Last Friday (11/17) Bjork’s original band, The Sugarcubes reunited for one night in Reykjavik, Iceland to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their non-profit record label, Smekkleysa SM. Known for hits like Birthday and Motorcrash , the legendary alt-pop group played together for the first time in 14 years. We couldn’t make it, but from the YouTube footage of the band performing the Icelandic version of Birthday , it looks like we...

On Friday (11/17) last week, the world’s largest recording company, Universal Music Group (UMG) filed a lawsuit with MySpace, seeking unspecified damages, including up to $150,000 for each unauthorized UMG user-posted music video or song on the website. The music corporation claimed the online social-networking hub illegally “encourages, facilitates and participates in the unauthorized reproduction, adaptation, distribution and public performance.” "We have been keeping...

French downtempo duo, Air have composed a Pocket Symphony, which is due out March 6th next year on Astralwerks. Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel’s (see his 2006 solo side-project Darkel ) follow-up to 2004's Talkie Walkie will feature guest vocals from Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon, and production by longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich. Several of the pieces on Pocket Symphony ...

A few months ago Robbie Williams asked a group of young, guerilla filmmakers to make seven short films, to compliment his new album Rudebox . Based on the writer's/director's originality and vision, seven treatments were selected and green-lit by Robbie Williams. (You can watch the trailer culled from these seven videos below.) However, there is an eigth film yet to be made. Here is where you come in: Budding directors from around the world are invited to enter a competition to...

Dance-floor music makers, !!! just announced Myth Takes , their third album since the Brooklyn based group formed in 1996. Expect more riotous hip-shaking grooves a la their 2004 banger, Louden Up Now. While previously only on Warp overseas and Touch and Go in America, the band is now signed to Warp Worldwide. The 10-track disc comes illustrated with beautiful cover art (see above) from painter Kevin Hooyman . Tracklist: 1)...

The nominations for world music fans' favorite award show, the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards , have been announced at WOMEX (the World Music trade fair) in Seville, Spain recently. As always, the nominations came from different corners of the world with names like Camille, Ben Harper, Gogol Bordello, Ojos De Brujo making it among the nominees. The Album of the Year category is decided by a world panel of critics organised by fRoots Magazine and voting for the final...

Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United Airlines plan to upgrade their international first and business class service, delivering the first seamless integration between the Apple iPod and in-flight entertainment systems. The companies will add thorough iPod connectivity, enabling customers to charge their iPod, watch saved movies and TV shows on big-screen monitors, and listen to music on noise-cancellation headsets. "There is significant value in offering a...

Last Thursday (11/9), Bloc Party’s drummer Matt Tong was admitted to a hospital in Atlanta due to a collapsed lung, forcing the indie band to pull out of its remaining North American show dates with Panic! At The Disco . Tong’s recovering to good health but doctors have prescribed a month of down time for his vital organ to revive. Bloc Party’s frontman Kele Okereke regretted, "We would like to apologize to all of our fans here who won't be able to see us on this...

If you haven't heard the new Remixed & Re-imagined album that fuses Nina Simone's exquisite singing with modern interpretations, you can now check out the video "Ain't Got No/I Got Life" to get a glimpse of what you have been missing. With such well-respected and stylistically diverse compositions, remixers such as Francois K, DJ Logic, Nickodemus and Coldcut embrace Nina's songwriting and instill the reworkings with their own flavor. So join in the...

Following Robbie Williams’ massive hit album, Rudebox comes the second single from the CD, ”Lovelight,” recorded with NYC producer, Mark Ronson. Released yesterday (11/13) in the UK, the CD release of the single includes the original as well as a brand new track, “Mess Me Up.” An enhanced CD version features remixes by Kurd Maverick and Soulwax , while the DVD comes with all of the above tracks and the fantastic "Lovelight” ...