Animal Collective: 2009's First Great Album?

The New Year is just a few days old, but music fans already have access to one of 2009's most important records: Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion hits store shelves today (in vinyl, at least -- digital and CD versions arrive Jan. 20), and we've already chimed in with a four-star review, noting how the band manages to "elude all experimental-noise, freak-folk, and indie-rock tags."

And we're not alone in our praise. "I consider them to be the most important band of our time," Deerhunter/Atlas Sound maven Bradford Cox tells SPIN. "I seriously think they're the best band on the planet,"

To celebrate today's album release, we've posted a sneak peek of SPIN's exclusive feature on Animal Collective, which will appear later this month in our February issue. It chronicles their career so far, from early musical influences like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre soundtrack and gigs that involved performing inside tents, wearing only underwear, to a present tense where the band's three members are split between New York, Washington, D.C., and Portugal, but are playing festival sets to 20,000 adoring fans.

Click here to read the interview, and here for our album review.

Lily Allen Threatens Katy Perry

Call it a hunch, but we're pretty sure that "forgive and forget" was not included in Lily Allen's New Year's resolutions.

The outspoken Katy Perry is continuing to pay the price of 2008's "skinnier-version-of-Lily-Allen"-gate, as UK newspaper Sun reports that Allen recently bragged, "I have Katy Perry's number, someone did me a favour [sic]. I'm just waiting for her to open her mouth one more time -- then it hits Facebook." [via Gigwise.com].

Allen is also reported to have joined two anti-Perry groups on Facebook: "I hate Katy Perry and her dumb-ass song 'I Kissed A Girl'" and the group "Katy Perry? Who in the hell does she think she is?"

Come to think of it, we might start our own Facebook group and call it: "Seriously Katy Perry, Don't Fuck with Lily Allen."

Fall Out Boy, Ben Folds Teach Music on Apple Computers

Later this month, musically-inclined fans of Fall Out Boy, Ben Folds, and a handful of other artists can learn to perform their idols' favorite tunes with the best teachers imaginable: Apple's new series of downloadable Artist Lessons for GarageBand, the company's widely-used home recording software, will offer video tutorials with FOB's Patrick Stump, Folds, Sting, John Fogerty, Norah Jones, and others, teaching users one of their hit songs.

Priced at $4.99 per lesson, the video tutorials also include footage of each artist discussing the genesis of their featured tracks -- sounds familiar to us -- and allow budding rockers to view lyrics, practice along with the artist, or slow down parts of the song for closer study. 

Good start, Apple. But while it'll be totally awesome to make our friends weep when we learn how to play Ben Folds' "Brick," some serious guitar shredding tutorials would be appreciated. Kirk Hammett or Mike McCready, anyone?

Check out the video tutorials here.

Stooges Guitarist Ron Asheton Found Dead

Ronald "Ron" Asheton, influential guitarist and original member of punk progenitors the Stooges, was found dead at his Ann Arbor, MI, home this morning, the Ann Arbor News reports. Although the official cause of death has yet to be confirmed, it is suspected that Asheton -- found on his living room sofa and thought to have been deceased for several days -- died from a heart attack. He was 60.

Originally an accordionist, Asheton started his rock career as the guitarist and co-songwriter for the Stooges' first two albums before switching to bass for their third effort, 1973's Raw Power.

Asheton left the Stooges shortly after Raw Power's release, playing with MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson and former Stooges bass player Jimmy Recca in the New Order, which predated the well known U.K. band of the same name. He also played in "anti-rock" outfit Destroy All Monsters and proto-punk band New Race, before reuniting with the Stooges in 2003 as lead guitarist. The regrouped band released their latest effort, The Weirdness, in 2007.

In addition, Asheton contributed to the soundtrack for the 1998 glam-rock film Velvet Goldmine, and has worked alongside Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Minutemen bassist (and touring Stooge) Mike Watt, and J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.

Ron Asheton playing with the Stooges at Virgin Mobile Fest '08

"Loose"

"1969"

Death Cab's Next Album: Meek or Strong?

Ben Gibbard's mushy songwriting obviously works for Zooey Deschanel, but apparently those slow numbers don't have band member Chris Walla swooning.

In a recent interview with Alternative Press [via exclaim.ca], Walla revealed he's less than impressed with Gibbard's slow-jams: "I don't particularly have any real connection to a lot of the mellower stuff that Ben writes," he said. "I really feel like he's getting his best stuff when he's being assertive and forward."

"I have no interest in doing anything that's mild and meek," he elaborated. "I want to make a radio record this next time out. There's no reason for us to keep doing what we're doing if we're making meeker, smaller records."

Meanwhile, in an interview with the A.V. Club, Gibbard said, "I don't have any large concepts about what the new album should be or sound like."

Gibbard then went on to say his only desire concerning the next album was to "go flip off into [a] little corner of the world and write in a vacuum, then bring all the songs to the band."

We wonder how that's going to work for Walla and the rest of the guys.

Kraftwerk Co-Founder Leaves Band

Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider has officially announced his departure from the legendary German electro outfit he formed with Ralf Hütter in 1970 [via Billboard.com].

The news comes via a statement posted to the band's fansite: "Florian Schneider leaves Kraftwerk after a 40 years partnership with Ralf Hütter. This partnership has generated an incredible music and huge advances in music technology. Florian is a great musician, always seeking the perfect sound through technology. Refined and perfected sounds and vocoders to impossible levels of perfection."

The statement also alludes to potential solo efforts in the pipeline for Schneider, wishing him success on his "new projects."

Kraftwerk, which has signed to open Radiohead's spring tour of Latin America, will continue on without Schneider.

New Albums from Glasvegas, Animal Collective, and More

Here's a rundown of the essential albums available online and in record stores today:

Glasvegas, Glasvegas
Scot rockers reduce pint-waving masses to puddle.
Read Review >>

Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
Former freak-folk crew embrace dance-music euphoria.
Read Review >>

The BPA, I Think We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
Potluck at Fatboy's house -- Iggy, bring the pasta salad!
Read Review >>

Grace Jones, Hurricane
Slave to the rhythm returns as scary mistress of the dark.
Read Review >>

Free Download: Radiohead and Jay-Z Mash-Up, 'Jaydiohead'

Jay-Z is no stranger to involuntary collaborations with the rock'n'roll elite; remix wizards across the web have mashed his tunes with those of bands from Oasis to Pavement and beyond. And now he has another musical partnership to add his lengthy list: Radiohead.

Unlike Danger Mouse's sensational The Grey Album, which united Jay's Black Album and the Beatles' self-titled "White Album" track for track, Jaydiohead mashes an array of songs from both artists, including pairs like The Black Album's "99 Problems" and Kid A's "Nation Anthem" (remix title: "99 Anthems"), and American Gangster's "Fallin'" and In Rainbows' "15 Step" ("Fall in Step"). The man behind the mix: New York's DJ Minty Fresh Beats, who premiered Jaydiohead on his MySpace page December 30.

To download the complete album, visit Jaydiohead.com. And then leave your thoughts on the mix in the comment section below.

Lykke Li, Robyn on New Royksopp Album

Four years after the release of 2005's SPIN-approved The Understanding, Norway's downtempo electronic twosome Royksopp have finally unveiled details of their third studio album, Junior.

In a post to their website, Royksopp said the record will release March 23, with its first single, "Happy Up Here," arriving March 9. And the album's guest list of featured vocalists is quite impressive: SPIN's Top 40 Albums of 2008 alum Lykke Li, Swedish pop singer Robyn, and Karin Dreijer of electro-weirdos the Knife, among others, all contribute to Junior.

Below, check out the tracklist for the new record. And while you await Junior's arrival, head to royksopp.com to download "Happy Birthday," a new song not on the forthcoming record.

Junior tracklist:
1. "Happy Up Here"
2. "The Girl and the Robot"
3. "Vision One"
4. "This Must Be It"
5. "Roysopp Forever"
6. "Miss It So Much"
7. "Tricky Tricky"
8. "You Don't Have a Clue"
9. "Silver Cruiser"
10. "True to Life"
11. "It's What I Want"

Full Album Stream: Andrew Bird

Chicago's Andrew Bird is keeping busy in the new year: He's preparing for a winter tour and readying his next studio album, the SPIN-approved Noble Beast, to arrive January 20 via Fat Possum.

And what better way to warm audiences to your outing than by introducing them to the new record two weeks in advance of its release? NPR is hosting an exclusive stream Noble Beast now. Click here to check out the album for yourself. And then leave your thoughts about it in our comments section below.