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(Nick Albrook, pictured second to the left)

Few bands have had as much success recently as Tame Impala, yet that hasn’t stopped bassist Nick Allbrook from walking away. In an official statement, the band announced that Allbrook will be “hopping off the Tame Impala band wagon so that he can try and screw his head back on, and make an attempt to assimilate back into society. A task the rest of us fear we will one day have to perform….”

Allbrook further explained his decision in an interview with NME: “All bands and projects and stuff will keep going, it’s just hard to keep them all going if you’re touring all the time,” he said. “The only bad part will be not seeing my mates every day. I love them more than anything.”

Allbrook will be replaced in the band by Cam Avery of the band Pond, which ironically enough is fronted by Allbrook himself.

Tame Impala will spend much of the summer touring the work, including festival appearances at Primavera Sound, Sasquatch!, and Bonnaroo. Check out the band’s full tour schedule here.

Earlier this month, we learned that Sigur Rós would guest on, and provide music for, an episode of The Simpsons entitled “The Saga Of Carl,” one that involves Homer’s friend Carl returning to his homeland in Iceland. We also learned what they’d look like. Well, last night, the episode aired, and Sigur Rós were indeed in it for a split second. (There’s also a quick cameo from someone who looks like Björk.) But the real draw, from a music standpoint, is that Sigur Rós gave the episode a whole lot of dreamy, slow-floating music, including an ethereal end-credits rendition of the show’s theme song. As Pitchfork points out, you can now watch the episode online here; you’ll find Björk at 11:15 and Sigur Rós at 17:20.

You can finally stream the duo’s eagerly-anticipated second album.

Mount Kimbie‘s follow-up to the critically acclaimed Crooks & Lovers has been subject to plenty of speculation, not least thanks to some left-leaning

Mr. Beatnick always seemed, to us, destined to go down as one of those great underrated DJs – the sort of guy that half of London knows, and an even larger percentage of the city has danced to, but never quite got his due outside of the capital.

Thankfully, that seems to be changing. Although he’s produced music for well over a decade – and released some well-received singles in that time: his Ahu-featuring ‘I Know All The Bitches’ was a highlight of Alexander Nut’s Rinse CD, and his ‘The Fourth Day’ 7″ was simply a delight – Mr. Beatnick’s stock has really risen in the last year, when a trilogy of 12″ EPs for the Don’t Be Afraid label - Synthetes, Sun Goddess and Savannah - proved an unexpected success with the wider house community.

It’s really overdue: we’ve sung Beatnick’s praises before, and yes, he writes for us in his spare time (check his Essential guides to Theo Parrish, Giorgio Moroder and more) but he really is someone who deserves the hype he’s started to get – a DJ with an encyclopaedic knowledge of his records, who simply loves playing them and talking about them. In a weird way, we guess that makes him a traditionalist, and his FACT mix is long, long overdue.

Tracklist:
Typesun – Last Home (Dj Nature Remix) ...

The Space Sunday sessions are set to get that bit more crucial this year.

Ibiza’s

As promised, last night’s episode of The Simpsons featured a cameo from Sigur Rós, along with original music from the band serving as the soundtrack. The episode saw Homer, Moe, and Lenny travel to Iceland in pursuit of Carl, who fled to the country with a winning lottery ticket. Sigur Rós appeared as animated characters during a gathering of local townspeople in Iceland (scroll to the 17:20 mark). Their music soundtracked several scenes, and they also reworked the show’s theme song for the end credits.

The episode is available to replay online through The Simpson‘s website. Also be on the lookout for a brief cameo from Björk and her swan dress (scroll to the 11:15 mark.)

According to Sigur Rós, with this episode the band has written and performed more original music for The Simpsons than any other outside band in the show

Krakow’s ever-stimulating Unsound Festival has announced its first acts for 2013.

Following last year’s investigation into ‘The End’, 2013′s umbrella theme has been confirmed as ‘Interference’ – a word encompassing the physics of sound, the interlocking mesh of digital signals at play in advanced society, and “the meaning of “underground” in today’s networked, commodified and data-driven world.”

Ambient music hero Robert Rich will be resurrecting his infamous 1980s “sleep concerts” concept, where lengthy ambient suites were played to sleeping or dozing audiences in San Francisco. Rich will perform one of these shows-cum-installations for the first time since 1996. Porter Ricks, responsible for the dub techno touchstone Biokinetics, will perform their first live show in many years, a major coup for the festival. Dylan Carlson’s almighty Earth will be showcasing their sludgy brand of country-inflected doom – somewhat unbelievably, the show will be their first ever performance on Polish territory.

Festival regular Monolake will present a new show, Lumière. Inspired by recent installation projects, the laser-assisted show promises “intense grids of bass and spectral noises.” Lovers Rock acolytes turned beefy shoe gazers King Mid...

Krakow’s ever-stimulating Unsound Festival has announced its first acts for 2013.

Following last year’s investigation into ‘The End’, 2013′s umbrella theme has been confirmed as ‘Interference’ – a word encompassing the physics of sound, the interlocking mesh of digital signals at play in advanced society, and “the meaning of “underground” in today’s networked, commodified and data-driven world.”

Ambient music hero Robert Rich will be resurrecting his infamous 1980s “sleep concerts” concept, where lengthy ambient suites were played to sleeping or dozing audiences in San Francisco. Rich will perform one of these shows-cum-installations for the first time since 1996. Porter Ricks, responsible for the dub techno touchstone Biokinetics, will perform their first live show in many years, a major coup for the festival. Dylan Carlson’s almighty Earth will be showcasing their sludgy brand of country-inflected doom – somewhat unbelievably, the show will be their first ever performance on Polish territory.

Festival regular Monolake will present a new show, Lumière. Inspired by recent installation projects, the laser-assisted show promises “intense grids of bass and spectral noises.” Lovers Rock acolytes turned beefy shoe gazers King Mid...