Ben Folds Five will reunite for the first time in almost 10 years for a new MySpace show. The band will perform their 1999 album ‘The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner‘ in its entirety in Chapel Hill, N.C. on September 18. The performance will be taped for the new MySpace show ‘Front To Back‘ and is set to broadcast in October on Myspace.

Tickets for the reunion show will go on sale Sept. 8 via eTix.com. All proceeds from the gig will benefit Operation Smile: Changing Lives One Smile at a Time.

In what may be a sign of things to come, Muxtape, the popular vitual-mixtape generating website has been shut down. Visitors to the website are greeted with the message: “Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA.” Although according to a post on the Mixtape Tumblr “no artists or labels complained”, clearly someone did and the RIAA took action forcing the service to close down “for a brief period”. As for how long the “brief period” will last, no one knows.

Coldplay have made available a new song to download for free from their website, coldplay.com. The track, ‘Death Will Never Conquer‘, was recorded during sessions for their recently released album ‘Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends’ and is now available as a free download courtesy of Chris Martin and Co.
Head on over to coldplay.com to get the track.

If you were one of the Bloc Party fans who got to chat with the band last night (August 18) on blocparty.com, then you know the bands major announcement. Bloc Party revealed during the webchat that their new album ‘Intimacy‘ will be available this Thursday (August 21) as a digital release. The surprise announcement means that fans will get to buy the digital album in only three days time. The album will also be available as a CD set for release October 27 and will feature additional songs. Fans who head over the band’s website, blocparty.com, and pre-order the CD will receive the digital album on August 21. ‘Intimacy‘ was produced by Paul Epworth and Jacknife Lee and was recorder in Kent and London. Bloc Party are set for an appearance at Reading and Leeds 2008 (August 23 and 24) and will headline the HydroConnect festival on August 30. 

Bloc Party are giving their fans a chance to interview them. The band will be hosting a webchat to speak directly to fans about everything ‘Bloc Party‘, from their recent US and Japanese shows to the release of their single Mercury and their upcoming appearance at Reading and Leeds. If you want to ask the band a question head over to blocparty.com today (August 18) at 7pm BST.

Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong’s debut album, which was canceled by the band, has leaked online. As previously reported the debut album was canned by the band and their management a couple weeks before it was due for release (August 4) in favor of re-recording a brand new, more polished version. However the canceled album has made its way online and has appeared on several file-sharing sites in its entirety.

The new album is set to be released in early 2009.

Franz Ferdinand are giving fans an opportunity to preview some new material. The band are currently streaming the track ‘Lucid Dreams‘ on their official site, Franzferdinand.co.uk. The track will reportedly appear on the groups forthcoming album which is due out early next year. It is also set to appear on EA Sport’s game ‘Madden 09‘ which will be released August 12.

Kings Of Leon have announced a North American tour in support of their highly anticipated fourth album ‘Only By The Night‘. The extensive jaunt will officially kick off October 11 in Las Vegas, however the band are set for an intimate show at New Yorks’ Webster Hall on September 23rd to celebrate the release of the album, which is released that day. The Followill boys have recruited We Are Scientists as their main support on all dates except their Webster Hall performance. ‘Sex On Fire‘, the first single from the forthcoming album is currently streaming on the band’s MySpace and will available for purchase September 15.

In other KOL news, the band is set to perform at this weekend’s All Points West Festival in New Jersey. The boys will take the stage on Saturday, August 9th.

A collaboration between Muse and The Streets has reportedly been leaked online. The track ‘Who Knows Who‘ has been available to download on several sites for the last few days. Several fan message boards for both bands have also included links to where the track can be heard. ‘Who Knows Who‘ features The Streets‘ Mike Skinner rapping.

Tracks by Babyshambles drummer Adam Ficek are available for free online. Ficek recently launched the website for his solo project entitled ‘Roses, Kings, Castles‘ and in order to celebrate the launching he’s giving away free music. Ten previously unreleased demos, many of which are expected to appear on his debut album, are currently available to download at RosesKingsCastles.com. Ficek’s debut album also entitled ‘Roses, Kings, Castles‘ is due out September 22.

On July 2nd, Buckcherry’s new single off of their ‘Black Butterfly‘ album was leaked through BitTorrent. A few days following the online leak the band issued a press release condemning the pirates and saying “Honestly, we hate it when this shit happens, because we want our FANS to have any new songs first.” The group was pissed off by the incident, which isn’t the first time a band show anger after their album is leaked online. What makes this story interesting is who exactly leaked the tracks through BitTorrent. Shortly after the band issued the statement, the site TorrentFreak began an investigation to determine who leaked the music. The site, with the help of a “BitTorrent site insider”, confirmed that the IP address of the person who uploaded the torrent file belonged to none other than their band manager, Josh Klemme. It turns out it was all a publicity stunt clearly out of desperation to get some attention for the band and their new album. As TorrentFreak points out, wouldn’t it be “more constructive if bands embraced the technology and admitted it, instead of playing the injured party and giving the protocol a bad image, just to boost their own?” Read the whole story on how they tracked down the seeder at TorrentFreak.

Can’t get your fill of The Kooks? Than head on over to IHeartMusic.com where they are currently streaming a slew of unreleased tracks by the band. Among the tracks available to hear are ‘See The Sun‘, ‘Gap‘, ‘Eaten By Your Lover‘ and a whole lot more.

In other news The Kooks recently added a handful of new North American tour dates to their already lengthy world tour which they are currently in the midst of supporting their album ‘Konk‘.

New York rockers The Walkmen have teamed up with AmieStreet.com for a pre-release of their new album ‘You & Me‘ to benefit charity. The album isn’t due out until August 19, however if you head over to AmieStreet.com you can purchase the album for only $5 with the entire amount going towards the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

‘You & Me‘ is the follow-up to 2006’s ‘A Hundred Miles Off‘.

A previously unreleased track by Babyshambles has appeared online. Babyshambles drummer Adam Ficek posted the track ‘Arcady‘ on his MySpace page. Although the song has appeared on previously released Pete Doherty demos, in acoustic form, this is the first time the song is released as a full-band version. To listen to the track head over to MySpace.com/roseskingscastles and select the last song titled ‘sshhh‘. [Via NME]

We recently told you about The Strokes‘ Nikolai Fraiture’s new band Nickel Eye. The band has yet to officially release any tracks or play live yet, however two songs by the band which were played on Mark Ronson’s East Village radio show have apparently been ripped and are now appearing on several file sharing sites as well as on YouTube. The tracks ‘Brandy Of The Damned‘ and ‘Dying Star‘, are available to download on several sites and feature Fraiture on vocals.

According to their MySpace site at Myspace.com/officialnickeleye, the band will be releasing their debut album, ‘The Time Of The Assassins‘, soon. [Via NME]

Kings Of Leon’s highly anticipated forthcoming album “Only By The Night” isn’t due out till September 23, but the Followill boys are giving there fans something special in the while they wait. Fans who head over to the band’s site can get a free download of ‘Crawl‘, a new track from their forthcoming album. To get the track you only need to enter your email address, that’s it. The boys also recently announced a UK arena tour which will kick off on December 1st in Brighton.

Motley Crue are set to perform from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on August 1st for what they call a “live global concert”. The live concert will broadcast around the world for free via DeepRockDrive.com. The broadcast will start at 9:30pm PST. and if you want to catch it you must register on the site first because places are limited. The band will be supporting their recently released album, ‘Saints Of Los Angeles‘.

We Know how boring things can get at work (assuming you’re working) so here is the first of many crossword puzzles. Now you can test your music knowledge. In this addition ‘Bands and Artists‘ we bring you indie rock joy. You can download the puzzle in PDF form. Have fun! We would love to hear your feedback on the puzzle. Download and enjoy!

Cold War Kids highly anticipated sophomore album, ‘Loyalty To Loyalty‘, isn’t due to drop until September 23rd, however if you head over to RCRD LBL right now you can download  the free .mp3 for ‘Something Is Not Right With Me‘, the first single from the forthcoming album. To download the track just go here. The band will also soon embark on a massive tour in support of the album. The will play dates in North America, the UK, Australia, and Europe.

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