruption of orchestral grandeur. "Skylight" reaches even higher, with deeply resonating acoustic guitar, palpitating electronic drum beats and glistening synth arpeggios. 

Opposites is due out in the U.S. on March 12th. Biffy Clyro will kick off a North American tour with Muse on April 9th in Toronto, visit both weekends of Coachella and wrap up in Quebec City on April 26th. For more information, visit the band's website.

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The Men Relive 'That 'Wow' Experience' on New Album

"You gotta keeps it moving," says bassist/lap steel guitarist Kevin Faulkner of Brooklyn's the Men. Two months after the release of the band's third album, Open Your Heart, they did just that, sequestering themselves in the Catskills for two weeks to record the follow-up.

That was last May, as waves of praise for Open Your Heart's thick, thrilling, textured rock swelled. But upstate, in a house-turned-studio, the Men pieced together New Moon – an intimate, fuzz-caked collection released today on the Sacred Bones label.

Formed back in 2008 by guitarists Mark Perro and Nick Chiericozzi and ex-bassist Chris Hansell, over five years and four albums the Men have expanded the horizons of their punk origins into whatever realm of rock and/or roll they're drawn to (lately: smatterings of country, folk and power-pop, to name a few). They've also grown into a quintet, adding Faulkner, drummer Rich Samis and producer/multi-instrumentalist Ben Greenberg. No one's the "primary songwriter." No one's really the frontman.

"Nobody ever really tells anyone what to play, ever, and I think that's part of what allows different things to happen," Perro said during a recent chat with Rolling Stone at a Brooklyn studio. "You show somebody the part and do your thing. It becomes a culmination of five people's song rather than one person's song played by five people."

The Men arrived in Big Indian, New York with just a few completed tracks and a handful of song skeletons. A primary recording space was set up in the living room, and for the first few days they just jammed, going around in a circle, building off each other's ideas, listening for little accidents. "That definitely happened a lot on this record," said Samis. "You surprise yourself – that's the best part about the whole experience. It's kind of like when you're a kid and you pick up an instrument for the first time and you have that 'wow' experience."

Though the assured lurch of "I Saw Her Face" and the scathing guitar screeds on closing track "Supermoon" are both products of single takes, other songs were built over time, like "Half Angel Half Light," a song that saw a slew of iterations (and, Samis recalls, caused one walkout), finally coming together after Chiericozzi conjured its aching acoustic riff. One song was built over multiple rooms: guitars in hand, Greenberg, Perro and Chiericozzi took to the basement to record "The Seeds" while Faulkner and Samis kept the groove on the floor above.

On New Moon, the Men found themselves toying with vocal harmonies more than ever before, forming a band-within-a-band they dubbed the Big Indian Singers. They doubled up on lead vocals on the opening track, "Open the Door," while choral "oohs" and "ahhs" roam about the country swooner "Bird Song" and blossom from the cracks on "Freaky."

"It's a physical thing I'd never experienced before," said Perro. "There's a reason the street corner dudes do it, 'cause when you're you're in a pocket and you can feel peoples' . . . " He trails off, looking for the right words, which Greenberg finds: "When you're singing at each other, you can feel the resonance."

Most of New Moon was recorded in the living room, but periodically Greenberg and co-engineer Kyle Keays-Hagerman would lace any space they saw fit – basement, bathroom, even outside – with mics to capture every coarse, cavernous corner of the house. It was the perfect fit for the raw, straight-to-tape sound the band wanted.

That wasn't the only benefit: "We were sorta thrown into this house for two weeks, and I think that allowed for everyone to get to know each other a little better," said Chiericozzi. "Even though we've lived together a lot on the road, this was a much more stable environment."

"We were having every meal together," added Perro.

"Cooking food together, picking records together," said Greenberg before being cut off by a grinning Perro: "Goin' into the hot tub together."

When the Men hit the road behind New Moon, they'll do it with a new lineup – same people, just some on different instruments. Samis will remain on drums, but Greenberg and Chiericozzi will play the guitars, Faulkner the bass, and Perro will play piano. (They'll also be testing some songs you won't hear on a recording until the next album.) For the Men, it's nothing more than the natural course of things.

"It's fun to play with arrangements and have a song that exists in different ways," said Perro. "It changes a lot of those songs, the vibe of those songs, and it's cool because then there's not even a definitive way. It's a thing that breathes and changes."

"And," added Greenberg, "it'll change again."

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Turbogeist Take Open-Minded Approach to 'Ancient Secrets EP' – Album Premiere

Click to listen to Turbogeist's 'Ancient Secrets EP'

London's Turbogeist crank it up with aggressive, neck-breaking punk rock, but the crew is interested in more than just a singular, relentless assault. Led by Mick Jagger's son Jimmy, the group dives into their Ancient Secrets EP with trudging, serrated grunge on "Mermaid's Revenge," a blistering bassline on "Black Hole" and meaty, chunky guitar textures on "Rats." Turbogeist sought to explore fantastical and cryptic themes on the new EP, which led to a diverse, open-minded approach to the record.

Hot Rock Offspring: Madonna, Sting, Keith Richards and More Stars' Famous Kids

"We didn't wanna make an oi-oi punk angst record, although that's how we started out. We wanted to make something more tongue-in-cheek, more weird," Jagger tells Rolling Stone. "We didn't want to make a punk or hardcore or glam or thrash record; we didn't wanna make anything that felt sonically linear."

Jagger likens the EP to the unpredictability of an acid trip. "It could go in a few directions," he says. "It could be scary, but it could also make you laugh or cry, or make you realize that nothing is real and we are all just a collection of atoms moving very fast to no discernible end."

The Ancient Secrets EP is out March 12th.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Turbogeist Take Open-Minded Approach to 'Ancient Secrets EP' – Album Premiere

Click to listen to Turbogeist's 'Ancient Secrets EP'

London's Turbogeist crank it up with aggressive, neck-breaking punk rock, but the crew is interested in more than just a singular, relentless assault. Led by Mick Jagger's son Jimmy, the group dives into their Ancient Secrets EP with trudging, serrated grunge on "Mermaid's Revenge," a blistering bassline on "Black Hole" and meaty, chunky guitar textures on "Rats." Turbogeist sought to explore fantastical and cryptic themes on the new EP, which led to a diverse, open-minded approach to the record.

Hot Rock Offspring: Madonna, Sting, Keith Richards and More Stars' Famous Kids

"We didn't wanna make an oi-oi punk angst record, although that's how we started out. We wanted to make something more tongue-in-cheek, more weird," Jagger tells Rolling Stone. "We didn't want to make a punk or hardcore or glam or thrash record; we didn't wanna make anything that felt sonically linear."

Jagger likens the EP to the unpredictability of an acid trip. "It could go in a few directions," he says. "It could be scary, but it could also make you laugh or cry, or make you realize that nothing is real and we are all just a collection of atoms moving very fast to no discernible end."

The Ancient Secrets EP is out March 12th.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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The Men Relive 'That 'Wow' Experience' on New Album

"You gotta keeps it moving," says bassist/lap steel guitarist Kevin Faulkner of Brooklyn's the Men. Two months after the release of the band's third album, Open Your Heart, they did just that, sequestering themselves in the Catskills for two weeks to record the follow-up.

That was last May, as waves of praise for Open Your Heart's thick, thrilling, textured rock swelled. But upstate, in a house-turned-studio, the Men pieced together New Moon – an intimate, fuzz-caked collection released today on the Sacred Bones label.

Formed back in 2008 by guitarists Mark Perro and Nick Chiericozzi and ex-bassist Chris Hansell, over five years and four albums the Men have expanded the horizons of their punk origins into whatever realm of rock and/or roll they're drawn to (lately: smatterings of country, folk and power-pop, to name a few). They've also grown into a quintet, adding Faulkner, drummer Rich Samis and producer/multi-instrumentalist Ben Greenberg. No one's the "primary songwriter." No one's really the frontman.

"Nobody ever really tells anyone what to play, ever, and I think that's part of what allows different things to happen," Perro said during a recent chat with Rolling Stone at a Brooklyn studio. "You show somebody the part and do your thing. It becomes a culmination of five people's song rather than one person's song played by five people."

The Men arrived in Big Indian, New York with just a few completed tracks and a handful of song skeletons. A primary recording space was set up in the living room, and for the first few days they just jammed, going around in a circle, building off each other's ideas, listening for little accidents. "That definitely happened a lot on this record," said Samis. "You surprise yourself – that's the best part about the whole experience. It's kind of like when you're a kid and you pick up an instrument for the first time and you have that 'wow' experience."

Though the assured lurch of "I Saw Her Face" and the scathing guitar screeds on closing track "Supermoon" are both products of single takes, other songs were built over time, like "Half Angel Half Light," a song that saw a slew of iterations (and, Samis recalls, caused one walkout), finally coming together after Chiericozzi conjured its aching acoustic riff. One song was built over multiple rooms: guitars in hand, Greenberg, Perro and Chiericozzi took to the basement to record "The Seeds" while Faulkner and Samis kept the groove on the floor above.

On New Moon, the Men found themselves toying with vocal harmonies more than ever before, forming a band-within-a-band they dubbed the Big Indian Singers. They doubled up on lead vocals on the opening track, "Open the Door," while choral "oohs" and "ahhs" roam about the country swooner "Bird Song" and blossom from the cracks on "Freaky."

"It's a physical thing I'd never experienced before," said Perro. "There's a reason the street corner dudes do it, 'cause when you're you're in a pocket and you can feel peoples' . . . " He trails off, looking for the right words, which Greenberg finds: "When you're singing at each other, you can feel the resonance."

Most of New Moon was recorded in the living room, but periodically Greenberg and co-engineer Kyle Keays-Hagerman would lace any space they saw fit – basement, bathroom, even outside – with mics to capture every coarse, cavernous corner of the house. It was the perfect fit for the raw, straight-to-tape sound the band wanted.

That wasn't the only benefit: "We were sorta thrown into this house for two weeks, and I think that allowed for everyone to get to know each other a little better," said Chiericozzi. "Even though we've lived together a lot on the road, this was a much more stable environment."

"We were having every meal together," added Perro.

"Cooking food together, picking records together," said Greenberg before being cut off by a grinning Perro: "Goin' into the hot tub together."

When the Men hit the road behind New Moon, they'll do it with a new lineup – same people, just some on different instruments. Samis will remain on drums, but Greenberg and Chiericozzi will play the guitars, Faulkner the bass, and Perro will play piano. (They'll also be testing some songs you won't hear on a recording until the next album.) For the Men, it's nothing more than the natural course of things.

"It's fun to play with arrangements and have a song that exists in different ways," said Perro. "It changes a lot of those songs, the vibe of those songs, and it's cool because then there's not even a definitive way. It's a thing that breathes and changes."

"And," added Greenberg, "it'll change again."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Iggy Pop and the Stooges Ready New Album for April Release

Scott Thurston, Steve Mackay, James Williamson, Iggy Pop, Scott Asheton and Mike Watt of The Stooges.

Iggy Pop and the Stooges are ready with a new record, Ready to Die, which will mark the first time Pop has worked with guitarist James Williamson and drummer Scott Asheton on a full album since their 1973 classic Raw Power. As he's done since the Stooges' 2003 reunion, Mike Watt will fill in for the late Ron Asheton on bass. It'll be Iggy and the Stooges' first album since 2007's The Weirdness, which was the last to feature Ron Asheton. Ready to Die is due April 30th on Fat Possum Records.

100 Greatest Singers: Iggy Pop

Pop kept busy last year with a self-released album of French pop classics, and guested on Ke$ha's latest release, Warrior. His 1970s collaboration with David Bowie in West Berlin is the subject of the forthcoming biopic Lust for Life.

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Elton John Previews New Album at L.A. Listening Party

Elton John performs at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.

"I'm not the sort of artist who'll get played on the radio," Elton John said yesterday in a studio on the west side of Los Angeles, explaining why he was hosting a small listening party for his next album, The Diving Board. While that might sound absurd coming from a man with a staggering 59 Top Forty hits in the United States, the last entry on that ledger was a LeAnn Rimes duet back in 1999. The Diving Board is unlikely to persuade radio program directors to stick him in heavy rotation, but it's John's best work in years: With the encouragement of producer T Bone Burnett, John returned to the piano/bass/drums arrangements of his earliest albums, making a stripped-down record that feels like a CinemaScope western. A beaming John said, "It's got everything I love about American music – gospel, soul, country."

He recorded most of the album in early 2012 and then put it aside for a while, busy with other projects (including the Elton John vs. Pnau remix record, Good Morning to the Night, which topped the British charts last year). Freed of the obligation to make a deadline, he was delighted to revisit the album with fresh ears after nine months. This January, he wrote a few new songs and did a second set of sessions (pushing the release date back to September, and bringing the overall studio time up to a grand total of five days). Stepping away from it meant "being able to put a little sugar on it," John said, "making it Eltonized." (It also meant having time to dither about the title: he went from The Diving Board to Voyeur and then back to The Diving Board.)

100 Greatest Artists: Elton John

Sitting in the control room of that studio, wearing an Adidas tracksuit and Nike sneakers without socks, Sir Elton listened intently to his own record, clasping his fingers, tapping his feet, even conducting with his left hand when one of the songs was garnished with cellos. Highlights included "Oceans Away," a melancholy ballad about dead soldiers; "My Quicksand," a cabaret tale of sliding into decadence ("I went to Paris once/ I thought I had a plan/ I woke up with an accent"), the boogie-woogie "Mexican Vacation (Kids in the Candelight)," and especially the title track, about the vertiginous distance between teenage dreams and adult success, which feels like it could stop the world spinning for five minutes.

John's longtime collaborator, Bernie Taupin, wrote the lyrics for 13 songs, showing his usual facility for both evocative couplets ("You're the diner in my rear view/ A cup of coffee getting cold") and overripe verbiage (the song about Oscar Wilde getting out of jail); John also improvised three short instrumentals. "It's the most piano-orientated record I've ever made," John said, sounding mildly astonished. Raphael Saadiq played the bass, Jay Bellerose the drums. Guest musicians included Doyle Bramhall II and Burnett on guitar, and Motown legend Jack Ashford on percussion. "On 'A Town Called Jubilee,' he used the same block he played on 'What's Going On'!" John marveled.

"Home Again" was a yearning ballad that seemed to sum up the album: while piano notes fell down like baptismal waters, John sang about wanting to go back home. What made it more than cheap nostalgia is that The Diving Board did feel like a homecoming. "It's the album I should be making after The Union," John said proudly, referring to his 2010 collaboration with Leon Russell, also produced by Burnett. "It's the most adult record I can make at my age. I'm just heading toward being 80 years old and playing at the Holiday Inn."

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Caitlin Rose Explores Matters of the Heart on 'The Stand-In' - Album Premiere

Click to listen to Caitlin Rose's album The Stand-In

Nashville-based country singer Caitlin Rose is set to release her second album, The Stand-In, March 5th on ATO Records. Blending pedal steel guitar with jumpy pop beats and rich instrumentation, the album produces a much different sound from Rose's previous albums. Through her indie-leaning yet twanging vocals, Rose reveals a talent for conveying her emotions through opaque narratives instead of straightforward confessionals.

The more dramatic elements of The Stand-In have led Rose to previously describe the album as her "first attempt at a high kick." The rollicking, rock-leaning opener "No One to Call" is certainly a diversion from past modesty; the swooning, lovestruck ballad "Pink Champagne" holds a retro, sweet roots simplicity in vein of Loretta Lynn. It's a touching yet audacious effort throughout.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Read more »

Caitlin Rose Explores Matters of the Heart on 'The Stand-In' - Album Premiere

Click to listen to Caitlin Rose's album The Stand-In

Nashville-based country singer Caitlin Rose is set to release her second album, The Stand-In, March 5th on ATO Records. Blending pedal steel guitar with jumpy pop beats and rich instrumentation, the album produces a much different sound from Rose's previous albums. Through her indie-leaning yet twanging vocals, Rose reveals a talent for conveying her emotions through opaque narratives instead of straightforward confessionals.

The more dramatic elements of The Stand-In have led Rose to previously describe the album as her "first attempt at a high kick." The rollicking, rock-leaning opener "No One to Call" is certainly a diversion from past modesty; the swooning, lovestruck ballad "Pink Champagne" holds a retro, sweet roots simplicity in vein of Loretta Lynn. It's a touching yet audacious effort throughout.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »