photo by Tammy Hackney

• The recently reunited Death are beginning to get their due 35 years after their debut. On top of a mini-tour, the Detroit band’s first, the group is rumored to be the subjects of a documentary by the minds of Mos Def and Damon Dash.

• A conflict that had been brewing between Black Lips‘ Jared Swilley and Wavves‘ Nathan Williams erupted when both musicians ended up at Daddy’s in Brooklyn after their respective shows in NYC on Friday evening. The details remain a bit murky, but both parties have released “official statements” to various blogs. Brooklyn Vegan tries to track down the “he said, he said” here.

• Throbbing Gristle are prying their way into the Buddha Machine market with the Gristleism. Like the Buddha Machine from which it is modeled, the Gristleism will feature 13 unique, continuous loops of “experimental noise, industrial drone, and classic melodies and rhythms.” Only 900 were made, so act quickly.

• The 35 year staple PBS staple, Austin City Limits, has announced the line-up for its 2009-2010 season. Buoyed by big name acts Dave Matthew Band, Pearl Jam, and Elvis Costello, this season also brings the first hip-hop centric episode featuring Mos Def and K’Naan along with stellar indie acts such as St. Vincent, M. Ward, and Okkervil River. Topping of the ACL sundae is a show dedicated to the new supergroup, Them Crooked Vultures, which features Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones.

• Prefix Magazine unveiled a story this week that accuses instrument giant Guitar Center of price-fixing by joining with the National Association of Music Merchants in forcing guitar manufacturers to not sell their wares for cheaper online, with the threat of boycott to those who continued to do so.

• Local label extraordinaire, Light in the Attic, have become the connoisseurs of reissuing artists and album either forgotten or ignored during their heyday. Such is the case with the announcement that the label will be releasing the works of funk heiress, Betty Davis. 1975’s Nasty Gal, regarded as one of Davis’ strongest artistic statements will be reissued along with the never-before-released 1976 album, Is It Love or Desire.

• You can frontload your recording of this week’s talkshow appearances — The Avett Brothers and Dirty Projectors on Monday, Sunny Day Real Estate on Tuesday — but don’t forget to catch Arctic Monkeys on Last Call on Thursday. Here’s their performance of “Cornerstone” on the Late Show with Craig Ferguson:

  and the rest of this week’s highlights:

  Monday, September 28

  David Letterman: The Avett Brothers
  Jimmy Fallon: Dirty Projectors
  Last Call: Metric (R)

  Tuesday, September 29

  Jimmy Fallon: Sunny Day Real Estate
  Last Call: Wild Light

  Wednesday, September 30

  Jay Leno: Vince Gill & Emmylou Harris
  Jimmy Kimmel: Alice in Chains

  Thursday, October 1

  Last Call: Arctic Monkeys

  Friday, October 2

  Late Late Show: Lynyrd Skynyrd

photos by Kyle Johnson
intro by Christy Thacker

I’ve finally figured out how to become an overnight musical mega-star: 1) Be born in England; 2) Decide you’re bored with your life sometime around the age of 18 and teach yourself to play an instrument you got for Christmas; 3) Don’t give a shit about your success, but play because you have nothing better to do and it’s fun; 4) Don’t advertise your songs or gigs, but allow your fans to share your music over the Internet and create your band Myspace without your knowledge; 5) When you receive several awards such as the 2006 Mercury Prize, 2007 BRIT Award for Best Album, and fastest-selling album in British History, don’t show up to claim your prize. Instead dress up as characters from the Wizard of Oz and The Village People in a video acceptance speech. 6) And finally, continue to play just for fun.

By fusing the sounds of bombastic indie rock and danacble pop-punk, the Arctic Monkeys have become one of the largest bands in the UK, and are now rising to top of the U.S. music charts. Forming in 2002, Alex Turner (lead vocals/guitar), Jamie Cook (guitar), Andy Nicholson (bass) and Matter Helders (drums) divided up instruments and started playing shows in 2003 when they weren’t doing their high school homework. The unsigned chaps began recording demos and burned them onto CDs to give away for free at their small gigs. When the CDs ran out, fans began ripping them onto computers to share with each other over the Internet. The quartet took notice of the virtually muscial swapping when they witnessed more and more of the audience singing along at shows.

After years of resistance, the boys finally signed with independent record label, Domino, before releasing their debut, history-breaking record, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006). Nicholson eventually called it quits after the release of their 2006 5-song EP, Who the Fuck Are the Arctic Monkeys, and was replaced by bassist Nick O’Malley right before their North American tour.

Since their hit single, “I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor” the Monkeys have gone nowhere but up, releasing two more album, Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007) and the recently recorded Humbug (2009), produced by Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme in the Mojave Desert. The foursome is currently touring the good ‘ol U.S. before heading back to their neck of the woods in the UK.

For the in-studio at the Doug Fir today, though, Alex Turner played a short acoustic set of songs from the new album.

Arctic Monkeys release their third LP this week, channeling a slightly different sound by working with Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme for part of the recording, but fans will find their trademark style intact. Among other new releases this week: Jemina Pearl’s first solo effort since the demise of Be Your Own Pet; Blitzen Trapper’s Black River Killer EP, which makes official the tour CDR they were selling at shows previously; and a long-awaited follow up to And The Glass Handed Kites from Danish band Mew. Hopefully, Aussie band Jet will get a better review for Shaka Rock then they did for Shine On. Songstresses take center stage this week with new albums from Imogen Heap, Dolores O’Riordan, Samara Lubelski, and Sally Shapiro. Matisyahu fans say a “Tov, toda” for his first in three years, and fans of Elliott Brood might want to check out their current tourmates The Wooden Sky. Other worthwhile releases include a new collection from Willie Nelson, more standup from Patton Oswalt, and dizzy electronica from Teengirl Fantasy. BFF Largehearted Boy and listen to the samples below before heading out to your local record shop.