"I was really surprised. I didn't know anything about it. I wasn't happy about it," Madonna told Seacrest of M.I.A.'s flipped bird.

"I understand it's punk rock and everything, but to me there was such a feeling of love and good energy and positivity, it seemed negative. It's such a teenager...irrelevant thing to do," she continued. "What was the point? It was just out of place."

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Continue reading "Madonna adds 2nd Yankee Stadium show; "M.I.A." discusses middle finger on SNL (that Zooey Deschanel hosted)"

Sleigh Bells @ The Studio in 2009 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Like Lana Del Rey and Bon Iver before them....

"Sleigh Bells will make their network television debut as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on Saturday, February 18th, airing on NBC at 11:30 pm EST. The Brooklyn duo will be playing the brand new songs "Comeback Kid" and "End of the Line" from their forthcoming album Reign of Terror, which will be available on February 21st on Mom+Pop Music. The band will be performing on the show hosted by Bridesmaids star and SNL alum Maya Rudolph.

Sleigh Bells' Washington D.C. and Toronto shows, on Feb 16 and Feb 18 respectively, have been rescheduled for late March. All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the rescheduled shows. The new dates and venue details are below.

Sleigh Bells will also appear on the cover of SPIN Magazine's new-look March/April issue, which hits newsstands on February 28th."

Continue reading "Sleigh Bells playing Saturday Night Live "

by Ryan Barkan

The Darkness played a Superbowl commercial

Another Super Bowl, another year where the Cowboys didn't win, and another year of music-filled commercials. The Patriots entered the field to "Crazy Train" by English metal god Ozzy Osbourne (who is currently having a feud of his own with an old bandmate). The Giants entered to "Written in the Stars" by English rapper Tinie Tempah.

Did you catch that map of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the Samsung commercial for their Galaxy (with stylus!)? You know, the one that had a sweet use of The Darkness jam "I Believe In A Thing Called Love"? Yeah, it was there and showed a close up of Berry and N. 1st in Google Maps. Did I mention they also have a stylus? The Darkness are currently in NYC, played Irving Plaza on Superbowl eve and do so again tonight (2/6). Watch the ad which stars the band's Justin Hawkins, below.

My personal favorite music-based commercial of Super Bowl XLVI goes to the Mr. Sandman-induced dream sequence in a new Kia commercial that featured two great music choices.

The spot starts with the Chordettes' "Mr. Sandman" for the first few seconds of the commercial. That song makes way for something completely different, like Motley Crüe. The band actually shows up and plays inside the race track-themed dream of the alpha male hero. He drives the track to impress Adrianna Lima while the Crüe shred on "Kickstart My Heart". Watch "A Dream Car For Real Life" below.

In the "did I just hear Megafaun in a commercial" category, Megafaun wins one for the little guys and gets a song used in a new Toyota ad. The band's song "Hope You Know" sounds super good as the soundtrack to a story-esque spot for the Camry model. Watch it below.

Also of significant note was another brand-infused OK GO music video. The band collaborated with Chevrolet to make a commercial/music video for the song "Needing/Getting", off the 2010 album Of The Blue Colour Of the Sky. The band is filmed strapped inside a Chevy Sonic, singing and utilizing both the car and a strategically placed course sprinkled with over 1100 instruments that more or less sound like the studio version of the song. The set up is meticulous, as is the band's ability to show up in a paid advertisement in an easily-digestible, yet very memorable way.

My single most favorite lyric placed in a Super Bowl commercial goes to the lines I know it must be killing time / unknowingly mine. Audi tries to end the whole Vampire craze with its 2012 game day commercial featuring Echo & The Bunnymen's "Killing Moon." Watch below.

continued below...

Continue reading "music & commercials of Super Bowl XLVI (Darkness, Motley Crue, Megafaun, Art Brut, OK Go, Echo & the Bunnymen, Madonna & more)"

St. Vincent @ Portlandia @ Bowery Ballroom (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Look for St. Vincent "on a special Valentine's Day episode of Gossip Girl, Feb 13, performing "Cruel" and "Cheerleader." The show airs Monday, February 13, at 8pm/7pmc on The CW." I honestly didn't even realize Gossip Girl was still a thing until I heard this news. I do however religiously watch Portlandia which featured a guest spot by Annie this week, about two weeks after she was Fred & Carrie's guest at Bowery Ballroom. You can watch her clip from the TV show (Isaac Brock was on the episode too), with a bunch of tour dates and other stuff, below...

Continue reading "St. Vincent was on Portlandia (video), will be on Gossip Girl"

"Rolling Stone asked me to speak about Lana Del Rey. I wanted to know how big my participation in the piece would be-was it substantial or just a quote? Just a quote, they said, to which I replied that I wasn't super interested. Which was a lie. I have a lot to say about her, but no sound bites. You see, Lana Del Rey is exactly what I was hoping to inspire when I took on the male rock establishment almost twenty years ago with my debut record, "Exile In Guyville.""... [Liz Phair]

And speaking of LDR, who recently performed on Letterman, Bon Iver wasn't the only musical guest on Saturday Night Live last night. Lana Del Rey, who was on two weeks earlier, came back to discuss her famous performance on Weekend Update with Seth Meyers. Check out the video below...

Continue reading "Lana Del Rey returned to SNL! What does Liz Phair think?"

a handsome-looking Justin Vernon on Saturday Night Live

Though we won't see him/them performing at the Grammys ("We wanted to play our music, but were told that we couldn't play. We had to do a collaboration with someone else," Justin said), Bon Iver played two songs off their latest album on Saturday Night Live last night (2/4). Watch both songs below.

Earlier the same day, Wisconsin's WEAU profiled the Grammy-nominated artist on the evening news, interviews with Justin's parents and his co-manager Kyle Frenette included.

"Music was always around the house, we made all the kids take piano lessons," says Justine. "With Justin, he didn't really like the piano all that much, especially when I was teaching him for a while. That did not work out, but he asked if he could quit piano if he went to guitar. From that point on it was him and his guitar always."

Gil says he did what he can to make sure Justin had a place to practice.

"We actually partitioned a room in the basement right below us with sound proof in the wall, so we could actually sit in the room where we're speaking now and watch TV and have a full conversation in spite of the fact that we had nine kids down there with trombones, trumpet, two saxophones, three guitars and a keyboard all plugged in," he says.

Today, Bon Iver is also made up of nine musicians, but the Vernons didn't always know their now 30-year-old son and his band would make is this far.

"We always thought that he had talent but we're his parents, you have to take that with a grain of salt," says Justine.

Continue reading "Bon Iver played SNL & his parents were on the news (videos)"

Paul definitely thinks so. Watch the video below...

Continue reading "Lana Del Rey redeems self on Letterman? (video)"

Don Cornelius, the creator of TV's "Soul Train," has died at the age of 75.

Los Angeles police say the TV host/producer died of self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

A press information officer at the Los Angeles Police Department told CBS Radio News that police responded to a call of a shooting at Cornelius' home. There is no suspicion of foul play.

"Soul Train" debuted on television in 1971 and ran until 2006. Cornelius produced the show and was its host from 1971-1993. -[CBS News]

Continue reading "Don Cornelius, R.I.P."

Nonesuch Records reports:

Björk--whose ten-night Biophilia residency in New York City begins this Friday night--will be the guest on tonight's episode of The Colbert Report. Tune in to Comedy Central starting at 11:30 PM ET tonight (1/31) to see Björk perform "Cosmogony" from the album Biophilia.

Björk will also talk with host Stephen Colbert about the Biophilia multimedia project: the album, released last fall; the Apps, which were released through iTunes in conjunction with the album; the educational series featuring interactive science and music workshops for school children; and the residency, which includes six shows at the New York Hall of Science in Queens and four at Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan.

Check out the recently-released "björk: biophilia: tour app tutorial" video below...

Continue reading "Björk is on The Colbert Report tonight (NYC residency begins Friday; app out now)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Like he did the night before at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Hugh Cornwell showed up as Fred Armisen & Carrie Brownstein's special guest at Bowery Ballroom on 1/21 (the second NYC show on the the Portlandia live tour). This time Hugh played hit single "Golden Brown" by his band The Stranglers to the sold out Manhattan crowd. Bowery showgoers also got live appearances by Portland mayor Kyle MacLachlan and music by Annie Clark aka St. Vincent (who just announced a tour). Annie covered Pearl Jam's "Black" at the Feminist Bookstore Pop Up Shop (Eddie Vedder, who recently announced a tour, was also a guest on the IFC show this season). Video of the cover with more pictures and the setlist of the show, below...

Continue reading "St. Vincent & Kyle MacLachlan joined Fred & Carrie for Portlandia @ Bowery Ballroom (pics, video setlist)"