February 21, 2012 – If we can make any sweeping assumptions about Shins frontman James Mercer's personal life, he has concerns about his kids growing up to torment him. The band released its new video for Port of Morrow track "Simple Song" this morning as a free iTunes download (via Stereogum), and in the four-minute clip an old-man Mercer, now dead in his coffin, addresses his shitty, no-good spawn from the grave via video message. The handful of now-grown kids have ruined his life, destroyed his possessions, and birthday-cake-ed him in the face, and now, at last, he gets his revenge in death: First, by making them be horrible to each other in a fight to find the hidden deed to their his house; then, by punking them and demolishing the house anyway.

February 21, 2012 – The headliners for this year's Governor's Ball festival in New York City carry some serious nostalgia-heavy (read: Coachella 1999) punch. At the top of the list are Beck, Modest Mouse, and Built to Spill. Then there's Santigold (whose new single is awesome), Passion Pit, Chromeo, and Explosions in the Sky. The way the two-day fest has distriubuted its acts (see below), it seems as if dance fans will be more inclined to hit up Saturday's lineup, while those more interested in reliving the '90s and '00s indie rock (as well as indulge in some modern fare, like our buddies Cults) should focus on Sunday's. The fest will be Beck's first New York show in four years; he played a few California shows in late 2011, but before August, he hasn't shown up anywhere of note since 2009.

February 21, 2012 – Since signing to Sub Pop last September, dream-pop duo Memoryhouse have been busy cleaning up their sound for their emergence from the basement stage. On their new album, The Slideshow Effect, the Toronto act toy with our emotional fragility in the wake of Rilo Kiley's official breakup last summer; songs like "Pale Blue" evoke visions of a mythical collaboration project of Jenny Lewis, Dee Dee from Dum Dum Girls, and Victoria LeGrand of Beach House. Important note: We're talking about Memoryhouse, not Memory Tapes, the Grammy-nominated, Carpark Records-signed project of Dayve Hawk. (Confused? Stick with us, you'll be fine.) Slideshow drops in the U.S. February 28 via Sub Pop (you can order it at iTunes and Amazon).

February 21, 2012 – Fiona Apple's career is finally back on. Following the announcement of her upcoming appearance at SXSW, the singer has confirmed via her Facebook fan page a short, six-date East Coast run post-SXSW, hopefully to coincide with the eventual release of her embattled new record (her first since 2005's Extraordinary Machine). The tour is pretty brief and pretty clustered near NYC, but we're hoping these dates are just the beginning of a colorful, head-rearing, Fiona-filled 2012. No release date for the record has yet been set, but folks at her label, Epic, fervently assure everyone that it'll be soon. Er, spring maybe? Well, this year for sure, anyway.  Per Twentyfourbit, tickets go on sale for Flavorpill subscribers on Thursday (February 23) from 10 a.m. through 10 p.m.

February 21, 2012 – The tenth-annual Bamboozle festival is gifting its diehards some new additions: Brand New and 25 other acts including Less than Jake and Buckcherry will be sharing the spotlight with the now 100-act-deep roster in Asbury Park May 18-20. Considering the Bamboozle branded itself as a pop-punk and emo haven for at least seven of its ten years, the 2012 lineup has been one of its most eclectic yet, starting with the announcement in December of headlining acts like Skrillex, Foo Fighters, Bon Jovi, Blink-182, and Mac Miller alongside Bamboozle mainstays like Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, and Bouncing Souls. In the past few years, Bamboozle has striven for diversity — last year's bill featured LMFAO and Lil Wayne and 2010's included Drake and Ke$ha.

February 20, 2012 – When SPIN saw Santigold debut new songs from her May 1 disc Master of My Make Believe last month, it only stoked our excitement in the album we'd put on our Must-Hear Albums of 2011 list last year (hey, we were excited!). Today, Santi did us a solid and dropped the second single from her forthcoming sophomore full-length via YouTube. "Disparate Youth" (which will arrive on iTunes tomorrow) is, as expected, distinctly Santi, as was first single "Big Mouth," though the second track gives us less Major Lazer booty-popping and more upbeat-Zola-Jesus art-pop. Dig its rolling beat, stabs of guitar, and Santi's earworm of a melody: How long until some YouTube "DJ" delivers a mashup using "Disparate Youth," 311's "Amber" and Grimes' "Oblivion"?

February 20, 2012 – Mind Spiders made a splash with their fast, punchy, self-titled debut LP last year. On Meltdown, out tomorrow (February 21, via Dirtnap Records), the two-drummer Fort Worth, Texas-based outfit stray from their previous dedication to ADHD tempos, turning up the low-fi a half-notch and falling into a solid, head-bopping (rather than viciously banging) groove. The record is the first to feature the entire live band, and while their first album was recorded in bits and pieces, Meltdown feels worlds more cohesive. The formula is fantastic: '90s pop-punk's structures (hello, Blink-182's "Girl at the Rock Show") meets '60s surf pop's persistent beat (hello, the Surfaris' "Wipeout") meets '80s new wave and post-punk's synths meets modern skate-punk's ethos (think Wavves, Bass Drum of Death, and another of our recent First Spins, FIDLAR).

February 20, 2012 – Damon Albarn is stepping out in 2012. After announcing Gorillaz's Converse collaboration song with James Murphy and Andre 3000 late last year (and teasing it last week), he and bandmate Graham Coxon debuted a new Blur song during their set at a benefit show for U.K.-based NGO War Child International. As Consequence of Sound reports, Albarn and Coxon debuted "Under the Westway," the first Blur track since 2010's Record Store Day one-off "Fool's Day," at the performance at London's Shepherds Bush Empire. The band, whose heretofore most recent performance was in 2009 at Hyde Park, Coxon has said that there is definitely a new Blur record on the way; it would be the first studio album from the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Brit Award winners in nine years, since 2003's Think Tank.

February 20, 2012 – Pop icon Whitney Houston, who died unexpectedly the night before the Grammy Awards, was laid to rest in Westfield, New Jersey, this weekend. Hundreds of invite-only guests — including Dionne Warwick (Houston's cousin, who hosted the service), Clive Davis, Kevin Costner, Stevie Wonder, Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, Mariah Carey, and Mary J. Blige, according to E! — gathered at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark to pay their respects to her family.

February 17, 2012 – A few days ago, beloved D.C. punks the Make-Up announced they'll be reuniting for the first time in 12 years for London's All Tomorrow's Parties this May, and now frontman Ian Svenonius, who currently fronts the woefully unsassy Chain and the Gang, has given a fantastic interview to the Washington Post's Click Track about the (brief) reunion and how, since disbanding in early 2001, the band has "hermetically sealed" their songs in the past. In the Q&A, the ever-eccentric Svenonius reveals that he "has a strict rule with [his bands] — [a] five-year plan," and that he's been writing a "manual" on philosophy and rock, called Supernatural Strategies for Starting a Rock 'N' Roll Group.