June 7, 2012 – Yesterday was a disappointing day for audiophiles, especially those familiar with the work of one particular team of online archivists. Known until now as Analog Loyalist, Drew Crumbaugh, one of three engineer bloggers behind the immaculate restorations of the Smiths' Rough Trade singles discography and Joy Division/New Order's Factory Records releases, has been preemptively thwarted in his efforts to do the same with R.E.M.'s I.R.S. Records catalog by Universal Music Group, Rolling Stone reports. It's a rather tricky story filled with Blogspots galore, so follow carefully. In October, Crumbaugh, who has also worked on the official 2007 Rhino reissues of Joy Division's Closer and Still, posted a restored version of R.E.M.'s 1981 Cassette Set demo tape to his personal blog, the Power of Independent Trucking.

June 7, 2012 – Because everyone can't whisk away to Manchester, Tennessee, this weekend to tough it out in the dust at this year's Bonnaroo, fest organizers have hooked up with the folks at YouTube to webcast a fair chunk of the three-day rodeo. The best part: thanks to the magic of multiple browser tabs, couch-bound fest-goers don't have to worry about choosing between Kendrick Lamar and St. Vincent on Friday, Mogwai and Santigold on Saturday, or Phish and fun. (maybe your tastes are eclectic!) on Sunday. All the below sets (times are all EDT and p.m., because who can struggle out of their tent before noon anyway?) can be watched

June 6, 2012 – The world may have issued a collective WTF when Rihanna and Chris Brown teamed up for a pair of remixes earlier this year, but Rihanna thought the pair's reunion — their first musical collaboration since ex-boyfriend Brown was convicted of assaulting her in a car after a 2009 Grammy party — was no big deal. Rihanna was forced to address the issue in an interview with Esquire U.K. (via Hollywood Gossip) and revealed she was "caught a little off-guard" by reactions like ours. "It never occurred to me how this was going to be a problem, you know. It really didn’t," Rihanna said. "I thought people were gonna be surprised that we finally did a record together, but I didn’t see how people could think it was a bad thing, you know?

June 6, 2012 – Erykah Badu dropped a huge bomb on Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne via Twitter this afternoon, ending what's been until now an unending stream of online love between the two musicians. It turns out not all parties were satisfied with that extra-NSFW video that dropped Friday for their team-up on a cover of "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" (via CoS). According to the letter, seemingly written on the go (we're guessing the signature at the bottom, "Analog Girl's Magnetic Strip Club," is BaduSnark for tablet or smartphone), Badu never got a chance to see the finished product before Coyne and the Lips had the filmmakers drop the video, which has since been removed from their Vimeo page. She was likewise displeased about Coyne tweeting out those nude photos of her "lil sis and bestee" Nayrok.

June 6, 2012 – Muse have officially announced the release of their sixth studio album, which they started recording in November (a much faster turnaround than No Doubt's studio sessions). Fans' first glimpses of The 2nd Law, the follow-up to 2009's The Resistance, now come from an über-cinematic trailer that showcases, among the requisite apocalyptic visual markers, a certain new, un-Muse-y flavor. Was it only a matter of time before the inevitable dubstep influence crept into the English trio's grandiose repertoire? After all, if Korn can do it... The countdown on the band's website suggests the album will drop on September 17. According to bassist Chris Wolstenholme, who hinted at the album last summer, fans should expect some tour dates in the near future, too.

June 6, 2012 – First! This week's Billboard 200 is still a wonderland, albeit a slightly less wondrous one, for John Mayer, who maintains his No. 1 a second week in a row despite only selling 65,000 copies of his almost-apologetic new LP Born and Raised, per Nielsen SoundScan. It's a 70 percent drop from last week's debut sales, but Mayer's never nabbed two weeks in a row at No. 1 before. 2 Through 10: Adele holds just under Mayer at No. 2, with 58,000 copies of 21 sold, though by now she should just rename the thing 67, because that's how many weeks it's spent in the top 10. Regina Spektor's What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, like its predecessor Far, makes its debut at No. 3 with 42,000 copies, while One Direction's Up All Night got a boost from the release of the group's live DVD Up All Night: The Live Tour that nudged them up to No. 4. No.

June 6, 2012 – The Walkmen donned their Tuesday best to celebrate the release of their new record Heaven on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon yesterday, performing the album's title track during the broadcast and "The Love You Love" as a bonus for online viewers. The band's "big sky epic" jams (as SPIN contributor Marc Hogan put it) are ironically perfectly suited for indoor studio audiences: Conan O'Brien hosted Bahamas' American television debut. Canadian singer-songwriter Afie Jurvanen played his acoustic soul ballad "Lost in the Light" (the opening track off Barchords, incidentally, sounds very good live).

June 5, 2012 – It's been three years since Grizzly Bear released Veckatimest, a breakthrough effort that was (thankfully) followed by side projects and collaborations and oddball samplings aplenty. This afternoon, the Brooklyn foursome announced that they are very much back, unveiling plans to release a yet-to-be-titled full-length follow-up (due September 18 via Warp), a massive world tour, and "Sleeping Ute," a stormy, Daniel Rossen-helmed album cut as majestic as the high desert landscape from which it likely takes its name. When it rains, it pours.

June 5, 2012 – Being the baby of the Die Antwoord clan has its ups and downs. In the group's new video, Yolandi Visser has an overbearing big brother, but she's got her own Lisa Frank-y mural, a collection of Mr. T-level gold chains, and a babydoll that looks exactly like her. That's almost enough to make a gal forget her brother Ninja wants to kill her drag-racing boyfriend. The group's new video for "Baby's on Fire" (the ninth track on their

June 5, 2012 – Lil Wayne is the lynchpin of a record label called Cash Money, so he clearly has his mind on his money (and you know the rest). Noting the success Jay-Z and 50 Cent (and newcomer Beyoncé!) have had hogging the rapper-branded web domain game, Weezy has announced via MTV, that in addition to selling us sportswear, Weezy will give fans a peek into just how ridiculous his day-to-day "working environment" truly is, on a video site being launched by his DJ chum Scoob Doo. According to MTV's report, BreadOverBed.com will host this "exclusive footage," which will document "all the sacrifice that comes hand-in-hand with Weezy's success," though it's unclear yet as to whether that sacrifice includes a half-pipe.