Read The Lastest Music News/Reviews

Last night marked the season finale of Saturday Night Live and the final episode for several veteran cast members. Though he hasn’t made a formal announcement, Fred Armisen all but confirmed his departure from the show with an epic, heartwarming musical sendoff during the final moments of tonight’s episode. Armisen’s punk rock alter-ego Ian Rubbish led a star-studded performance of “I’ve Had a Lovely Night” featuring fellow cast members Bill Hader (who’s already announced his exit) and Jason Sudeikis (who’s also “probably” leaving), along with Armisen’s longtime friends and collaborators: Sleater-Kinney/Wild Flag’s Carrie Brownstein (who co-stars on Portlandia with Armisen), Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis, Aimee Mann, and even Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones.

Last night’s episode also feature Kanye West, who performed two brand new songs. Replay his performance here.

Yeezy Season is in full bloom: What began with a surprise performance in New York City on Wednesday night continued Friday night with the worldwide premiere of “New Slaves” has now culminated into a trip to 30 Rockefeller Center for his fifth appearance on Saturday Night Live, and first public performance behind his sixth solo album, Yeezus.

The first performance was of a new song titled “Black Skinhead”, featuring a sample of Marilyn Manson’s “Beautiful People”. He was accompanied by an impressive barrage of found imagery and slogans like “Not For Sale”, “Followers”, and “New Art”.

Kanye followed that up with “New Slaves”, in which he stood completely still while spit-firing the song’s lyrics one hundred miles a minute. The accompanying visuals appeared to be a zoomed in version of the video that was projected on 66 buildings around the world on Friday night.

Replay both performances below.

Yeezus is due out June 18th via Def Jam.

“Black Skinhead”:

“New Slaves”:

Kanye West will follow up 2010′s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with his sixth studio LP titled Yeezus. Kanye’s girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, posted a picture of the album on Instagram. According to Rap-Up, a release date is set for June 18th.

This follows the premiere of the song “New Slaves” last night which was projected on 66 different buildings in North America, Europe, and Australia. Kanye is also expected to debut new material on tonight’s episode of Saturday Night Live.

The album was recorded in Paris alongside a number of guest contributors, including Daft Punk, TNGHT, Frank Ocean, Chief Keef, and Azealia Banks.

As it turns out, Kanye West isn’t the only rapper set to make a cameo in Anchorman 2. As the New York Daily News reports, Drake was spotted filming a scene for the movie in New York City on Saturday. The Daily News also has photos from the set, in which Drizzy sports a puffy afro and leather jacket. Still nothing compared to Kanye’s wolf t-shirt though.

Anchorman: The Legend Continues stars Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, and Steve Carell, among many others, and is set to hit theaters later this year.

In the meantime, let’s revisit some of Drake’s past acting work:

And here’s a new trailer for the album:

The Rolling Stones’

Seattle’s Big Eyes just released their sophomore full-length Almost Famous via Grave Mistake Records. The group have been playing around in various cities since 2009, and in 2011 released a debut full-length Hard Life. That record was an instant classic no-filler collection of poppy rock and roll songs, and their new LP is just as essential. Check out the second track “Wanted Sometimes” below, as well as all upcoming tour dates. Stream the record in its entirety via Bandcamp.

Read More...

Last month we all heard the noisy melodic punk track “Pyro Hippies” by Cincinnati trio Vacation, from their forthcoming full-length for Don Giovanni, Candy Waves. Now the band have released another track from the album, the title track “Candy Waves.” In a recent Q&A, drummer/vocalist Jerri Panic told us about the inspirations behind the Candy Waves: “To me, the majority of the first record was written from the perspective of how I viewed society at the time and some of it

The first considerations when attending a music festival on the beach are sartorial. Do you opt for filp-flops to facilitate the inevitable footwear removal and thereby risk blisters from stomping on plastic slabs all day, or do you go with sneakers to account for all that pavement pounding and thereby risk carrying them around all day (or worse, trudging around with sand in your shoes)? Do you wear a swimsuit to allow for a quick dip or more conventional pants so you can keep your phone, wallet and other necessities safely close by? Do you bring along accessories like a towel and a bag, or do you keep the frills to a minimum so there

On Record is a regular feature on FACT in which we ask an artist we admire to pick a record that means a lot to them, and use it as a jumping off point for a conversation.

In this instalment we caught up with Contakt, who debuted on Local Action [disclosure: a label run independently by FACT's Tom Lea] in 2010 and has since released singles through DJ /rupture’s Dutty Artz label and promising San Francisco imprint Icee Hot. Brought up in Detroit’s city sister Lansing, Contakt spent several years running the city’s Vinyl Addict record store before moving to New York, where he took on a managerial role at the Fat Beats distribution network and launched TURRBOTAX®, a monthly party that regularly brings established artists like Terrence Parker and Robert Hood to NYC, but also is prepared to take risks on less established artists like Altered Natives.

Michigan plays a huge part in Contakt’s productions; not in the sense that he makes music that sounds like the past (or, even worse, sticks played-out vocal samples about Detroit in them), but that he uses the techno template as a blank canvas to paint pictures of the stars. Like a certain pair of robots who’ve been in the news of late, he shouts out his teachers at every opportunity – teachers who, in the case of Robert Hood and Rolando, have now remixed his records – but is firmly on his own wave. We...

Last month, Kurt Vile released his fifth studio album Wakin on A Pretty Daze via Matador. In support of its release, Vile and his band stopped by Late Show with David Letterman last night to play “Wakin on a Pretty Day.” Head to CBS.com to stream last night’s episode of Letterman; the performance is at 38:55.

Any Port In A Storm is the new record by Scott & Charlene’s Wedding, the noisy indie-pop songwriting project of Craig Dermody. On “Fakin NYC,” the native Australian deadpans lines about the confusion he’s feeling after moving to New York. He chronicles a firsthand experience working as a security guard at a super-exclusive nightclub, and a general disillusionment with the people one might run into there. “Fakin’ in New York City / I’ll let you in on a secret of mine,” Dermody sings. “I don’t know what I’m doing any of the time.” Check it out below. Any Port is out in July via Fire Records and includes the band’s first new recordings in over two years, following a debut LP Para Vista Social Club as well as the Two Weeks EP.

Read More...