In Case You Missed It: You Can Stream The New Ryan Adams Album (That Isn’t His Upcoming Self-Titled Release)

Devoted Ryan Adams fans know that the alt-country musician’s true music love isn’t the country-rock that made him famous (apparently he hates all country music not associated with the Grateful Dead). Instead, Adams loves noisy hardcore punk rock via Husker Du, The Replacements, and so on. He’s even recorded a sci-fi metal concept album and produced a hardcore Fall Out Boy EP (no, that’s not a typo).

So it wasn’t too surprising when earlier this year Adams released the vinyl-only 1984, which is 10 tracks and 30 minutes of blustering hardcore yet melodic punk. What is surprising, however, is that now the rest of us can hear the album below. It’s a treat for fans, a surprise for newcomers, and proof of this man’s mad genius.

The Music Video That Imprisoned Pussy Riot

Today the last two imprisoned members of Pussy Riot, the Russian punk band that openly protested Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, were released under a sudden Amnesty Law. The Russian government claims that the law is to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Russia’s post-Communist Constitution, but it’s important to note that the Winter Olympics are near, which takes place in Sochi, Russia.

Below is the music video Pussy Riot made for their song “Punk Prayer – Virgin Mary, Put Putin Away”. This video was a protest performance directed at the Orthodox Church’s support of Vladimir Putin and took place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. It was after the release of this music video that three members of the band were imprisoned for religious and political Hooliganism and were all sentenced to two years in prison.

Below you can watch the HBO documentary Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, which follows the radical Russian punk band from the day of their formation (which was on the same day of Putin’s return to power) through the incarceration of its three band members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich.

In Case You Missed It: Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones Rerecorded An Everly Brothers Album

I always have been, and always will be, bias to support Green Day, but I’m the first to admit that the band’s recent run of more-miss-than-hit trio albums showed signs that Green Day might have hit a wall. But that’s not the first time that’s every happened to a 20+ year career (ex. Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam), and, through the concept albums and the broadway musicals, Green Day has continued through love, hate, and indifference to treck forward doing whatever works for them.

And this week we got something completely unexpected from lead man Billie Joe Armstrong, but this is more of a pleasant surprise.

Armstrong and Norah Jones (!) met up in NYC and rerecorded the Everly Brothers album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. The album will be called Foreverly and will be released November 25th.

This is a very random album to come along, but listen to their rerecording of “Long Time Gone” below and there’s a sign that this album might be great. I guess Armstrong still has some tricks up his sleeve. If anything, it might just spark some creativity back into his main project.

For a full interview with Armstrong and Jones detailing how this album was born, check out Stereogum.

“Long Time Gone”

And click here to hear the original Everly Brother’s album.

In Case You Missed It: Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!’ Was Just Named Canada’s Best Album

Last year’s Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! was just awarded the 2013 Polaris Music Prize, which is pretty much the award for the best Canadian album of the year.

Make sure to read Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s, uh, interesting acceptance speech.

In Case You Missed It: Arcade Fire Reveals Official Reflektor Artwork, Audio and Music Video

Above is the confirmed album artwork for Arcade Fire’s new album Reflektor, and the band has bestowed upon us the official audio AND music video for the single that takes the name of the album.

The following has also been confirmed about the new album:

• Release date is October 29th.
• It will be a double album.
• That’s David Bowie (!) you’re hearing on “Reflektor”.
• James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem mastermind) helped produce the album.
• Arcade Fire will be the musical guest for the season premiere of Saturday Night Live (with Tina Fey hosting!) on September 28th.
• The album artwork features the statues of Greek legends Orpheus and Eurydice. Check out a quick Greek history lesson via Consequence of Sound.
• Here is the awesome video below