photo by Jim Bennett
- After pulling an all-nighter working on their new album, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis appeared on the Morning Show today with an announcement about new music from the duo. The Seattle-based duo announced that their debut album, The Heist, will be released on October 9th and to support it, they’ll be embarking on an extensive (56 dates with more still to come) world tour. Among those dates include stops at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom (October 11th), Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre (October 13th) and Seattle’s WaMu Theatre (October 12th), which will have a presale through KEXP this Thursday. Keep your eyes peeled on the KEXP Facebook page for more information.
- Ahead of their sold-out show at the Showbox next Wednesday, the xx have released more details about their forthcoming sophomore album, Coexist (out September 11th through Young Turks). Additionally, they’ve announced an exhaustive fall tour, including another stop in Seattle on October 6th at the Paramount Theatre. If you can’t wait until then to hear the new songs, you can listen to “Angels”, the album’s first single, below and look at the album artwork and tracklist over at Stereogum.
- On a note posted on their website, Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos announced the cancellation of six shows in order to “take time to work on improving my mental health” to prevent “further disruptions” in the band’s tour behind their sophomore album, Gossamer. At the moment, the band is set to resume the tour (including an appearance at Bumbershoot on September 3rd) with an appearance at Lollapalooza on August 3rd. In other, better Passion Pit news, you can stream Gossamer ahead of its July 24th release over at NPR.
- Never one to back away from a challenge, Jack White has made his most explosive solo video yet with the release of his Hype Williams-directed clip for “Freedom at 21″. While the video for “Sixteen Saltines” featured Jack trying to survive in a child-ruled wasteland, “Freedom” finds Jack as an outlaw in a neon green hot-rod being chased by a flock of female police officers. There’s vibrant color, crazy action sequences, and an inexplicable-but-also-somehow-perfectly-sensible Josh Homme cameo. Watch it below and feel sorry for every subsequent Jack White video that will undoubtedly be judged against this one.
- Fresh off a summer reunion tour, Ben Folds Five will release their first album in 13 years, entitled The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind, on September 18th through ImaVeePee Records/Sony Music Entertainment. The album, which was funded through crowdsourcing on PledgeMusic, will be supported by a tour that last through the rest of the year. Although there’s no Northwestern date at the moment, you can still check out the band’s itinerary, as well as the album’s artwork and tracklisting, over at Consequence of Sound.
- And one more thing to watch... Icelandic artist Sóley has just released a pretty new video for “Pretty Face.” Watch it here: