News Roundup: Sony BMG, Death Cab for Cutie, R.E.M., Black Mountain

It was only a matter of time; As reported by Businessweek.com, Sony BMG, home to artists like Justin Timberlake, Foo Fighters, and Bob Dylan, among many others, is in talks to ditch digital rights management (DRM) copyright software, thus joining Warner, EMI, and Universal, marking a sea change for the Big Four, and music consumption as a whole. Take that, RIAA!

Pushing aside his fugitive solo debut, guitarist cum producer Chris Walla claims the forthcoming yet-to-be titled Death Cab for Cutie album, the follow up to 2005's Plans currently being recorded in Seattle, will be "really weird… totally a curve ball," and will, you know, sound "way more lunar than the urban meadow sort of thing that has been happening for the last couple of records." Exactly… [Via Billboard.com]

Attention music and Tex-Mex disciples! The rigmarole that is Austin's SXSW has unveiled a few acts set to perform this March, notably R.E.M. According to Austin360.com, the band will hit the Texan capital for "one of only a handful of American dates before its 14th album, Accelerate, arrives on April 1." Daniel Lanois, the Kills, and Sons & Daughters will also show in the Lone Star State.

Black Mountain will tour this winter/spring in support of In the Future, out Jan. 22 via Jagjaguwar. Kicking off in Seattle Jan. 31, Black Mountain's tour will join with labelmate Bon Iver Feb. 19, and later hook up with Ladyhawk for a Canadian jaunt. Where your coats, it's cold up there! [Via Pitchfork]

Primal Scream mouthpiece Bobby Gillespie has tapped CSS's frontwoman Lovefoxxx for a duet to be featured on the seminal Brit band's forthcoming yet-to-be titled record, expected to drop later this year. "I wrote her an email and sent her the song and she was really into it," Gillespie explained of the tune, which he said, "sounds fucking great." [Via NME.com]