Leonard Cohen Begins Streaming New LP

Leonard Cohen is now streaming his new album, Popular Problems, ahead of the official release which is on September 22.

The LP comes out the day after Cohen’s 80th birthday is his 13th studio album. It was co-written with Patrick Leonard, who also produced the album, and worked with Cohen on his last album, 2012’s Old Ideas. There are no plans for live dates around the this album. The stream for the album is available on NPR.

Popular Problems is Cohen’s second release since his return in 2008 after a 15-year break. The album has nine tracks, although it does not include his new song, “I’ve Got A Secret,” which he performed at a Dublin gig in 2013.

Popular Problems Tracklist:

“Slow”
“Almost Like The Blues”
“Samson In New Orleans”
“A Street”
“Did I Ever Love You”
“My Oh My”
“Nevermind”
“Born In Chains”
“You Got Me Singing”

The Melodic Tree’s Weekly Playlist

1. Crystallized – Young the Giant

2. Hannah – Freelance Whales

3. Fader – The Temper Trap

4. You & I – Local Natives

5. Here (In Your Arms) – Hellogoodbye

6. We Intertwined – The Hush Sound

7. On Your Porch – The Format

8. Hallelujah – The Hello Sequence

9. Abandon – French Kicks

10. Pass Away – Pomegranates

11. Roman Candles – Suckers

12. Lose Your Mind – So Many Wizards

13. Away For the Weekend

14. Walkability – Way Yes

15. Day Glo – Brazos

16. Love Is All I Got – Crystal Fighters

17. Lions In Cages – Wolf Gang

18. Face the Facts – The Little Ones

19. Teen Lovers – The Virgins

20. Temple – Kings of Leon

Melodic Tree’s Weekly Playlist

The Strokes Could Begin Work on New Album in January

Julian Casablancas has said that the popular indie rock band, The Strokes, could possibly begin working on material in January.

Casablancas, while addressing the much asked question about when they would start the follow up to their latest album, Comedown Machine, stated, “In January we might meet up and work on some ideas. Everyone is psyched. Everything is in a really cool place.”

In his interview with BBC 6 Music Breakfast Show, Casablancas talked about the working relationship of the band, who recently performed their first shows since 2011.

“We haven’t started on anything,” Casablancas began about new material. “But it was cool and we played some shows and the vibe is finally… I don’t know if we ever had that good a working friendship foundation [in our] work relationship, but now we finally have that. We’ll always have the creative vibe.”

Casablancas also spoke about his intentions for the band earlier this year, saying that they are, “trying to carry on as friends, taking it easy, recording a couple of songs, and do[ing] a couple of shows.”

Bombay Bicycle Club Calls U2 Album Invasive

Indie-rock quartet, Bombay Bicycle Club, have said that Apple are being “invasive” for automatically putting U2’s new album on all their subscribers’ iTunes account.

‘Songs Of Innocence’ was place into the library 500 million accounts on iTunes Tuesday (September 9).

The album automatically being placed has raised questions about iTunes holders’ privacy, and in a recent conversation with NME, Bombay Bicycle Club guitarist Jamie MacColl said: “I thought the move was quite invasive. A lot of people are up in arms because they don’t like U2. I don’t have an opinion on the band itself, but I do think the method is a little bit in your face.”

OK Go Accuses Apple of Plagarizing

The indie rock band, OK Go, accused Apple of ripping off a video of theirs for a promotional clip during their global product launch Tuesday.

OK Go manager Andy Gershon in a recent interview said he met with Apple to pitch a concept that involves one continual camera that goes around a room and shows various messages depending on the the camera’s perspective. When Apple declined, the band hired the company 1stAveMachine and made the concept into their video for “The Writing’s On the Wall.” OK Go posted the video to YouTube in June and since it’s posting, it has since gained 10 million views and won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Visual Effects.

When Apple premiered their new video “Perspective”, which looks eerily similar to “Writing’s On The Wall” and was created by the same company that worked with OK Go, there is no surprise that the band was shocked at this realization. Apple hire 1stAveMachine as producers and the company even used the same exact director behind OK Go’s video. “The videos speak for themselves,” said Gershon.

OK Go is considering legal action against Apple, according to Gershon. However, Stanford law professor Mark Lemley noted that the band could possibly not have much of a case. Lemley said there is precedent for an “idea submission case,” which is when someone who pitched an idea in private can seek charges if the idea is used without their involvement. However, these cases tend to require a non-disclosure agreement, and OK Go does not seem to have one. Lemley also stated that if the band does try to take charges, taking legal actions is “unlikely to succeed.” He added, “That said, from a PR perspective, I’d say it wasn’t a smart move by Apple.”

Any complaints of plagiarism could be quite bad for business as the company spent $100 million into this advertising campaign. The best part of this entire ordeal is that if Apple did actually plagiarize, it would invalidate “Perspective” as a “tribute to people who have always seen things differently.”

Deer Tick Plans to Cover Classic Albums in Full

In December, Rhode Island based Deer Tick will be celebrating 10 years of being a band. With five studio albums under their belt, the anniversary is impressive due to the fact that the majority of the band members are in their twenties.

To commemorate the occasion, the band announced a six-night residency at the Brooklyn Bowl. During five of the nights, the band will cover classic album in full, and be joined by special guests.

Starting on December 26th, during the first night of the residency, the band will perform their own 2007 album, War Elephant, in its entirety before covering NRBQ’s Tiddlywinks. Deer Tick will thenLou Reed’s Transformer, The Beatles’ Meet The Beatles, Devo’s Q: Are We Not Men?, and Elvis Costello’s My Aim Is True, in that order. The band with include some of their own songs throughout each show. The final night, on New Year’s Eve, will have a set made up of fan-requested songs.

Presale starts tomorrow (9/10) and with the code DEERTICK10 used at checkout. Regular tickets will available Friday, September 12th at noon.

Deer Tick 2014 Tour Dates:
09/17 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
09/19 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
09/20 – Hartford, CT @ Infinity Hall Hartford
09/25 – Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Bar + Grill
09/27 – Marfa, TX @ El Cosmico Festival
12/26 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl
12/27 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl
12/28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl
12/29 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl
12/30 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl
12/31 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl

Ryan Adams Releases Hilarious Infomercial

Ryan Adams, currently promoting his new record, and released an infomercial as his most recent stint. Adams gathered Garry Shandling, Jeff Garlin, Don Was, and Bob Mould to act in a faux storyline focused on Adams’ music killing parakeets. The three-minute video captures the musician’s creativeness and also his vocal register.

There is also a second video with Garlin, Shandling, and Was. In this video, Adams’ music turns people into zombies.

The singer-songwriter’s thirteenth LP is due out this week.

The Melodic Tree’s Weekly Playlist

1. Ragged Wood – Fleet Foxes

2. Mansard Roof – Vampire Weekend

3. The World at Large – Modest Mouse

4. Don’t You Evah – Spoon

5. Caring is Creepy – The Shins

6. You Only Live Once – The Strokes

7. Lazaretto – Jack White

8. Glacier – James Vincent McMorrow

9. Not A Crime – Gogol Bordello

10. Pink Wonton – Man Man

11. Cayucos – Cayucas

12. For Someone Far Away – Jordan Velez

13. Grand Optimist – City and Colour

14. Sugar – Shout Out Louds

15. Change Your Mind – The Killers

16. Out of Control –  Clear Static

17. Many of Horror – Biffy Clyro

18. Would That Not Be Nice – Divine Fits

19. Percussion Gun – White Rabbit

20. You, Me and the Bourgeoisie – The Submarines

Fall Out Boy Announces New Single “Centuries”

Through a cryptic video on YouTube, Fall Out Boy announced details on their new single.

The single is the band’s latest material since last year’s Save Rock and Roll. Already having revealed the song name via Twitter, the band shared the five-second video that gave a short message in Morse Code. The Code spelt out the word “Centuries,” the title of the single that will be released on September 8.

Rumors started spread about the new single after the band released a casting call that called for actors for a “Roman-themed” music video.

Watch Jack White’s Performance at Blogotheque

Jack White’s performance at the Saint-Saturnin Chapel at the Château de Fontainebleau, which is on outskirts of Paris, France, is the latest performance of La Blogtheque’s series, Take Away Shows. White is joined by his bandmates Lillie Mae Rische, Dominic Davis, and Fats Kaplin. Inside the halls of the chapel,White performs “The Same Boy You’ve Always Known” first, from The White Stripes’ White Blood Cells. White then goes outside with Rische for an intimate rendition of “Entitlement” from Lazaretto. Watch the session below.