[News] W Magazine Interviews Kanye West

As Yeezus seeps further into the public consciousness, Kanye has begun putting himself out there, revealing intimate details through rare and selective interviews. The first was his interview with The New York Times, where he was open about moments throughout his career, his failings and also his successes. Now, the fashion magazine W has published an interview with Kanye that occurred in Paris just before Yeezus was released.

The interview revealed a Kanye that, as much as he is boastful and self-aggrandizing, understands the importance of inspiration and the effect others can have on oneself. Speaking on Paris, where he recorded Yeezus, he said, "In Paris, you’re as far as possible from the land of pleasant smiles. You can just trip on inspiration—there are so many people here who dedicate their lives to excellence."

For example, the song "I Am A God," a title that flaunts a self-absorbed mind, came about because of a major fashion designer's poor decision to attempt control, effectively dissing Yeezy:

[A] few days before Paris Fashion Week, West was informed that he'd be invited to a widely anticipated runway show only on the condition that he agree not to attend any other shows. "So the next day I went to the studio with Daft Punk, and I wrote 'I Am a God,'" West says. "Cause it’s like, Yo! Nobody can tell me where I can and can’t go. Man, I’m the No. 1 living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix." West is not smiling as he says this, and his voice is getting louder with each sentence. "You can’t say that you love music and then say that Kanye West can’t come to your show! To even think they could tell me where I could and couldn’t go is just ludicrous. It's blasphemous—to rock 'n' roll, and to music.""

He went on to reason why he chose the title "I Am A God": "I made that song because I am a god. I don’t think there’s much more explanation. I'm not going to sit here and defend shit. That shit is rock 'n' roll, man. That shit is rap music. I am a god. Now what?"

Kanye even embraced the shortcomings of his opinionated voice, understanding that his way of expressing that opinion doesn't always work the way he wants it to: "God's little practical joke on me—as an intellect who doesn't like to read a lot—is like, I'll say some superphilosophical shit, but I'll say it the wrong way. I'll use the wrong word, so it goes from being really special to completely retarded."

You can read the entire interview here.

[News] Arctic Monkeys Announce New Album, 'AM'

As I predicted on Saturday Morning, Arctic Monkeys have just out of the blue announced their fifth studio album, AM, which will be released on the 9th of September. It features twelve tracks, three of which we've already heard. The new single "Do I Wanna Know?" along with "Mad Sounds" and "R U Mine?" will be joined by another 9, some of which star some interesting sounding guest spots. Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, former member of The Coral, Bill Ryder-Jones and Elvis Costello's drummer too, Pete Thomas. It's been produced by James Ford, and co-produced by Ross Orton at two Los Angeles studios: Sage & Sound Recordingand Rancho De La Luna, Joshua Tree. 

Mark your calendars and get excited. I'm sure we'll have plenty of previews before then. Also you should be extra pumped this week as the band are set to headline Glastonbury this weekend and it'll be televised on the BBC. Check out the new single and tracklist below.

AM Tracklisting:

1. Do I Wanna Know?
2. R U Mine?
3. One For The Road
4. Arabella
5. I Want It All
6. No. 1 Party Anthem
7. Mad Sounds
8. Fireside
9. Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
10. Snap Out Of It
11. Knee Socks
12. I Wanna Be Yours

[News] Arcade Fire to Release New Music on September 9th

We know Arcade Fire has been working on new material. James Murphy recently told Rolling Stone the band recorded at DFA Records' studio in March. Hell, in an interview last fall band member Jeremy Gara told Canadian radio station CKCU that they hoped to release a new album by the end of 2013. It's been too long since 2010's standout The Suburbs consumed our eardrums.

Revolt reports that sources close to Arcade Fire revealed September 9th as a date to watch out for. Apparently, the band will unveil new music that day, giving credibility to Gara's hopeful release window. It's not a lot to go on (barely anything to be honest), but if it's true we might just get a new Arcade Fire LP by the end of the year. We'll keep updating the story as it develops.

For now, you can watch the band performing a new track titled "Crucified Again," debuted during a show in New York last October.

[News] Jay-Z Announces New Album 'Magna Carta Holy Grail', Due Out July 4th

Jay-Z's long-awaited follow-up to 2009's The Blueprint 3 has been announced: Magna Carta Holy Grail will be released on July 4th.

During game five of the 2013 NBA Finals, a three-minute trailer debuted. The trailer showed Hov in the studio with Pharrell, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Rick Rubin (who very recently served as executive producer on Kanye's Yeezus), where they discuss the beats and rhythms behind this new record. It also sampled some new music, and what you hear throughout the trailer sounds awesome. Check it out below.

The album is about, like this duality of how do you navigate through this whole thing, through success, through failures, through all this and remain yourself."—Jay-Z on Magna Carta Holy Grail

Samsung has already purchased one million copies of Magna Carta Holy Grail, and will release an app on June 24th that gives an insight into the record. Then, the album will be available to download for free through that app on July 4th at 12:01am EST to the first one million Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4 and Note II users.

[News] Porcelain Raft Announces New Full-Length Record, 'Permanent Signal'

Porcelain Raft shows no signs of slowing down. He released his debut full-length album Strange Weekend early last year, and followed that up with the instrumental Silent Speech EP just last month. Now, Mauro Remiddi is ready to unveil his sophomore record.

Titled Permanent Signal, Remiddi's latest work was recorded in New York with Yuck member Jonny Rogoff on drums and is set for release on August 20th. Check out the album's announcement trailer below, featuring a ghostly pay phone and one minute of new music.

[News] Queens of the Stone Age Announce UK Tour

I was starting to get a little nervous that I'd miss out on all the fun with Queens of the Stone Age having not headed to Download Festival this weekend. Turns out, I was wrong to worry as the band have just announced a handful of UK tour dates set for November this year. The band will bring their new album, ...Like Clockwork, and their impressive back-catalogue, of course, to The Hydro in Glasgow, Manchester's Evening News Arena, Birmingham's NIA and Wembley Arena, London. Tickets are on general sale next Friday, June 21st. These are some pretty big venues. Last time I saw them play the UK they were playing Manchester Academy which fits around 2000 people in it. Manchester's Evening News Arena on the other hand is nearly 10 times bigger than that at 20k!

Queens of the Stone Age UK Tour 2013

November:

16 Glasgow - The Hydro
20 Manchester - Manchester Arena
21 Birmingham - NIA Birmingham
22 London - Wembley Arena

[Listen] Washed Out Drops New Single "It All Feels Right"

Washed Out teased his new sophomore album Paracosm a few weeks back, giving us a brief teaser video and a few minor details. That changed today, as the (not so) chillwave artist gave us the LP's lead single. Titled "It All Feels Right," the song is very mellow and calming, accompanied by a flowery lyrics video. It definitely showcases the artist's new approach, where he used 50 different instruments to develop a vibrant, layered sound distinct from his former chillwave assocation. Stream the song below.

Paracosm is out on August 13th. Check out the artwork above and the tracklist after the jump, along with Washed Out's just-announced fall tour dates.

Paracosm Tracklist:
01. Entrance
02. It All Feels Right
03. Don’t Give Up
04. Weightless
05. All I Know
06. Great Escape
07. Paracosm
08. Falling Back
09. All Over Now

Washed Out 2013 tour dates:
08/24 – Monterey, CA @ First City Festival
08/25 - Los Angeles, CA @ FYF Fest
08/31 - Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot Festival
09/02 - Victoria, BC @ 9ONE9
09/03 - Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club
09/05 - Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall
09/06 - Portland, OR @ MusicfestNW
09/08 - Sacramento, CA @ Launch Festival
09/10 - Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
09/12 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
09/13 - Chicago, IL @ Metro
09/14 - Detroit, MI @ Laneway Detroit
09/15 - Toronto, ON @ Opera House
09/16 - Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre
09/18 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5
09/19 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
09/20 - Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre
09/23 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle

[News] Daft Punk Releasing Ten Minute Remix of "Get Lucky" Next Month

Daft Punk never remix their own music. That will all change next month. Thomas Bangalter spoke to BBC Radio 1 last month, saying, "we never mix ourselves, that’s something we feel we’re interested in doing this time." Seems we'll be hearing one of these Random Access Memories remixes very soon.

According to DIY, Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo are prepping a 10 minute and 31 second remix of their funky single "Get Lucky." As well, there is an Amazon.com pre-order for it with a July 16th release date. Fingers crossed Daft Punk fans!