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With a grind of synths and a few involuntary twitches, Detroit

It's the politically incorrect stance to take, but I am pro-pigeonholing - in theory, anyway. An inbox with colour coded labels is one to be revered and emulated. Sadly, I've never found myself with the patience or tenacity to go much beyond multi-hued stars for emails that I will remember to have a look at one year down the line.

Similarly, the Dewey Decimal System, washing machine settings, actual pigeonholes, and rubbish bins, all serve to demonstrate the triumph of segregation. Catalogue your life. Label your experiences. Consider the science and the religion that tell us that the grandest complexities are just larger manifestations of the simplest event. Consider how psychology has reduced an endless continuum of human experience to six basic emotions.

Consider how much I rely on labels to make my job easier.

Bloody Thought Forms.

Ghost Mountain is an album so musically ambiguous, it is impossible stow it away under a conveniently selected all-encompassing genre. Which is actually a Good Thing because no one likes to be labelled (nor should they be), but, conversely, everyone loves speaking in labels. If it weren't for genres we'd be forced to validate Roland Barthes' snide observation that music criticism is simply the scattered 'poorest of linguistic categories: the adjective'.

Adjectives, adverbs, and descriptors in general are horrific (see what I did there?). As a rule, they tend to take more away from a statement,...

Sound System" src="http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Clash210513.jpg" alt="The Clash announce new boombox-shaped box set, Sound System" width="642" height="390" />

Punk warriors The Clash will go all LL Cool J on a new box-set, overseen by guitarist Mick Jones. 

The Sound System box-set will feature the band’s first five LPs – that’s The Clash (1977), Give ‘Em Enough Rope (1978), London Calling (1979), Sandinista! (1980) and Combat Rock (1982) – remastered from the original tapes by Jones. The set will also include three CDs of rarities, demos and singles, a DVD featuring previously unreleased footage, and a fresh edition of the band’s iconic Armagideon Time zine. Art direction has been co-ordinated by Clash bassist Paul Simonon, who has elected to design the box in the shape and style of a vintage boombox.

According to Jones, the “concept of the whole thing is: best box set ever”:

“Remastering’s a really amazing thing. That was the musical point of it all, because there’s so much there that you wouldn’t have heard before. It was like discovering stuff, because the advances in mastering are so immense since the last time [the Clash back catalogue] was remastered in the 90s…We had to bake the tapes beforehand

Noted chicken enthusiast Beyoncé toasts her maturity in her new single. 

Snippets of ‘Grown Woman’ first appeared in last month’s rug-pulling Pepsi advert. In contrast to the lacquered surfaces of The 20/20 Experience, ‘Grown Woman’ sees Timbo on playful and experimental form, crafting an instrumental that’s two parts moombahton, one part Song Of The South. B, aided and abetted by The-Dream, continues to push the warrior queen motifs found on ‘Run The World (Girls)’ and ‘Bow Down/I Been On’.

Note: The-Dream’s also been working with Beyoncé cohort Kelly Rowland. FACT’s review of Beyoncé’s recent O2 jaunt is here. [via Miss Info]

The National celebrated this week’s release of their Top Star-earning album Trouble Will Find Me with an appearance on another New York institution: The Late Show with David Letterman. The band performed “Don’t Swallow the Cap” accompanied by a string section — watch the replay below.

Good, right? You know what else is good: Michael Roffman’s new Cover Story on the band. Read it here.

The-Dream and Kelly Rowland both have new albums due out in the coming weeks, which they’ll support with a joint tour. Last night, the duo appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where they performed their collaboration “Where Have You Been” from The-Dream’s IV Play. Watch the replay below.

Take a listen to the studio version of the track:

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/93069394" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

IV arrives May 28th via Radio Killa/Def Jam, followed by Rowland’s Talk a Good Game on June 18th via Republic.

The-Dream and Kelly Rowland Tour Dates:
05/24 – Kansas City, MO @ The Midland
05/26 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
05/28 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head
05/29 – Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre
05/30 – New York, NY @ Best Buy Theater
05/31 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of the Living Arts
06/05 – Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
06/06 – Orlando, FL @ House of Blues
06/07 – Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues
06/13 – Jackson, MI @ Thalia Mara Hall
06/14 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Varsity Theatre
06/15 – Houston, TX @ Arena Theatre
06/16 – Dallas, TX @ Palladium
06/20 – Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak
06/21 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
06/22 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s...

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

YYYs @ GoogaMooga 2013

We've already posted photos from the first two bands (The Darkness and The Flaming Lips) to play the Great GoogaMooga kickoff concert on Friday (5/17). Here are a set from headliners Yeah Yeah Yeahs who were the only band to actually get to play after sunset. A few shots of Chairlift, who played two different DJ sets that day and who will perform in the same location of the park this summer, are also in this post.

Did you go on Friday? How was your GoogaMooga experience?

Right after playing GoogaMooga, YYYs hopped down to Gulf Shores, Alabama to play the 2013 Hangout Fest on Sunday (5/19).

"About halfway through the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Hangout Music Festival set, frontwoman Karen O took a moment to make a special announcement before playing the band's 2004 breakout single "Maps." "This is dedicated to Stevie Wonder," she called out to the thousands of fans who showed up to catch the Yeah's set. The iconic R&B star was slated to follow the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the Hangout Stage as the weekend's headliner." [MTV]

Despite not having the most successful event either this year (rain) or last year (lines), a Channel 12 report claims GoogaMooga will be back in 2014. Meanwhile, BV Chicago reports that GoogaMooga might be coming to Chicago in A...