Big Summer Singles Start Leaking
Despite the wishy washy weather, you can really tell Summer has begun by the new jamz that have begun to leak this week. And foremost among those leaks are new tracks from heavyweights Kanye West and Arcade Fire. Kanye began working on upcoming new album Good Ass Job almost two years ago, right after Graduation, but instead took a detour route into the world of auto-tune and self-pity on 808's and Heartbreak. "Power," the first single from the September-bound album, appeared online today (and features a King Crimson sample to boot!). Also this week, Arcade Fire announced their third album, The Suburbs, due out August 3rd, and released a double-sided single featuring the Kinks-influenced title track, and scuzzy rockabilly "Month of May" to whet appetites.
Celebrate SummerStage With the Music of Simon and Garfunkel
This year marks the 25th anniversary of SummerStage, the free outdoor music festival that provide over 100 music, dance and theater events in 16 parks throughout all five boroughs every summer. And what better way to celebrate than with the music of Simon and Garfunkel! On Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at Rumsey Playfield, 30 artists will pair up to perform 15 classic duets from Simon & Garfunkel’s beloved archive of songs. The artists appearing include Aimee Mann, Shawn Colvin, St. Vincent, Joan Osborne, Paula Cole, Loudon Wainwright III, Alejandro Escovedo, Dar Williams, Ricky Skaggs, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), The Holmes Brothers, and Dean & Britta. Seated tickets are available here.
BAM Next Wave Festival
BAM announced the lineup for this years Next Wave Festival 2010, the annual music/dance/theater/opera series that will run from September 21--December 19. This years series will include new work from Laurie Anderson (the US premiere of her "Homeric epic" Delusion), a song cycle from Stew and Heidi Rodewald (of Passing Strange fame), music by NOLA's Trombone Shorty, Mikel Rouse's multimedia-song project Gravity Radio, and A House in Bali, an opera by Bang on a Can All-Star's Evan Ziporyn featuring Balinese Gamelan Salukat and BoaC All-Stars. Next Wave Festival subscription tickets for Friends of BAM are on sale June 7, and subscription tickets for the general public are on sale June 14.
Also this week:
- Lynn Hirschberg's NY Times profile of MIA, a truffle-flavored French fry middle finger of a profile, got the internet all atwitchy, which led to MIA tweeting Hirschberg's number.
- Ozzy Osbourne showed up at Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum in New York to lovingly prank some fans.
- Neil Young debuted five new songs on his solo Twisted Road tour, including the excellent minor key "Love and War" and the grungy "Sign of Love" (likely from his upcoming Daniel Lanois-produced album).
