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Chief Keef is once again drawing attention to himself for all the wrong reasons. On Thursday afternoon, the 17-year-old rapper directed a tweet toward Katy Perry which read: “Ill Smack The Shit out of her” and was accompanied by an emoticon of an open hand.

Keef’s beef with Perry stems from a tweet she made on Tuesday. “Just heard a new song on the radio called ‘I hate being sober’ I now have serious doubt for the world,” Perry wrote. (“I Hate Being Sober” appears on Keef’s major label debut, Finally Rich.)

Keef responded with a series of outrageous tweets, including “Dat bitch Katy Perry Can Suck Skin Off Of my Dick.” Keef then implied that he’d be recording a diss track about Perry.

Late Thursday night, Perry responded to Keef: “Mr. Keef! I’m sorry if I offended you. I heard a lot of people guesting on the song & didn’t even know it was you in particular. Actually… I’m a fan of your ‘Don’t Like’ video tbh. I was really just having a general opinion on our generations desire to be constantly intoxicated.”

Earlier this week, Chief Keef was arrested in Atlanta and charged with disorderly conduct. He also remains on probation in Illinois stemming from an incident in 2011 in which he pulled a gun on a police officer. Earlier this year, he was sentenced to 60 days in prison for violating his proba...

Fancy heading to Manchester on June 8-9?

Manchester’s Parklife Weekender is quickly looking like one of those festivals that makes you wish you lived up North. They’ve got a devastating set of artists lined up, from rappers Action Bronson and Joey BadA$$ to producers TNGHT, Julio Bashmore and Martyn all the way through to alt-pop sensation Jessie Ware and ‘Harlem Shake’ man Baauer. FACT were actually asked to co-host a stage, and we’ve roped in Danny Brown, Disclosure, Four Tet, John Talabot, Daphni, AlunaGeorge, Lapalux, Krystal Klear and Cyril Hahn.

Sadly, weekend passes have now sold out, but don’t dispair, FACT have managed to procure a pair of VIP weekend tickets which we’ll be handing out to one lucky reader. If you fancy your chances, just shoot us an email at competitions@thevinylfactory.com, with ‘Parklife VIP’ in the subject field and your name and telephone number in the message body. It’s that simple – we’ll see you there.

For more information on the festival and to purchase tickets head here.

Queens of the Stone Age shook the sold out Wiltern Theatre with a performance that was worthy of arenas. Unveiling a slew of tracks from their new album …Like Clockwork, Queens deftly interjected older songs in with the newer material as you may have witnessed during the live broadcast for NPR. The whole concert is now on YouTube and you can watch below. In the live format, the new songs had extra layers of muscle and bone that Queens are know for providing. Them Crooked Vultures guitarist Alain Johannes did a handful of acoustic songs to kick off the show. Check out the photo gallery above and the setlist below.

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I’ve come to accept that, as I get older, more and more of my job will entail staring at people younger and sexier than I am or ever was.

Prince recorded his new single “Fixurlifeup” with 3rd Eye Girl, the new badass all-female backing band that played with him at last weekend’s Billboard Music Awards. The song is practically a grunge swirl with a Prince vocal over the top, at least until it turns into early-’90s funk-metal near the end, and it’s really fucking good. The new video, from director Sanaa Hamri, captures a bunch of electric live footage from a recent San Diego show. With most people, a live-footage music video is a total halfass move. Not with Prince. Watch it below.

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Wolvhammer @ Union Pool, 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro)

YACHT @ T5, 2012 (more by Diana Wong)

today in NYC
* Lemuria @ Maxwell's
* Lettuce @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Fierce Bad Rabbit @ Joe's Pub
* Canellakis-Brown Duo @ Barbes
* Mariah Carey @ Rumsey Playfield
* Rob Curto's Forro All Star @ Barbes
* fun. @ Seaside Heights Boardwalk
* Skream, Mala, Plastician, Hatcha @ SRB
* Glorior Belli, Wolvhammer @ Union Pool
* The Westerlies Play Horvitz @ The Stone
* Pass This On: Robyn Gets Weird @ The Bell House
* Journalism, Ocean View, Weird Womb @ Cake Shop
* Napoleon, Grand Resort, Night Dogs @ Cameo Gallery
* Seasick Mama, I Am Lightyear, Loveskills @ Glasslands
* Trabajo, Wei Zhongle, NUD, Shenzhen @ Ran Tea House
* Laura Stevenson, Owen, Field Mouse @ Bowery Ballroom
* Historics, The Heaven's Jail Band, 1-800-BAND @ The Flat
* Butter The Children, Big Muff, Roses, Ceramics @ Big Snow
* DJ Rashad, DJ Spinn, Soulja Man, Durban, TCJ @ 285 Kent
* Elijah Ocean, North of Nashville, Juniper Rising @ Union Hall
* Alkaline Trio, Bayside, Off With Their Heads @ Best Buy Theater
* Sage Francis, Prolyphic, B. Dolan, Metermaids @ Knitting Factory
* Deformity, Thee Nodes, Missionary, Nerv, Sucia @ Death By Audio
* Fresh Daily, Gizmo, Mariami, C-Sick, Elevation Theory @ Paper Box
* Gesaffeistein, Brodinski, LOUISAHHH!!!, Alex ...

As the mid-point to 2013 draws in and summer (hopefully) gets into full swing, we always look forward to Field Day as the sort of pre-drinks to the festival season. Always with a strong, varied line up, Victoria Park’s annual jolly is a must for all of our great city’s citizens, but who are we, the tastemakers, the blog-types, looking forward to catching? Well, we’ll tell you…

TNGHT

Lunice and Hudson Mohawke’s joint side project is always a heady promise of fist-in-the-air uber-bombast and total fun. Playing tracks from their self titled EP, released last year, and various productions from them individually, expect speedy snares, hammy hi hats and horns that’ll blow your straw fedora off you LOSER.

VONDELPARK

Souf London trio dropped their debut LP Seabed a lil while back, and we were very impressed indeed. We’re excited to see if their brand of highly melodic and gloomy music translates to a sunny day out, our money’s on a strong ‘yes’.

BOK BOK & GIRL UNIT (LIVE)

Night Slugs has long been one of our favourite labels, with it and sister label Fade To Mind, releasing some of the best dance music of the last 5+ years. Two of the main dons, Girl Unit and honcho Bok Bok will be performing tracks live, like Bok’s creepy grime Silo Pass and G-U’s tearful Wut.

CHARANJIT SINGH

Acton...

by Andrew Sacher

Julio Bashmore

Bristol, UK house producer Julio Bashmore has released some singles and EPs over the past few years, like "Au Seve," the first release on his own Boardwalk label, and earlier this year he provided the dancefloor-ready beat to Jessie Ware's "Imagine It Was Us" single (and some of her Devotion LP). He also released a collaborative single with Kowton called "Mirror Song" this month via Boardwalk, which was backed by Kowton's new track, "And What?." You can check out the video for "Mirror Song" and a stream of "And What?" below.

Julio is set to come to North America for a tour here this August. That tour includes his opening slot at the previously discussed Disclosure/TNGHT co-headlining show at Central Park Summerstage on August 6 (tickets), and his appearance at the just-announced Warm Up summer series at MoMA PS1. Julio plays Warm Up on August 10 with Detroit techno vets Octave One (live), Hyetal, and DJ Dodger Stadium (aka Jerome LOL and Samo Sound Boy). Tickets for all Warm Up shows go on sale June 5 at noon.

Hyetal, who also hails from Bristol, makes UK-style dubstep under his own name, and is also part of the duo Velour with Julio Bashmore. Earlier this year, Velour released the dancey single "Speedway" b/w "Dial," which you can stream both tracks from below. Hyetal's new solo album, Mod...

I’m not entirely sure this week’s pick for best video even qualifies as a music video; it certainly stretches the definition. But in its impeccable planning and its flawless execution, it captured imaginations over the weekend and dominated the conversation come Monday. It felt like an actual honest-to-god event, and how many of those do we get anymore? I’m talking, of course, about the Miguel legdrop gif. Just kidding. Our picks are below.

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