Yo La Tengo

FYF Fest 2013 presents yet more new acts for its 10th annual weekend this August including comedians Doug Benson, Brett Gelman and Karen Kilgariff.

FYF is an alternative music festival spread over two days - this year, August 25th and 26th - at the LA State Historic Park. This summer we'll see no doubt spectacular headline sets from New Yorkers the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Dublin rockers My Bloody Valentine, as well as performances from MGMT, Devendra Banhart, Les Savy Fav, Holy Ghost!, Deerhunter, New Jersey's Yo La Tengo, chillwave producer Toro Y Moi, the chart hitting Kurt Vile & the Violators and Californian duo Foxygen. 

Just announced are some equally brilliant comedy acts (as if you weren't going to have a massive laugh anyway) from the likes of 'Home Movies' writer Brendon Small, 'The League' star Paul Scheer with Rob Huebel, 'Eagleheart' comedian Brett Gelman and former 'Last Comic Standing' contestant Doug Benson. 

Continue reading: FYF Fest 2013 Announces More Live Acts For August!

Pitchfork Music Festival is due to hit Chicago's Union Park again this weekend featuring some exciting headline sets from Bjork, Belle & Sebastian and R. Kelly.

Every summer this globally loved festival presents some 40 plus artists from all parts of the music spectrum, including both classic chart-toppers and new emerging talent, to 50,000 indie fans. They have been praised over their seven year existence for their cheap ticket prices and friendly atmosphere and that's not about to go any time soon. Apart from great live music on show for three days, there's some of the best indie vinyls for sale at the CHIRP Record Fair, some excellent posters and art-pieces about, as well as a craft fair and an array of musical books and magazines. It's not just for Stateside music fans though, the festival hits Europe for Pitchfork Music Festival Paris on October 31st, November 1st and November 2nd.

Continue reading: Union Park Prepares For Its Seventh Annual Pitchfork Music Festival

Albums of Note... It’s been a long two years since James Blake released his debut eponymous album and now, the pioneering producer returns with Overgrown, album number two. Peppered with quality collaborations, with hip-hop legend RZA and electronic music’s figurehead Brian Eno, Overgrown is the sound of an artist still trying to find his niche, but releasing high quality, accomplished tracks, whilst he’s on his journey. “Blake really is a talent to behold, as his ingenious moulding together of poles apart genres and production wizardry clearly shows… when you're already as accomplished at all manner of musical exercises as he is then it will obviously be hard to focus all this talent and all this energy into one place.”

Splitting opinion like musical Marmite, John Grant returns with Pale Green Ghosts. This album may sound unrecognisable as Grant, to anyone already familiar with his work. He’s hooked up with Gus Gus’ Biggi Viera and has decamped to Reykjavik. As a result, a new reliance on vintage-sounding synthesisers and a nod to club-land has John Grant sounding like an altogether different proposition to the John Grant of days gone by.“Grant's dyspeptic edge may be blunted, but when called upon the man can make a fine ass post-modern disco song, like we ever doubted that he could, and Blackbelt is a tweaked remix away from the transient world of A Lists, charts and chat shows. Cleverly poignant, its way with knock out disses would give Jake Shears something to think about if it proved to be a permanent change of direction…”

Continue reading: A Week In Music - James Blake Still Seeking His Niche, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Triumph With Lily Cole Video, Eels Stage A Love-In In Bournemouth

A terrifying prospect for most adult music fans this week, as the 23rd (yes, twenty third) instalment in the Kidz Bop series is released today. Parents beware, your favourite pop songs are up for the Kidz Bop treatment once more. Featuring child session singers, the Kidz Bop series records ‘child friendly’ versions of popular songs and this time around, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars get their songs all re-done with some pre-pubescent warbling over the top. All your favourite songs, then, as you never wanted to hear them. Unless you’re like, eight years old… and maybe not even then. Still, clearly someone’s listening. And buying. Otherwise they wouldn’t keep making them. And they wouldn’t have so many Gold certificates under their belts.

Unfamiliar with Kidz Bop? Let YouTube educate you...

Continue reading: Out Now - US Albums Releases - Kidz Bop Launch New Assault On Chart, A$AP Rocky's Major Label Debut, Posthumous Album From Teena Marie

Amber Tamblyn and David Cross' wedding may well be up there with the coolest celebrity nuptials ever after details of their big day surfaced online. We say 'details', we were actually treated to an Instagram album thanks to The Roots musician Questlove, who documented the day on his smartphone!

The ceremony - dubbed The Wedding in the Woods in an Instagram hashtag - took place on Saturday (October 6, 2012) and played host to a plethora of celebrity guests including Ryan Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively, comedienne Amy Poehler, Jason Ritter and Kristen Schaal. But that's not all; it seems the booked entertainment for the evening was equally as high profile, with rock filmmaker Lance Bangs sharing the details online, saying, "Yo La Tengo playing Superchunk, Mission of Burma, and Pixies covers at David and Amber's wedding." Cross' representative later confirmed to MTV News that Questlove also served as the evening's DJ.

Tamblyn, who next stars in Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained', accepted her husband's marriage proposal in 2011 after the pair had dated for several years. Cross is currently working on the highly anticipated 'Arrested Development' reunion series and movie.