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Today’s Music News: Early Lorde leaked, and more

by Staff

August 08, 2014

Lorde is only 17, but we're already plumbing her "early years": an album by And They Were Masked, a high-school band featuring the New Zealand songstress born Ella Yelich O’Connor, is now available on Bandcamp. According to their Facebook page ("the edge of the universe sent us time travelers here"), their influences included Fugazi, Massive Attack, and Fela Kuti; their interests include brapping and hockets—as demonstrated here by Dirty Projectors at the Walker Art Center. (Pitchfork)

[bandcamp width=350 height=470 album=3399961682 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false]

Lyrics written by Bob Dylan but never set to music are getting the Mermaid Avenue treatment at the hands of Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Jim James, and others for Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes, a forthcoming album produced by T-Bone Burnett. Joining Costello on guitar is—wait for it—Johnny Depp. (Rolling Stone)

After a fan incessantly took photos of Peter Frampton with a cell phone—despite the fact that it had been explicitly prohibited by the venue and Frampton had personally asked the man to stop—at a Sunday night show in Indiana, Frampton asked if he could see the photos the fan had been taking and, upon being handed the device, turned around and chucked it into the rafters. (OnStage Magazine) "Frampton Comes Alive" headlines soon blanketed the Internet.

While they were hacking into Iran's nuclear facilities to cause some centrifuges to destroy themselves, programmers from the United States and Israel apparently took the liberty of having at least one facility's workstation serenade the Iranian scientists with some AC/DC. (Billboard)

Scots are considering leaving the United Kingdom, despite the fact that Mick Jagger and Sting have politely asked them not to go. (Billboard)

At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards on August 24, Beyoncé will join the ranks of Madonna, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake when she receives the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. (Rolling Stone)

Altitude sickness isn't just for mountain goats: Lady Gaga has been hospitalized with it in Denver. (Billboard; photo via Lady Gaga on Instagram)

Lady Gaga Altitude Sickness

If Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" can hold its spot atop the rap charts for three more weeks, it will break the record for longest run in that position—currently held by Missy Elliott's 1999 single "Hot Boyz." (Billboard)

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