SPIN

May 30, 2012 – On Tuesday morning, Amanda Palmer sent out a celebratory tweet of a photo with the words "One Fucking Million" painted on her bare chest and a blissful smile plastered on her face. With two days to spare, the art-punk provocateur raised over $1 million from nearly 22,000 fans on Kickstarter for Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra, her first album in four years, as well as an accompanying book that features commissioned paintings. "The moral at the end of the day is it pretty much all gets spent," she told SPIN hours after receiving the good news. "No hookers and blow for Amanda — not until next year." Illicit vices aside, Palmer talked about fan funding, the role of record labels, and her new album, set for an independent September release. She also shared "Want It Back," a pulsing pop cut from the forthcoming record, streaming exclusively here.

May 29, 2012 – Prepare for yet another round of LCD Soundsystem ticketing madness: Shut Up and Play the Hits, the long-awaited documentary capturing the band’s instantly sold-out final show at Madison Square Garden last April, will play for one night only in theaters across the U.S. The film is being distributed by the late Adam Yauch’s Oscilloscope Laboratories, and tickets for the July 18 screening will go on sale at select theaters June 8. But there’s hope for far-flung fans too. According to the film’s website, additional showings can be requested, though there's no details on dates. The doc, directed by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, trails Murphy for the 48 hours that sandwich the band’s finale, during which he weeps, attempts to brew his own coffee, and, of course, leads a four-hour arena dance party, reveals a SPIN review from the film's Sundance premiere.

May 24, 2012 – Alice Cooper has a warning for fans planning to check out his midnight Bonnaroo set. "If you're in the first 20 rows you'll probably get some blood on you," the gory hard rock legend told a group of journalists during a recent festival conference call about the eclectic 2012 event, featuring everyone from Radiohead to Kenny Rogers and Phish performing at a sprawling Manchester, Tennessee farm from June 7–10. "The band is probably the best band I've ever had — [They] have the instructions, ‘Kill the audience.' " Cooper adds he's looking forward to schooling the folk-loving kids in the crowd about rock ‘n' roll. "I think they might be expecting the old scary skinny guy. We're going to go up there and do a real Alice Cooper show," he says.

May 21, 2012 – The festival so exciting it requires not one, but two exclamation points in its name — floating electronic dance music cruise Holy Ship!! — has announced its lineup for its second installment, taking place January 4-7 next year. Headliners on the Bahamas-bound boat include a DJ set by Justice, Boys Noize, Major Lazer, Knife Party, along with dozens of other EDM staples. A-Trak, Diplo, and Gina Turner (who last time led morning yoga classes!) are also making repeat appearances after performing on the maiden voyage, which drew 2,500 fans earlier this year. The boat launches from Ft. Lauderdale and will shake up the seas all the way Nassau, Bahamas, before docking on a private island for a beach party. Pre-booked fans will receive a token May 22 with a time slot to reserve a cabin; token-holders can book up until June 20 when the wait list will open up.

May 16, 2012 – San Francisco-based brooder Trevor Montgomery might work as a tile setter by day, but at night he crafts chilling synth-pop inspired by a troubled childhood — and the John Hughes movies in which he sought escape — as Young Moon. On "Wind’s Light," a cut from Navigated Like the Swan (due July 24 on Western Vinyl), Montgomery splays a heartbroken baritone atop twinkling synths and a ramshackle beat, pleading for love with the sort of dead-eyed abandon of someone who once knew better.

May 15, 2012 – For the third clip from their forthcoming Manifest! (due June 5 on Fat Possum) Brooklyn art-pop quintet Friends drew inspiration from campy '80s sci-fi movies, casting singer Samantha Urbani as Big Brother in lip gloss. The Hiro Murai-directed clip for album cut "Mind Control" is packed with special effects — a swirling kaleidoscope of limbs, zombie TV anchors, and some surveillance cams in snazzy suits — and saves one of its best trick for last as Urbani's floating mouth slurps up some slovenly couch potato’s eyeballs.

May 14, 2012 – Just before a North American trek alongside EMA, Vancouver noise-punks Nu Sensae decided to become a trio, adding a guitarist to their bass and drum setup in an effort to flesh out their already blistering freakouts. And on "Swim," a first listen from their sophomore album, Sundowning (due August 7 via Suicide Squeeze Records) the difference is colossal, bassist/vocalist Andrea Lukic caterwauling over racing riffs and Tommy Gun drums. Hear it now: Nu Sensae Tour Dates: May 23 – Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore Ballroom (with Best Coast) May 31 – Portland, OR @ The Tube June 2 – San Francisco, CA @ The Knockout June 5 – Costa Mesa, CA @ The Observatory June 6 – San Diego, CA @ Tin Can June 8 – Oakland, CA @ 1234 GO!

May 11, 2012 – The director of a forthcoming Black Keys documentary says he has no plans to make the rock stars look like, well, rock stars. Instead, the untitled endeavor will be "a buddy comedy with perhaps the greatest soundtrack of all time." "A lot of music documentaries spend too much time trying to make people look cool," says Noah Abrams, filmmaker, photographer, and friend of the band. "I'm fortunate enough to know both these guys pretty well and their relationship is pretty incredible and very funny." Abrams has been on the road with the blues rockers since January when they kicked off their El Camino world tour in Manchester, England. Since then, they've traversed Europe, the U.S. and, currently, they're winding their way across Canada, selling out shows at nearly every stop. "They're guys that grew up around the corner from each other.

May 10, 2012 – Flush with demos and dreading the between-album lull, last year Brooklyn synth-pop trio Violens decided to post a song a month online to test out production ideas and gauge fan reaction. "We did some writing on tour together, just kind of passing the laptop around," says frontman Jorge Elbrecht. "We ended up with 30 or 40 demos or ideas from that." In the end, four of those tracks wound up on their dark, hazy sophomore release, True, due May 15 on Slumberland Records. Elbrecht and Iddo Arad (synth, guitar, backing vocals) talked us through tracks — read their stories behind the disc while listening to its premiere right here: "Totally True" Elbrecht: "That song is about being in some sort of relationship with someone who has a drug problem and is unfaithful, but the lyrics are pretty abstracted from that. It's not really meant to clearly tell the story.

May 8, 2012 – At first, Grant Lawrence was skeptical about the strange, bearded singer-songwriter who seemed intent on ruining his Christmas party. As a veteran Vancouver punk rocker and host on CBC Radio 3, a publicly run station exclusively dedicated to airing Canadian indie music, Lawrence's annual holiday gatherings drew music biz types from around the city to his apartment where they would take in acoustic sets by local bands then inevitably drink too much. But around 11 p.m. — long after the guitars were stowed and the booze was flowing — when his pals in indie-pop outfit Said the Whale requested he turn down the stereo to give an unknown eager beardo, Dan Mangan, a chance to sing, Lawrence was reluctant. "I'm like, 'This is going to be awful.' But the Said the Whale guys said, 'No, no no. You've got to trust us. Let this guy play,' " remembers Lawrence.