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

Artist to Watch: Jordan Velez

Oh, melancholic ballads about love, and heartbreak, and the complicated love-hate relationship we have with them. On one hand, there is something about them that tugs the heartstrings in us all, and on the other, there always seems to be something about them that always sounds (even if vaguely) so similar to each other. But, it seems as though Jordan Velez, singer-songwriter, photographer, filmmaker, and a seemingly busy person overall, adds his own darker twist to these ballads. Whether or not you have had your heart shattered or not, there seems to be an element in Velez’s songwriting that everyone seems to relate to.

Originally getting into music when he was seven and his father introduced him to the beat machine and taught him how to layer synthesizer ok top of drum and bass and so on and so forth. Ever since then he has not stopped making music, ranging from simple beats with synth melodies, or vocals over chord progressions.

Whether you have been listening to Velez since his debut and eagerly awaiting his latest album or a new fan casually listening, there is something in his music for everyone.

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.

Black Keys Say They Are Ready for New Album

The Black Keys have stated that they are ready to begin work on their new album.

Drummer Patrick Carney said that he and Dan Auerbach wanted to start working on a new album as a follow-up to their last album, Turn Blue right away. However, Carney acknowledged that these plans will likely be held up by their touring.

“I think if it were up to Dan and I, and we didn’t have to consider the fact that we need to complete the full tour circuit, we’d probably be back in the studio in January, I think by the time this record came out we were ready to make another one. We started the band because we wanted to make albums,” he added. “We wanted to make one record, and then we found out we had to tour. We didn’t play our first show ’til after our first record was recorded, so it’s always been about making records, and it’s been a process in growing to become good performers.” Carney said.

Carney also stated about the new album: “It’s not like we have an idea of what direction we want to go in or anything. I’d like our next record to be… I don’t want to go somewhere too pre-planned. We always want to go somewhere different.”

Julian Casablancas and the Voidz Confirmed New Album

Julian Casablancas and The Voidz confirmed details about their first album, Tyranny.

The band, whose frontman is the Strokes, Julian Casablancas, are planned to release their album on September 23 of this year. Tyranny is the followup to Casablancas’ solo album, Phrazes For The Young.

The LP will come out on Casablancas’ Cult Records and will be available as a USB drive that is shaped like a cigarette lighter. The band has released an eleven-minute new song entitled “Human Sadness” which can be heard on iTunes.

Members of The Voidz are, Jeramy Gritter (guitar), Amir Yaghmai (guitar), Jeff Kite (keyboard), Jake Bercovici (bass) and Alex Carapetis (drums).

When speaking about the album title, Casablancas stated: “Tyranny has come in many forms throughout history. Now, the good of business is put above anything else, as corporations have become the new ruling body. Most decisions seem to be made like ones of a medieval king: whatever makes profit while ignoring and repressing the truth about whatever suffering it may cause (like pop music, for that matter).”

The band plans on a US tour in October and November.

Tyranny tracklist:
“Take Me in Your Army”
“Crunch Punch”
“M.utually A.ssured D.estruction”
“Human Sadness”
“Where No Eagles Fly”
“Father Electricity”
“Johan Von Bronx”
“Business Dog”
“Xerox”
“Dare I Care”
“Nintendo Blood”
“Off to War…”