Michael Stipe Targets Artsy Preppies

In collaboration with Lacoste and Visionaire, Michael Stipe has designed a limited-edition polo featuring the singer's photography. It's Visionaire's latest "wearable" publication, and the shirts also come in editions by Nick Knight, Peter Lindbergh, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin with M/M (Paris), Phil Poynter; artists Thomas Demand, Thomas Ruff, T.J. Wilcox; designer Karl Lagerfeld; filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar; musician David Byrne, and painter Richard Phillips.

Lagerfeld's top AFTER THE JUMP...

Check them all out HERE.
(via idolator)

Music News: Keane Go "Spiralling," Plus The Killers, Chris Brown, James Murphy, Morrissey, Annie Lennox

Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.

Perhaps taking a cue from Coldplay, Brit trio Keane are offering "Spiralling," the lead single of their upcoming third album Perfect Symmetry, as a free download for one week only on their official website. To these ears, the glammy, uptempo track is reminiscent of Roxy Music's "Let's Stick Together" and David Bowie's "Young Americans."

Stuart Price, Jon Brion and Andy Green are doing production chores on Perfect Symmetry, along with Keane themselves. The album is due out mid-October.

In the meantime, Price—one of the main hands in Madonna's 2005 Confessions On A Dancefloor—is also twiddling knobs on The Killers' forthcoming third studio set, rumored to be titled Day And Age.

Meanwhile, last week The Killers played "Spaceman" and "Neon Tiger" (below), two new tracks likely to be on the new record at a fanclub-only show at New York City's Highline Ballroom.

 

I'll admit that Chris Brown's (pictured right) overly-poppy "Forever" is my not-so-guilty pleasure this summer, and I was hoping for more of the same from him down the line. So it was with a bit of dismay that I first read about the Wrigley's gum jingle deal and saw this. Well, only a slight bit.

   LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy (who signed queer act Hercules And Love Affair to his DFA Records label) is joining drummer Pat Mahoney on the road for the Special Disco Version DJ tour. It kicks off tonight at Mighty in San Francisco: "People hear that word disco, and they see bellbottoms and That '70s Show. No, no, no. This is real liberation music for people who know where to go. This is the real deal. With SDV, I can keep experimenting with remixes that we're working on, I can keep playing new stuff, and I can keep finding old records."

   The release date of Morrissey's new album Years Of Refusal has been pushed back from September to early next year, following producer Jerry Finn's severe brain hemorrhage last month. Finn was the mixer for Green Day's Dookie and Insomniac, and producer of Blink 182's Enema Of The State and Morrissey's You Are The Quarry.

   Does The Annie Lennox Collection get it right?

   Acts such as R.E.M., Pearl Jam, My Morning Jacket, OK Go and Trent Reznor are petitioning to have Barack Obama and John McCain debate in New Orleans about Louisiana coastal wetlands restoration and hurricane recovery. Google and YouTube are organizing the Presidential forum, of which neither candidate has committed to.

   There's at least one girl who won't kiss Katy Perry. Actually, make that two.

   THE WEEK'S NEW RELEASES:

Fasciination, the self-released fifth album from The Faint. The band had previously released their albums on fellow Nebraskan Conor Oberst's Saddle Creek label.

Conor Oberst's self-titled solo album.

Brazilian Girls' New York City.

Santogold's "L.E.S. Artistes" remix EP.

New singles from Cassie ("Official Girl"), the Jonas Brothers ("A Little Bit Longer"), Hayden Panettiere ("Wake Up Call"),  The Game & Lil Wayne ("My Life"), Bob Dylan ("Dreamin' Of You") and Raphael Saadiq ("Love That Girl").

 

Michael Stipe's Bronze Gods are Technological Objects of Change

Fashion designer Rogan is opening a new boutique in New York, and New York magazine reports that R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe will be having something of an art show there, exhibiting some bronze sculptures he did of cameras and music devices. Said Stipe:

"The radio alarm clock … changed forever the fragile state between sleeping and waking, allowing you to wake to your favorite radio station … The polaroid [one shot and sx70] revolutionized photography by providing instant images available to anyone … Cassettes provided portable, compact music, altering forever the influence of radio as the individual became their own disc jockey."

The objects are not for sale but if you go on the 27th you can pick up a Rogan Stipe T-shirt.

Previously
Michael Stipe Has Had Enough of the Fear and the Arrogance [tr]
Michael Stipe Has an Announcement to Make [tr]

Music News: Matt Lauer Interviews Kylie Minogue, Plus Jesse McCartney, Fall Out Boy, George Michael

Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.

Between R.E.M., George Michael and Kylie Minogue, it's a gay ol' week as far as new music releases. Kylie's X finally officially drops in the U.S. today, after making a brief three-week appearance on iTunes back in February.

Australia's "singing budgie" is doing stateside promotion all week for X -- including performances of new single "All I See" tonight on Dancing With The Stars, tomorrow on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson and then Thursday on Ellen -- and yesterday she sat down for an interview with the Today Show's Matt Lauer.

During their chat, Kylie responded to rumors that she'll soon marry French actor Olivier Martinez, tried to explain her elusive chart success in America and instructed Lauer on how he'll have to greet her once she's awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) this summer by the Queen of England.

The U.S. version of X contains an extra mix of "All I See," featuring rapper Mims.

SEEING DOUBLE: The pixelated cover of Jesse McCartney's new album Departure, due out May 20, might evoke some "rude" thoughts from Robbie Williams.

Amy Winehouse to appear alongside David Tennant on Dr. Who? April Fool's!

Following suit with Madonna, U2 have signed a 12-year deal with concert promoting firm Live Nation, though Universal will continue to distribute the Irish band's actual music. Says Bono of Live Nation, who has managed U2's tours for three decades: "We've been dating for over 20 years now. It's about time we tied the knot."

U.K. gossip site Digital Spy finds Beyoncé, Limp Bizkit, Sugababes, Steps, Fiona Apple, Blink 182 and Michael Jackson all have one thing in common: they've got the worst album titles of our times.

Think you've got what it takes to remix Radiohead? Five separate tracks from their new single "Nude" are up for purchase on iTunes, and buyers are encouraged to create and upload their own GarageBand creation to Radioheadremix.com. Net surfers have to May 1 to vote for their favorite mix on the site.

Fall Out Boy's plan to gig on every continent within two weeks falls apart. FOB frontman Pete Wentz: “It’s an utter disappointment… I read [on the MTV Newsroom blog] someone compared it to Geraldo opening Capone's vault, but it's worse than that, because, like, Capone's stuff is in there, you just can't get the light on. There's no spin for it; we got two hours away from Antarctica and we can't go.”

POP BLOG WATCH: Miss feeling like a clove-smoking, coffee-drinking teenage girl running rampant in the record store? Hit up Eurovision- and Swede-obsessed Poster Girl.

TODAY'S NEW RELEASES:

George Michael's Twenty Five, a two-disc collection of various hits -- including four from Wham! -- and six songs previously unreleased in the U.S. The deluxe edition contains Michael's music videos.

R.E.M.'s 14th album Accelerate, produced by Jacknife Lee.

Moby's Last Night, which finds him returning to his dance roots.

A Town And Two Cities, the debut from British alt rockers Your Vegas. They also have a line of fashion accessories coming to U.S. Bloomingdale's.

Van Morrison's Keep It Simple, his 33rd studio album, and first since 1999.

Attack & Release, from Akron, Ohio blues-rock duo The Black Keys.

Michael Stipe Has Had Enough of the Fear and the Arrogance

Michael Stipe talks to The Huffington Post's Scott Thill, and though back in January he told Sirius' Jane Pratt that for some unknown reason Mike Huckabee's charms were luring him in, this time Stipe makes it clear to Thill that he's a Democrat.

Says Stipe: "I'm for Barack Obama all the way. The Clinton campaign has took a desperate turn and has, I think, shown its true colors. How dare they use fear against Americans after these past seven years? I'm really tired of politicians telling me what to be afraid of. On the other hand, Obama is hopeful, grounded and clearly intelligent. He is, relatively, an outsider to the beholden D.C. club, and I think that is what America is calling out for; not a career politician but a true outsider candidate. He represents I think the true spirit of the beginning of the 21st century. Looking back, I feel like we've all had enough of the fear and the arrogance, and losing our place in the world. Our very big idea of a country and democracy has been brought to a near end by very small people."

Stipe and R.E.M. performed this morning in New York's Rockefeller Center for the Today show. That performance, and interview, is AFTER THE JUMP...

Michael Stipe Has an Announcement to Make