Week 04: Jan 29- Feb 5, 2013

+ K-Os' new album, Black on Blonde, dropped this past week. It's experimental, lengthy, and great. The Canadian rapper also has set dates for his Canada tour.

 + Macklemores hipsteresque rap song, Thrift Shop, is a Billboard chart topper! No surprises here. The song is clever and inventive. Not to mention beyond catchy. Could it be this years Call Me, Maybe? Maybe. This is fuck-ing awe-some.

+ Iron & Wine plans to release a new album, Ghost on Ghost, in April. Sam Beam seems to be all business as usual. The first single from Ghost on Ghost was released this week called 'Lovers Revolution'. It's jazzy in its big band style. A meritorious taste of what is to come.

+ Beck is in the works of creating a cover of David Bowie's 'Sound and Vision'. The cover will be created using 170 musicians. Beck is diving into the project and taking it on as his own. The quirky artist admits to probably never being able to work with this many artists at one time again, and is trying to cherish it to produce something inventive, while remaining authentic to Ziggy Stardust.

 + Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) performs on Fallon the night before his latest album debut; Regions of Light and Sound of God. The album, which dropped today, staying true to his indie folk sound dabbles in sounds of soul, and some chamber pop while experimenting with varying space rock sounds. Rad.

 + Fall Out Boy is back from their nearly 4 year hiatus. But, does anyone over the age of sixteen care? Patrick Stump should continue working solo. Soul Punk, Stumps 2011 solo effort was actually really good. Pete Wentz should stick to posting pictures of his junk online and being Ms. Simpsons baby daddy.

+ Vampire Weekend are doing big things this year, and I can't wait to experience them all. Their new album, titled 'Modern Vampires of the City' is set to be released May 7th. They have also signed on for countless North American shows.

+ The Sasquatch music festival lineup was released today. Headliners include The Lumineers, Mumford and Sons, The Postal Service.. the list goes. A fantastic lineup, trumping Coachella. Also, Atlanta has a new music festival called Shaky Knees Festival. It boasts an outstanding cast to start them off; Lumineers, Band of Horses, Jim James, Gary Clark Jr... I got butterflies looking at both set lists.

+ Super Bowl: Beyonce "killed" it. She was good. And more importantly, she didn't lip sync! Plus, who else was thrilled with Destinys Child? They could have sang a bit more though, really. I'm pretty sure Beyonce shut down the internet on Sunday night. Her performance overshadowed some pretty great performers that weekend. Including, Alicia Keys singing the national anthem, Gary Clark Jr., Stevie Wonder, and Justin Timberlake played the pre Super Bowl. Which you know was spectacular. Timberlake also played two new songs in big band style. Oh and, have we found the best use for Psy in America? Selling pistachios. Of course...