The Gaslight Anthem begin recording fourth album

The Gaslight Anthem have started work on their fourth album.

The New Jersey band are recording the follow up to 2010's 'American Slang' in Nashville. According to the band's Twitter account, they started working at their Tennessee studio on January 20 and will begin recording the album today (January 23).

Last year singer Brian Fallon revealed that their new material was sounding "pretty aggressive". He told Billboard he was "really happy" with the progress of the band's 2011 demo sessions, commenting: "We're making demos and our goal is 25 of them, and we've got ten. The songs that are fast, they're a lot faster. It's definitely pretty personal and pretty aggressive right now."

He added that his side project, The Horrible Crowes and their debut album 'Elsie', which he recorded with The Gaslight Anthem guitar tech Ian Perkins, allowed him to "experiment" with a wider range of instruments, including organs and strings.

He explained: "I needed to write these songs so that I could carry on as a person on my own and function. We wanted to find out what else is there - what else are we capable of." Fallon added that the duo are already planning to work on a second album, with Gorillaz and Moby cited as inspirations.

Source: nme.com

Guns N' Roses: 'Making a new album is our priority'

Guns N' Roses have said that recording the follow-up to 'Chinese Democracy' is now their 'priority'.

The band, who released their sixth album a full 15 years after their fifth album, completed their touring commitments at the end of 2011 and their guitarist DJ Ashba has said that he and frontman Axl Rose are busy working on material for their seventh album.

Speaking to Mamasfallenangels.com about the band's plans, the guitarist said: ''I can say making a new album absolutely is our main priority. And I cannot wait to get working on it. Axl has tonnes and tonnes of stuff recorded as it is. I mean, he sits there in his hotel room and he'll play me hours of stuff. And I've written over ten songs, I think 12 songs now, for him that he really likes.''

Ashba added that the band weren't willing to put any kind of date on when they would return to the studio or when the record would be released. He added: "I can't give anybody a definite date, because I'm not going to give anybody false hope. But it's absolutely everybody's goal to get out an album within a reasonable amount of time."

Source: nme.com

Lana Del Rey Reveals Album Tracklist

As MTV reports, Lana Del Rey has released the tracklisting for her highly anticipated album Born to Die, out January 30 in the UK and January 31 in the U.S.

Tracklisting:
01 Born to Die
02 Off to the Races
03 Blue Jeans
04 Video Games
05 Diet Mountain Dew
06 National Anthem
07 Dark Paradise
08 Radio
09 Carmen
10 Million Dollar Man
11 Summertime Sadness
12 This Is What Makes Us Girls

Source: pitchfork.com

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi diagnosed with cancer

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with cancer.

The legendary axeman, who is 63 and is currently working on a brand new studio album with the band, has revealed that he has been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma.

The band have released a statement on their official Facebook page which reads as follows: "With the news that Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma, his bandmates would like everyone to send positive vibes to the guitarist at this time. Iommi is currently working with his doctors to establish the best treatment plan. The Iron Man of Rock & Roll remains upbeat and determined to make a full and successful recovery."

It continues: "This comes as Black Sabbath are writing and recording in Los Angeles with producer Rick Rubin. They will now go to the UK to continue to work with Tony."

The band have not said if Iommi's condition affects their planned world tour as yet. The band are scheduled to tour Europe next summer.

Source: nme.com

Third Man Records to Release More White Stripes Outtakes

Third Man Records' latest "Vault" subscription package includes two unearthed White Stripes recordings.

A 7" single brings outtakes of "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" and "Let's Build a Home", tracked during the 1999 sessions for the band's self-titled debut. The label notes that these versions are "markedly different" than the versions that ended up on White Blood Cells and De Stijl.

This quarter's Vault package also contains a 3xLP compilation collecting all of the singles released on Third Man in 2011. A Third Man t-shirt completes the package, with a logo that changes from yellow to white when exposed to the sun. "Finally," writes the label, "a reason for record collectors to venture outdoors!"

Third Man has also announced release dates for the latest installments in their Blue Series of singles. The previously mentioned single from Tom Jones is out March 5 and one from Detroit artist Duane the Teenage Weirdo is out January 24.

Source: pitchfork.com

The Mars Volta to release new album this year

The Mars Volta have confirmed that they will release a new album this year.

The band's frontman, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, posted a message on his official YouTube account revealing that the experimental rock band had almost finished work on their sixth studio LP and the follow-up to 2009's 'Octahedron'.

After Sony's Official Playstation blog announced that the band had contributed a song called 'Zed And Two Naughts' for their new baseball computer game 'MLB 12 The Show', Bixler-Zavala wrote: 'New Volta almost done. Vocals done. Just trying to rebutcher it and finish guitar. In studio until this week then on to Mexico to add more quantum entanglement to it. The sonogram of the little beast is looking very good.'

Previously, The Mars Volta's guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López had said that the as-yet-untitled album would mark the end of an era in the band's songwriting, stating: "I want to collaborate more. I've had 10 years of kind of being a benign dictator in this band and I want to make it more like a democracy."

Source: nme.com

Miles Kane confirms The Last Shadow Puppets are planning their second album

Miles Kane has confirmed that he will reunite with Arctic Monkeys' singer Alex Turner to record again as The Last Shadow Puppets, possibly as soon as at the end of this year.

'The Colour Of The Trap' singer is currently on tour with the Arctic Monkeys across Australia and has said that he and Turner will record the follow-up to 2008's 'The Age Of The Understatement' "when the time is right".

He told Noise11.com when asked about the status of The Last Shadow Puppets: "There will be [another record] when the time is right. We'll both know together when it's right. We're both enjoying our own things, but we're still working together and when the time is right we'll go and do that again." When asked if he could put a date on it, Kane replied: "Maybe the end of this year, maybe next year."

He also revealed that he didn't actually expect to make a full album as The Last Shadow Puppets in the first place and that the speed with which he and Turner wrote and recorded 'The Age Of The Understatement' came as a complete shock.

He said of this: "We didn't even expect to make a record. We were just these two young guys who had written these songs and went to France for two weeks to record and see what would happen. In two weeks we recorded 11 songs. We have a great connection, me and Alex. It is a great partnership."

Source: nme.com

Bobby Gillespie: 'New Primal Scream album is based around one chord'

Bobby Gillespie has spoken about the new Primal Scream album that is currently in the works.

The band, who released their last album, 'Beautiful Future', in 2008, have said that the new album has been heavily influenced by their 1991 album 'Screamadelica' which they toured throughout 2011.

Of their forthcoming 10th album, frontman Gillespie told Q magazine that it is sounding "like "a psychedelic record" and is also "based around one chord".

He added that: "The sense of space in the 'Screamadelica' material has had a big influence on the arrangements…. When it was first suggested that we tour 'Screamadelica', we were like, 'Who'd be interested?' When you're in a band you don't understand how people perceive you, so we were blown away by the love we got."

During the interview Gillespie confirmed that bassist Mani had left Primal Scream for good after rejoining The Stone Roses, but that things were 'cool'. He said: "Mani has left the band - that's the situation. He has gone and joined The Stone Roses. That's cool. He had been wanting to do it for years. I'll go and see them live - The Stones Roses are a fucking great band."

Source: nme.com

Biffy Clyro: 'We're making a double album'

Biffy Clyro have revealed that their sixth studio album will be a double album.

The band are currently working on the follow-up to their fifth LP 'Only Revolutions' and have said that they hope to complete work on the album by April.

Speaking to Q, the band's frontman Simon Neil said that the album will be mostly recorded in Los Angeles and they hope to have it done by April.

He said: "We're going to make a double album, so the intention is to do most of the recording in L.A and then do more of it elsewhere. We'll hopefully get it done by April, May and go out and play some shows. The album might come out before summer but it's likely to be just after that."

Neil also joked that the band have given the album the working title of 'Use Your Illusion III' and 'Use Your Illusion IV' in honour of Guns N' Roses' 1991 double album 'Use Your Illusion I' and 'Use Your Illusion II'.

Asked about the Guns N' Roses comparison, Neil said: "The working titles are 'Use Your Illusion III''and 'Use Your Illusion IV'. We're going over the top as we can. It's an album about a fork in the road and how your decisions can take you on one path or the other. One path is the right decisions and one path is the wrong decisions - and each album's going to represent each path."

Source: nme.com