Sia Reveals This Is Acting Release Date, Cover Art

 Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews

Sia's new album, This Is Acting, has finally gotten a release date: January 29. She's also revealed the album's cover through a newly launched Instagram. Check it out here, and scroll down to see the art.

As the artist explained in an interview, the album is comprised entirely of songs intended for other artists. “It’s more like play-acting," she said. "It’s fun.”

Lead single "Alive" was co-written with Adele and Tobias Jesso Jr. and was intended for Adele's album, but discarded. Revisit that below.

In an interview with Beats 1's Zane Lowe, Sia said This Is Acting contains songs written for Beyoncé and Rihanna, amongst others. She also said she's working with FKA twigs, and that she has a song on Adele's 25.

via Molly Beauchemin

Real Estate's Martin Courtney Covers Pavement's "Major Leagues"

Photo by Shawn Brackbill

Real Estate's Martin Courtney just released a solo album called Many Moons. To promote it, he's appearing on Sirius XMU at 9 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, November 4. Below, watch him perform a cover of Pavement's "Major Leagues", recorded for the session.

Courtney has also announced a brief West Coast tour; check out the dates below.

Read our feature on Real Estate.

Martin Courtney:

11-20 Brooklyn, NY - National Sawdust
01-18 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
01-19 San Diego, CA - The Casbah
01-20 San Francisco, CA - The Chapel

Courtney also recently performed "Airport Bar" at KCRW. Watch the video below:

via Jazz Monroe

The Stone Roses Reunite for 2016 Concerts

Photo by Pennie Smith

This morning, posters bearing the Stone Roses' lemon logo mysteriously appeared in various venues around Manchester, England. Today, all has been revealed: The band will reunite next year for three concerts. They'll play Manchester's Etihad Stadium on June 17 and 18, and headline Scotland's T in the Park festival on July 8. 

The band's lineup will be Ian Brown, John Squire, Gary Manny "Mani" Mounfield, and Alan "Reni" John Wren. The group first reformed in 2012, when they played dates in Manchester and at various global festivals. On that occasion, 220,000 tickets for the Manchester shows sold out in 68 minutes.

Watch the video for "I Wanna Be Adored":

via Jazz Monroe

Aziz Ansari Dresses Up as the Weeknd, Lip Syncs "The Hills" for Halloween

Photo via Aziz Ansari's Instagram

This past weekend was full of celebrities dressing up as other celebrities for Halloween. But one of the best was Aziz Ansari's the Weeknd costume. Yesterday, the comedian posted a short video of himself in full Abel Tesfaye attire lip-syncing to "The Hills", and it's...pretty spectacular. Check it out below.

 

Happy Halloween.

A video posted by @azizansari onNov 1, 2015 at 7:52am PST

via Zoe Camp

Spoon Announce Gimme Fiction Deluxe Reissue, Share "Was It You?" Home Demo

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Spoon's 2005 album Gimme Fiction. To honor the milestone, Merge will reissue the album on December 11. The collection, available digitally and as a double-LP/double-CD, includes a remastered version of the record, 12 previously unreleased demos and nine bonus tracks, included as a digital download.

Additionally, the new edition of Gimme Fiction comes with a full-color book featuring photos and an oral history of the record, which can be viewed here. A variety of configurations are available through the band's website.

Today, Spoon have shared one of the demos from the reissue, a home take on "Was It You?". Stream it below.

Read our Interview with Britt Daniel on the Songs of Spoon.

Watch the video for "I Turn My Camera On":

via Zoe Camp

Aphex Twin Shares Alternate Version of "Avril 14th"

Over the last year, Aphex Twin has uploaded a steady stream of music to various anonymous Soundclouds. (Here's his latest one.) Today, he's offered an alternate version of "Avril 14th" from 2001's Drukqs. Here, it's called "avril altdelay". Listen to it above, via FACT.

Read our Aphex Twin Cover Story.

Here's the original:

via Jeremy Gordon

Rustie Shares New Track "First Mythz"

Photo by Timothy Saccenti

Rustie released his latest album Green Language last year. Today, he's shared a new track called "First Mythz", which is streaming above. He says it's from a forthcoming album.

"First Mythz" follows "160 Hospital Riddim", a track that Rustie released from the hospital when he was undergoing treatment for diabetes. Previously, he shared another track called "Big Catzz".

Read our interview with Rustie.

Watch Rustie perform "City Star" at MoMA PS1 Warm Up:

via Molly Beauchemin

Blood Orange's Dev Hynes and Connan Mockasin Release EP, Share "Feelin' Lovely"

Last March, Mexican Summer presented the Marfa Myths festival in Marfa, Texas. During the festival, Blood Orange's Dev Hynes and Connan Mockasin worked together to create three original compositions. They're collected on the Marfa Myths 001 EP, which is out now. Listen to one of the songs, "Feelin' Lovely", below. (The other two songs on the three-track EP are "La Fat Fur" and "Big Distant Crush".)

Mexican Summer and Ballroom Marfa have also announced that Marfa Myths will return to Marfa March 10-13, 2016. This time, Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood) will team with a special guest collaborator who will be revealed at the festival. Other performers include William Basinski, Dungen, Raum (Grouper's Liz Harris and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma), Parquet Courts, No Age, Quilt (with Mary Lattimore), Sheer Mag, and Awesome Tapes From Africa. L.A. legend Emitt Rhodes will also give his first live performance since 1973.

via Evan Minsker

Lil Wayne Announces No Ceilings 2 Mixtape

Lil Wayne has announced a new mixtape called No Ceilings 2, the sequel to 2009's No Ceilings. That's the artwork above. On Twitter, he implied the tape would be out on Thanksgiving. 

A tracklist hasn't been revealed, but Noisey points out a recent performance from Wayne where he rapped over Drake and Future's "Where Ya At". Watch a short clip of that below. Back in August, Wayne also freestyled over Drake's "Back to Back"—watch a clip of that below, too.

Weezy's last record was the Free Weezy Album, released in July.

via Jazz Monroe

Danny Brown Announces Thanksgiving Show, Poetry Workshop in Detroit

Photo by Jessica Lehrman

On November 25, Danny Brown is throwing his second annual Bruiser Brigade Thanksgiving show at the Majestic Theater in Detroit. Brown is also partnering with InsideOut Detroit's City Wide Poets Project (CWP). He'll be leading a city-wide poetry workshop for teens and young adults the same day as the show.

Brown is also raising funds for both Detroit Public Schools and CWP. Donate here, and check out a trailer for the Thanksgiving show below.

Read "Top Underdog", our feature on Brown.

Watch Brown on an episode of Pitchfork.tv's "Over/Under":

via Evan Minsker

Seth Bogart (Hunx) Teams With Kathleen Hanna on "Eating Makeup"

Seth Bogart is perhaps best known for his work under the name Hunx. (He often records alongside His Punx). However, his next album, due early next year via Burger, is coming out under his given name. The first single is "Eating Makeup", and it's a collaboration with Kathleen Hanna. Listen above.

The track is produced by Cole MGN (Ariel Pink, Julia Holter, Dåm-Funk). The album will also feature appearances by Tavi Gevinson, Cherry Glazerr, and Chela. 

Watch Hunx and His Punx perform "Private Room" on Pitchfork.tv:

Watch Hanna and the Julie Ruin perform at Pitchfork Music Festival:

via Evan Minsker

Lil B Takes on The Weeknd with His New Video

Lil B has shared a new song called "4 Tha Record", off his upcoming mixtape Thugged Out Pissed Off-- and the track contains two lines in which the BasedGod disses the Weeknd.

"Call me Lil Bars with the XO Bars/ Saying fuck The Weeknd, I can't sing that soft", and "A lot of suckas fake, so I can't respect it/ Fuck The Weeknd, put that on record," he raps repeatedly. Watch the video below.

FUCK THE WEEKND, THE CLUB GOING UP ON A TUESDAY #THUGGEDOUTPISSEDOFF MIXTAPE COMING SOON - Lil B

— Lil B THE BASEDGOD (@LILBTHEBASEDGOD) December 14, 2014

Read Jeremy Gordon's report "Based Don't Lie: Virtual Lil B Steps to Kevin Durant".

"4 Tha Record":

via Pitchfork

St. Vincent Appears in Sonos Commercial

St. Vincent has made a cameo as the narrator in a new Sonos commercial, which finds her listening to Otis Redding's "Send Me Some Lovin” while looking out over a golden skyline. "When everyone has every song ever written, what matters most is how you listen," she says in the clips final moments. Watch the commercial below, via Stereogum.

Watch St. Vincent's full set at the 2014 Pitchfork Music Festival Paris:

via Pitchfork

Chance the Rapper and the Social Experiment Share "Juke or Treat" Megamix

Chance The Rapper appears to have collaborated with The Social Experiment for a Halloween-themed megamix called “Juke or Treat," Spin reports. Listen to it above.

The Social Experiment’s Petter Cottontale uploaded the track to Soundcloud, and Chance's voice is unmistakable as he cirps "Happy Halloween" over samples from the X-Files, Ghostbusters, and the Twilight Zone.

Recently, Chance dropped a new single called "Angels", which he performed on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert".

Here's the video for "Sunday Candy":

via Molly Beauchemin

Duran Duran and Eagles of Death Metal Perform "Save a Prayer" Together on "TFI Friday"

This weekend, Duran Duran and Eagles of Death Metal performed together on the UK TV show "TFI Friday". They did "Save A Prayer", which Eagles of Death Metal covered on their recent album Zipper Down. Watch their collaborative performance, and watch Eagles of Death Metal do "Complexity" below. (Worth noting: It appears that Josh Homme was not present.)

Duran Duran's latest album Paper Gods is out now.

via Molly Beauchemin

Joanna Newsom Performs "Anecdotes" and "A Pin-Light Bent" For the First Time

Last night, Joanna Newsom performed the first show behind her new album Divers at the Albert Hall in Manchester. The concert was the live debut of some of the album's songs. Watch footage of her doing "Anecdotes" and "A Pin-Light Bent" below via Stereogum.

The view from the front row; looking up at a goddess #joannanewsom #manchester #alberthall #harp #anecdotes #livemusic #love

A video posted by Hannah (@gownabouttown) onNov 1, 2015 at 4:55am PST

The world doesn't deserve Joanna Newsom ☄ #JoannaNewsom

A video posted by ⠀⠀⠀⠀DOUGLAS JAMES GREENWOOD (@douglasgrnwd) onNov 1, 2015 at 4:30am PST

via Evan Minsker

Jeremih Is a Vampire in His "Lil Freak Shawty" Video

It's Jeremih season: After releasing his single "Oui", he just dropped a music video for another new track. Just in time for Halloween weekend, the Stephen Garnett-directed clip owes a lot to "True Blood"'s sex and vampires aesthetic. Jeremih has fangs, and there are a bunch of whips, chains, and mostly-nude women (who are probably also vampires).

Jeremih also recently released "Don't Tell 'Em", "Planes", and "Tonight Belongs to U!".

Read "Waiting for Jeremih" on the Pitch.

via Evan Minsker

Courtney Barnett Performs on "Austin City Limits"

Last night's episode of "Austin City Limits" on PBS featured two performances: one from Gary Clark Jr., and one from Courtney Barnett. Watch Barnett play a series of songs from Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit, plus a You Am I cover, below. Her set starts at the 27:52 mark.

Setlist:

Elevator Operator
Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party
Dead Fox
Depreston
Heavy Heart (You Am I cover)
Pedestrian at Best

via Evan Minsker

Taylor Swift Performs "Here" With Alessia Cara

At the Tampa stop of her monolith 1989 tour, Taylor Swift brought out Alessia Cara to perform her hit single "Here". Wrote Cara in the above Instagram post, "wait what happened last night."

Swift had another surprise for her audience—she wore a big puffy Olaf costume and sang "Let It Go" with Frozen star Idina Menzel. Watch footage below via MTV News.

@taylorswift thank you for showing me what 55,000 people looks like. you are the classiest, sweetest, most lovely person and I can't thank you enough for what just happened. Also I can't feel my body. goodnight everyone I quit life.

A video posted by ALESSIA CARA (@alessiasmusic) onOct 31, 2015 at 10:48pm PDT

Thank you @taylorswift13! That was definitely an out of body experience. Or out of Elsa's body! #1989TourTampa http://pic.twitter.com/oGPl9l6jp6

— Idina Menzel (@idinamenzel) November 1, 2015

Taylor wraps the U.S. leg of the #1989WorldTour with @idinamenzel singing "Let It Go"! #1989TourTampa http://pic.twitter.com/IFFPn6SOUJ

— Taylor Nation (@taylornation13) November 1, 2015

via Molly Beauchemin

Sufjan Stevens Covers Drake's "Hotline Bling"

Following in the footsteps of Erykah Badu, Alessia Cara, and Justin Bieber, Sufjan Stevens covered Drake’s "Hotline Bling" at his show in Jersey City last night. He was joined by Gallant, and as he performed, the single's artwork and Drake's face appeared on the screens behind him.

Read "True Myth", our feature on Stevens, and "You Used to Call Me on My: Hotlines in Pop Music".

via Evan Minsker