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Today’s Music News: Ryan Adams teams up with Elvira, and more

by Staff

August 13, 2014

Riding a wave of early acclaim for his self-titled album (to be released September 9) Ryan Adams has released a deliciously creepy video for single "Gimme Something Good" that features none other than Cassandra Peterson—a.k.a. TV legend Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Tonight, you can catch Adams on Jimmy Fallon's show.

Nas announced that he'll celebrate the 20th anniversary of his debut album Illmatic—regarded by many as the greatest hip-hop album ever released—with a "Time is Illmatic" tour on which he'll play the album from start to finish, as he did earlier this year at Minnesota hip-hop festival Soundset. (Billboard)

The Jabberwocky Festival, a major London music festival to be headlined by Neutral Milk Hotel and James Blake alongside many others, has been cancelled just a few days before its scheduled start on Friday. ATP, the event's organizer, said that ticket sales were so far behind costs that if the festival had taken place, ATP would have been forced out of business due to the losses. (Consequence of Sound)

In other festival news, Electric Zoo—the New York EDM festival taking place on August 29-30—has banned CamelBak backpacks (the backpacks you can drink from with a straw) on the grounds that they "can easily be used to store illicit materials." Commenters on the festival's Facebook page were displeased, citing the need to stay hydrated and rhetorically asking why Electric Zoo doesn't ban other means of illicit-substance-smuggling such as shoes and...well, you get the idea. (Consequence of Sound)

The upcoming N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton has already had a troubled history, and its cast was recently shaken when a drive-by shooting took place during the filming of a scene outside of the Compton Courthouse: a civilian was reportedly wounded when shots were fired from a car driving near the courthouse. N.W.A.'s Ice Cube says he's absolutely committed to the film. "This is our legacy, you can't play with this." (MTV)

When Beyoncé released her self-titled album at midnight on a Thursday, completely by surprise, last December, the Current's Andrea Swensson wondered whether the move was a game-changer. It now seems that it may have been, though perhaps not in the way observers expected: Billboard reports that the global record industry is moving toward a standard weekly Friday release date that will put all major labels on the same footing and will help to curtail piracy. Currently, Tuesday is the street date for most major-label albums in the U.S.

In local music news, a sad note: Kyle Johnson, a founding member of seminal Minneapolis rock group Run Westy Run, has died at the age of 54. (Local Current)

She & Him, the unexpectedly long-lasting collaboration between M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, have announced a new album of "timeless standards" recorded with a 20-piece orchestra. The album, Classics, is expected to be released this fall and will mark the duo's major-label debut. (Consequence of Sound)

Brian Eno has curated a box set of vinyl Fela Kuti reissues, to include six albums released between 1971 and 1980. The set, to be released on September 29 by Knitting Factory Records, is the third such collection that the label has released: previous sets of Kuti reissues were curated by the Roots' Questlove and Cream's Ginger Baker. (Consequence of Sound)

The agonizing struggles over Casey Kasem's remains continue, nearly two months after the pioneering DJ's demise: Kasem's children have reportedly enlisted law enforcement to prevent Kasem's widow Jean from flying the remains to Europe. (Billboard)

Thanks to a clever mash-up by director Mylo the Cat, we leave you today with Muppets rapping the Beastie Boys' 1992 "So What'cha Want."

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