• Yeasayer signed to Secretly Canadian for the North American release of their highly anticipated 2nd album. It’s called Odd Blood, and it will be released on February 9, 2010. They join the ranks of artists like Jens Lekman, Damien Jurado, Magnolia Electric Company, and Antony and the Johnsons on Secretly Canadian.

• The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s October 29th/30th concerts at Madison Square Garden have gotten more incredible: Ozzy Osbourne will perform with Metallica, Buddy Guy will join Eric Clapton, B.B. King is pairing with Stevie Wonder and Annie Lennox and Lenny Kravitz are teaming with Aretha Franklin.

• Below you’ll find a new People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) advertisement featuring the members of Animal Collective. They’re teaming up to show support for ending seal slaughter in Canada. Huh.

• Uh, really? Some guys from his label say Lil Wayne is going to be releasing not one but TWO new albums before the end of the year! According to Cash Money CEO Birdman, The Rebirth, “the dubious Lil Wayne rock album that’s been pushed back a few times, will come out this year. And so will Tha Carter 4, the next entry in Wayne’s… Carter series. Birdman even has a projected released date for Tha Carter 4: December 15.”

• MGMT’s new album now has a name. Their label confirmed it will be titled “Congratulations” and will be released “sometime next year.” They’re playing some of the new stuff live these days, including the title track:

• Yep, it’s Death Cab news of the week! As you probably know, Ben Gibbard is making his big screen debut in the movie “Brief Interviews With Hideous Men.” Stereogum just posted clips from his performance. Now Zooey isn’t the closest he’s come to acting.

• Trent Reznor is, I guess, married now? Congratulations to him and his lucky(?) new bride. Check out the extremely awkward photographic evidence here.

• Courtney Love has reunited her band Hole for the first time since 2002, after they formed in ‘ninety four after Love was widowed. I guess we’ll see.

• Not enough Eels to sate you? I guess they liked the feeling of releasing a new album in June after four years hiatus. Now they’re going to be releasing their eighth studio album, End Times, on January 19, 2010, just 6 months later. Who’s complaining, though?

• Earlier this week, Bon Iver played their last show for the foreseeable future. Justin Vernon, the songwriter, wrote in a blog that it would be difficult wrapping up the whirlwind For Emma experience and that this would be the band’s final gig “before taking a well-deserved break from public performance.” Listen to the performance below, made available by 88Nine Radio Milwaukee.

• Regina Spektor has quite a schedule lined up, including her Broadway debut. As for the latter, she has joined playwright/director Tina Landau (Floyd Collins & Superior Donuts) and lyricist Michael Korie (Grey Gardens) to create a new Broadway bound musical called Beauty. She’ll be stopping by Seattle on her tour November 3rd.

• Sufjan Stevens, in a new interview with Exclaim! journalist Vish Khanna, says some pretty interesting things about the direction of the music industry and his place within that. Among many other quotable quotes, he wonders out loud, “What’s the point of making music anymore? I feel that the album no longer has a stronghold or has any real bearing anymore. The physical format itself is obsolete; the CD is obsolete and the LP is kinda nostalgic. So, I think the album is suffering and that’s how I’ve always created– I work with these conceptual albums in the long-form. And I’m wondering, what’s the value of my work once these forms are obsolete and everyone’s just downloading music?” Read more!

• The Pixies are just beginning their North American stretch of their tour. What’s more, TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone will open some of the dates with his solo project, Rain Machine. Both bands are playing Seattle on the 12th of November and The Pixies will play again on the 13th.

• Courtney Love. In the news again. This time, it is revealed that she owes the US government $324,335.21 in taxes, stretching back to 2007. Also, her bizarre ramblings in 140 characters or less will be harder to find as she closed her well-known and confusion-inducing Twitter page recently.

• Because I can’t go a week without mentioning Death Cab in some form or another, I’ll have to inform all you faithful blog readers that Chris Walla and Jawbox’s J. Robbins got together at NPR’s studios and wrote/recorded a totally rad song. You can watch a mini-documentary about the process or just watch/listen to the song over at NPR’s website.

• And speaking of “forthcoming,” both Thom Yorke and his band Radiohead should have new albums out within the next year. Yorke has been playing recently in LA with a new band, hitting a couple of small venues with his new band to perform songs from his first solo album, The Eraser, and to preview seven new songs. Meanwhile, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien has told NME that the earlier rumors of a hiatus were just that… rumors, and the band would return to the studio this winter. And if that wasn’t clear enough, he adds, “We were misquoted. WE WILL BE MAKING AN ALBUM!” Check AtEase for the full story

• A tuft of hair from the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, will be going to auction later this month, along with a set of pictures from Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding day in 1967, a suede shirt worn by the star in 1963, original artworks and a string of signed record sleeves. Maybe I should be saving my hair after haircuts. You know, for the sake of my descendants financial well-being.

Elvis Presley's hair? Soon it can be yours!

• So I guess Jay Reatard’s band quit mid-tour. This kind of adds new meaning to the title of his newest album, Watch Me Fall. Yikes.

• Hardcore band Small Brown Bike is writing new material after breaking up in 2004 and reuniting last month. They’re quoted as saying, “Over the last few months we’ve been writing a ton of new stuff and currently have about ten new songs finished plus a bunch more in various stages.”

• A couple new Seattle indie rock music videos. Check out Modest Mouse’s new video for ‘The Whale Song’ at Pitchfork. Below is Death Cab for Cutie’s video for “Meet Me On the Equinox” featuring basically the entirety of the new Twilight sequel, New Moon. Now I REALLY don’t have to see that movie.

• Ever wonder what David Bowie would look like as a LEGO character? No? Well, anyway, now you can see He’s signed up to be on the new LEGO Rock Band game. Check it out:

Bowie? The band?

• Jimmy Fallon’s late night talk show is among the worst in my opinion, but somebody on his team has been making some pretty good/interesting musical guest choices. December 8th that trend will continue when Fallon will host a reunited Jawbox on his show.

Below, check out Vampire Weekend’s new song, Horchata, from their forthcoming record, Contra. You can also download it from their website.

• Updating a previous news item, it appears that Pavement are doing a lot more than those four NYC shows. Looks like they’re now going to be headlining and curating a weekend of All Tomorrow’s Parties in 2010. BAM!

The album cover for VW's forthcoming album, Contra

• Do you know which band whips it good and is coming to Seattle for two shows this November? One guess. That’s right, ladies and gentleman, it’s Devo! 11/8 and 11/9 at The Moore. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday.) Any fans purchasing tickets online will gain access to three unreleased demos, including a four-track version of “Whip It.”

• Mary Travers, one third of the highly influential 60s folk group, Peter, Paul and Mary, has passed away. That group’s gentle harmonies and sharp performances became iconic and important parts of civil-rights demonstrations and anti-war rallies throughout the 1960s and remain one of the bigger influences of many modern folk musicians.

• Smashing Pumpkins songwriter Billy Corgan will be releasing a new 44-song opus for absolutely no cost whatsoever. He wrote in his blog, “Free will mean free, which means you won’t have to sign up for anything, give an email address, or jump through a hoop. You will be able to go and take the song or songs as you wish, as many times as you wish.” This day is the greatest.

• 90s lofi indie rock band Pavement reportedly are reuniting a year from now, on September 21, 2010 in New York City. What? Really?!? Sweet.

• You probably have been living under a rock if you haven’t heard about that Kanye West Thing That Has Filled The News And Become A Meme. So, um, I’ma let you finish reading this entry without any more saturation, but it’s pretty funny.

• Following up on a previously mentioned item, Death Cab For Cutie’s single for the new Twilight sequel is now available for streaming on the MTV website. In related news, Ben Gibbard has teamed up with Jay Farrar (of Son Volt) to record One Fast Move or I’m Gone, an album inspired by Jack Kerouac’s 1962 novel Big Sur. It’s being released October 20th.

• Elton John was told by the Ukranian minister that he is not allowed to adopt a child from that country. Those homophobic — wait, what? Apparently he’s just too old. Oh, okay. Fair enough.

photo by Jim Bennett

• Peter Bjorn and John are capping off their summer tour with Depeche Mode by remixing a track from the band’s latest record: Fragile Tension. No release date is set, but I can’t wait to hear bright whistles over a Depeche Mode tune.

• In a follow-up to our previously-reported Guitar Hero news, the new version of the game will allow you to play as Kurt Cobain. This seems reasonable enough until you watch the following YouTube video that features the grunge singer performing Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name.” Ugh. Rolling in his grave much?

• The Seattle Weekly recently posted a new United States of Electronica track from their forthcoming album, LOVEWORLD. The album is to be digitally released next Tuesday, but you’ll have to wait until October 20^th to get your hands on a physical copy. That hasn’t stopped Spin.com from putting out a review of it already (8 out of 10, by the way.)

• Australian Web site ‘Undercover’ quoted a “source within the (Rolling) Stones inner-circle” yesterday as saying “Charlie Watts has quit the band. He will never record or tour with the band again.” This set the world wide web afire until the Stones’ spokesman released a somewhat patronizing statement saying, “Contrary to a fabricated story that ran this morning on a small music web site in Australia, drummer Charlie Watts has not left The Rolling Stones.”

• Music video website Vevo is apparently in talks with CBS and NBC to license shows for the web. The website plans to be the music industry’s version of Hulu, featuring high-quality music videos and music-related programming

• Bloodshot recording artists, and massive Morrissey fans, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir pretty much say it all with the title to their upcoming release … and the horse you rode in on, which is a two-finger salute (they’re Anglophiles, after all) to those who broke lead singer Elia Einhorn’s heart. Sure, it’s vitriol, but it’s darned fun vitriol! If you need further proof, here’s a new track from the album:

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - Tear Down The Opera House (MP3)

• Hip Hop (kinda) artists, Black Eyed Peas, will be fresh off a little controversy when they take the stage for Bumbershoot this weekend. The Malaysian government had banned Muslims from attending one of their concerts because the show was being sponsored by Guinness. But! Malaysian Muslim Black Eyed Pea fans now have nothing to fret about — the ban has been lifted!

• So, of course, Oasis broke up in the middle of their tour. Well, what happens to the festivals they were scheduled to play? At Rock en Seine, they were the headliners until Noel quit the band. Then Bloc Party took over top bill. Singer Kele Okereke sarcastically said, “So I’d like to take this moment to say, ‘ah that’s a shame, isn’t it, guys?’” adding, “I’d like to dedicate this next song to those who wanted to see, ah, those inbred twins (Noel and Liam).” I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, though, considering his previous comments (from 2007) that Oasis is “the most overrated band of all time” and “luddites.”

• Seattle indie pop band Death Cab For Cutie have been chosen to write and record the lead single for the next movie in the “Twilight” series: New Moon. The track, “Meet Me On the Equinox,” will be revealed on September 13 via MTV’s Web site during this year’s MTV Video Music Awards ceremony. The soundtrack is rumored to also feature songs from Thom Yorke, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, and Muse. Weird. Cool?

• We’ll leave you with the late night performance of “Cannibal Resource” by Dirty Projectors on Letterman this week. Love it or hate it?

• After 16 years repping hip-hop music and culture, Vibe magazine has ceased publication. Since its inception in 1993, the magazine has chronicled hip-hop and R&B culture and even published a few books along the way.

• Sometimes being a superfan can pay off: Death Cab For Cutie fan Ross Ching made his own video for the DCFC song “Little Bribes” and now Atlantic has hired him for a future video project.

• Wayne Coyne has recently revealed that Karen O and MGMT collaborated with The Flaming Lips on their upcoming album. Apparently the difficulties of recording the new album, entitled Embryonic, were so great that he forgot he collaborated with them.

• The fallout from these file sharing/digital downloading times has caused some major labels to rethink their strategy and take a few tips from successful independent labels. In fact, Sony has gone so far as to join forces with IODA, who provide distribution, marketing, and technology solutions for many independent labels. Whether Sony will be the changer or the changee in this new arrangement remains to be seen.

• Pirating: the new business model. Seems The Pirate Bay, whose founders were recently sentenced to serve a year in jail and pay $3.6 million in damages, will be sold for over twice as much to Global Gaming Factory X AB, who plan to turn the bit torrent monster to a perfectly legal lapdog. Napster, anyone? …anyone?

• Don’t look for EELS to tour their new album, Hombre Lobo, any time soon. Frontman E (Mark Oliver Everett) tells Spinner that he’d rather not “disrespect the audience by going out there and doing something that [his] heart’s not into.” At least, that’s “right now.” After three world tours in four years, he’s earned a rest… just not too long of a rest… okay, E?

• U2 kicked off their new tour, their first in three years apparently (has it been that long?), at Barcelona’s Camp Nou and paid tribute to Michael Jackson by dedicating their performance of “Angel Of Harlem” to him. Bono, who reportedly called Michael “an unspeakable talent,” dropped lyrics to “Man In The Mirror” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” into the song. And in seeming Jacko fashion (too soon for a joke?), the Irish icons are asking fans to wear masks, but this time with the express purpose bringing attention to the incarceration of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma, who’s been a political prisoner in her own country for 13 years. From photos submitted to the band’s website, The Edge will select the best to be featured in a gallery on U2.com.