Spacelab Collective

Tom Waits Hits the Studio for New Album

"Good News! Tom is currently in the studio working on his next album. Stay tuned," reads the announcement from Tom Waits' Twitter.

This will be the first release since Waits' Glitter and Doom live album and the first studio album since Orphans in 2006. Tom's also been working with director Robert Wilson and playwrite Martin McDonagh on a musical set to premiere in Paris this year.

The Daily Round Up (Wednesday): Panda Bear Announces New Music, Spotify Gets One Step Closer to Launch and Visual Artist Joe Simpson Takes on Musician Paintings

Treble reports that the next installment of Panda Bear's Tomboy singles series is due out on Mar. 14, via Kompact Records.

The long-anticipated launch of Spotify (that never seems to arrive) takes one step closer to reality. Spotify just landed $100 million in new cash-money, and is close to landing the rights to the EMI Music catalog, according to Reuters.

Joe Simpson has been working on a paintings of musicians like Sam Beam (Iron and Wine), Paloma Faith, Matt Berninger (The National) and Fyfe Dangerfield (Guillemots), reports Pitchfork. He'll take photo of the artist and then use that to create an extremely life-like painting. See the whole series.

The Daily Round Up: Wild Beasts to Release New album Smother, Morrisey Rare Tracks, iTunes and Others Looking to Release Higher Sound Quality Music

Avante-Garde indie pop enthusiasts Wild Beasts will release their third full length album, Smother, on May 9/10 via Domino Records. It was produced by Richard Formby (Spacemen 3, Mogwai). The word on the street is that they're "embracing their more electronic influences." Find out more at Pitchfork.

Morrissey will release two previously unreleased songs from the era of his 1988  album Viva Hate. The songs 'Safe, Warm Lancashire Home' and 'Treat Me Like A Human Being', will be released as b-sides on the rerelease of his single 'Glamorous Glue' on Apr. 18. NME has more details.

CNN is reporting that Apple and other digital music retailers like Amazon and eMusic are in talks with major record labels to release higher quality audio files for sale. The theory is that by raising the sound quality, you can raise the price.

Kurt Cobain's 44th Birthday Was Sunday - What Did You Really Know About Him?

Yesterday was the birthday of Kurt Cobain, and although it's been 17 years since his death, he would have been 44 years old were he still alive. Flavorwire's Earplug posted "44 Things You Didn’t Know About Kurt Cobain," an interesting list of things and quotes that are likely to include a few things that even the biggest Kurt Cobain fanatics didn't know, among them:

A line from one of Cobain’s journals reads: “I have met many minds able to store and translate a pregnantly large amount of information, yet they haven't an ounce of talent for wisdom or the appreciation of passion.”

For many years, Cobain enjoyed making Super-8 films. One of these movies contains a scene in which Cobain commits suicide.

One of Cobain’s most prized possessions was a signed first edition of William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch.

The Daily Round Up: New Wavves Tracks, Radiohead/Thom Yorke Video Mashups, Walkmen cover Deerhunter

There's two new Wavves tracks out: "Horse Shoes" and "TV Luv Song." Although haters love to hate on Wavves, the songs are quick and lively Wavves punk/garage-ish takes from Consequence of Sound.

It turns out that Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser has become a Deerhunter fan, and the band recently played live on RockFeedback, covering the song Agoraphobia from the Deerhunter album Microcastle as well as a few Walmen Songs. Check it on Pitchfork.

Radiohead may have just released the album The King of Limbs and the "Lotus Flower" video with it, but already mashups abound of Thom Yorke's crazy dancing, set to other songs a la the Tumblr blog that has already been set up under the name Dancing Thom.

Coldplay Announced as Glastonbury Headliner

Coldplay have been announced as a Saturday night headliner for the 2011 Glastonbury Festival, joining Beyonce. This will be the first Coldplay appearance at Glastonbury since 2005. "As their popularity grew around the world I was so proud of them. This is the triumphant return of a band that everyone here feels part of. They're one of the greatest phenomena to grow from these fields," said festival organizer Michael Eavis.

Radiohead Will Release Their New Album This Week

Radiohead have a new album set to drop this week, titled The King Of Limbs. The album will be available at the web site Thekingoflimbs.com starting Saturday, Feb. 19, with a physical release on May 9. Find out more.

TV On the Radio to Release New Album Nine Types of Light

Don't call it a comeback ... TV On the Radio will are working on a new album for release on Interscope Records sometime later this year, according to a report in Pitchfork. The album will be called Nine Types of Light. What's more, they've even scheduled a show at Radio City Music Hall for Apr. 13, which also be the beginning of a national tour.

The band started working on Nine Types of Light last year, by sending files back and forth through the Internet.

Also try:
VIDEO: TV on the Radio Live at Lollapalooza
STREAM: Massive Attack & Tunde Adebimpe (TV on the Radio) - Pray

Death From Above 1979 -- Gettin' the Band Back Together!

It looks like 2011 will bring the reunion of Death From Above 1979, as a a statement on their web site recently points out. I'm not sure how the mathematical alchemy of 2011 and 1979 works, but drummer Sebastien Grainger has the numbers all worked out in a statement on their web site:

"It’s been 5 years since Death From Above 1979 played a show, 10 years since Jesse played me the first demos & 11 years since we sat in his parents basement and played so loud we knocked the china off the shelves upstairs. 11 seems to be a YES number for me. Though I am usually a pretty rational guy, if I have something on my mind and I see an 11 somewhere, I know I’m on the right path. It’s one of my last remaining superstitions. 2011 has a nice ring to it & if you’re so inclined, it may be the last year ever! So why not say YES? Why not say YES to Coachella? Why not say YES to playing the music we designed to be an undeniable source of power? Why not say YES to stirring up a writhing pit of sweaty humans? YES to riots! YES to heavy music! YES instead of maybe, and YES to make death your adviser and remind yourself always, that this is not a dress rehearsal. This is the big show."

No word yet on how all of this will take shape, new album plans, or any tours ... but who cares? They're gettin' the band back together!

Find out who else besides Death From Above 1979 is making an appearance at this year's Coachella Festival.