The last few months have shown NAS coming under fire for the title of his forthcoming album that was tentatively titled N*gger. Pressure from those around him forced him to change the name of the album. So he’s going simply with “Untitled” as the album title.

But the controversy over the album seems to have just fueled the hype on the album. On July 15th, we’ll see if that controversy helped or hurt Mr. Nasir Jones’ reputation. Hearing one of the new tracks from the record, “America” does lead us to believe that rep will just continue to grow.

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MP3: Nas :: “America” feat. Chris Brown from CMJ.com

In the meantime, head over to www.nasindependenceday.com and listen to what he’s calling “The N*gger Tape”, a collecion of songs that address the ramifications of the word. Some of these songs made it to the new album, others did not. In addition to a bunch of guest musicians (Busta Rhymes, Mark Ronson, The Last Poets) there’s also snippets of Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s speeches for the track “Black President”.

Check out the album tracklisting and art after the jump. (more…)

The summer of reunions continues with some brand-spankin’ new music from THE VERVE! We caught them on their reunion tour a few months back and are definitely psyched to see Richard and co writing some new tunes again!

The band just released a new song for us to get all worked up to. Check out the stream of the song “Love Is Noise” over at their myspace page.

MP3: The Verve :: “Love Is Noise”

CONOR OBERST is set to release his first solo album via Merge on August 5, 2008. You can now stream two new songs, “Souled Out!!!” and “Danny Callahan,” at his website. He and his band, The Mystic Valley Band also recently announced a slew of new tour dates. Most go on sale this week and are expected to sell out FAST. Dates after the jump, get ready to click. (more…)

SHE & HIM, the duo consisting of M. Ward, and the lovely Zooey Deschanel were the first band to kick of a new series of World Cafe performances called The Lillywhite Sessions.

The sessions are produced by the legendary knob-twister Steve Lillywhite. She & Him inaugurated the series from Avatar Studios in NYC. World Cafe’s host David Dye asked the questions of the duo while Lillywhite mixed their performances and made commentary on the music.

Since Lillywhite has worked with some of the greatest acts in history (U2, Peter Gabriel, Rolling Stones, Morrissey), we think it’s pretty safe to say these sessions will definitely grow to become THE place for bands to perform very quickly.

STREAM: She & Him :: The Lillywhite Sessions

“I think that Joe Strummer would have made a decent teacher”. FINALLY we get to hear the entire new album by THE HOLD STEADY record, Stay Positive. We’ve already dubbed it one of our favorite albums of the year, now it’s time for everyone to make that declarative statement. Grab a double whiskey, coke no ice and give it a listen.

STREAM: The Hold Steady :: Stay Positive on Myspace.

LESS THAN JAKE continue to keep the ska-punk dream alive. The band have posted a track from their new album GNV FLA coming out on 6/24 on their own label Sleep It Off Records. So get ready to skank with your checkerboard ankle tattoo exposed and download the track below.

MP3: Less Than Jake :: “Does The City Still Roar?”

We’ve heard rumblings of a new collaboration between Max Bemis (of Say Anything) and Chris Conley (of Saves The Day) for some time now. Different names have been thrown out as to what the band would be called with the most recent one being Two Tongues.

But up until this point there have only been talks of said collaboration. Then this morning a new Myspace page as be discovered with a new song called, “Crawl” posted on it. The site really doesn’t give much more detail than list band members and let us know that more info is to come. But in the meantime we can listen to a new track and guess as to what the entire new album will sound like.

STREAM: Two Tongues :: “Crawl” via Myspace.

I was tipped to this new track from THE HOLD STEADY by Chris Walla. Okay it’s not like Chris and I are buddies or anything. He and his band Death Cab For Cutie happen to be guest posters today over at Stereogum. And it seem’s Chris is just excited about posting new THS music as I was to hear it.

I got to see THS a few weeks back in NYC and they are amazing. When their new album, Stay Positive hits the streets there will be a few people I know running for it.

Case in point, when talking to a friend online about the new song, he made two very declaritive statements that, “If the entire album is this good, I’m not going to be able to handle it.” and “They could very well be the best band making music right now.”

It’s tough to argue with such sound logic.

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STREAM: The Hold Steady :: “Sequestered In Memphis” on Myspace

Album art and Spring/Summer tour dates can be seen after the jump. (more…)

As of midnight this morning, SPIRITUALIZED’s new album Songs In A&E is up for streaming on the band’s myspace page in its entirety. Go and make sure you check it out for it’s only going to be up for the next week. The album is in stores May 27th.

STREAM: Spiritualized :: Songs In A&E on myspace

ROB DICKINSON, former frontman of highly influential British band CATHERINE WHEEL is set to re-release his debut solo album, Fresh Wine For The Horses. The album will be released as a two disc set on June 10th. The album will have one new song, “End Of The World”. The bonus disc will contain 6 acoustic versions of classic Catherine Wheel songs.

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MP3: Rob Dickinson :: “The End Of The World”

You can check out a tracklisting after the jump. (more…)

BRIDGE NINE RECORDS just released a new label sampler for 2008. It’s 11 tracks chock full of artists currently representing on the label. Bands like H20, New Found Glory, Verse, Ceremony, Crime In Stereo all make an apperance on the comp.

STREAM: Bridge Nine :: 2008 Label Sampler

ALABAMA 3, have kicked around the music scene since the late 90’s. Their origins are clouded in mystery, it’s original members claimed to have met in rehab. This makes sense since their music has been dubed a sweet mixture of acid house country blues music or “chemical country”.

The band, known to many here in the states as “that band that did the theme song to the tv show, The Sopranos” is known for their amazing live shows with the band singing and preaching country jams with southern accents set to live rave-up music.

The band’s longtime label One Little Indian thought it would be fitting to celebrate their existance for the last decade by putting together a retrospective of the band called Hits And Exit Wounds. The retrospective gives a great overview of the band and shows they have more rounds in the chamber than a song that served as the theme for Jersey mobsters.

Check out their send-up of the man in black.
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MP3: Alabama 3 :: “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash”
BUY: Alabama 3 :: Hits And Exit Wounds