May 17, 2013 – As Queens of the Stone Age prepare to release new album ...Like Clockwork on June 4 via Matador Records, their fifth video from the LP continues an inscrutably dark run-up that began, let's remember, with a single Twitpic. So far, ...Like Clockwork cover art designer Boneface has dreamed up images and Liam Brazier has turned them into animation for "I Appear Missing," "Kalopsia," "Keep Your Eyes Peeled," and "If I Had a Tail." Today's video is for powerhouse first single "My God Is the Sun," which the band originally debuted live, and it sticks to the zombie-apocalypse vibe of its predecessors.

May 17, 2013 – An unreleased Wu-Tang Clan song unceremoniously entered the world today (via Nah Right), and it's noteworthy for almost as many reasons as there are rappers on the track.First, of course, there's the music: Titled "Execution in Autumn," the song's gritty, soul-based instrumental by producer Frank Dukes and adamantium-plated verses from Inspector Deck, Raekwon, RZA, and U-God are classic Wu.Also remarkable, though, is how Wu-Tang Clan are releasing the song — not only as a "pay what you feel" download, but as a "pay what you feel" limited-edition 7-inch vinyl single, too (buyers still have to cover shipping).And then there's the mystery of how "Execution in Autumn" might fit into any broader Clan release plans. Wu's Soul Temple Music label says the track is "from the personal vaults of the RZA" and bills the pay-what-you-want release as a "customer appreciation" move.

May 17, 2013 – No sleep till... Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival? The ninth annual event's organizers announced today the July 10 to 13 fest will include a moment of silence for late Beastie Boys member Adam "MCA" Yauch, followed by a tribute.Pusha T, EPMD, and Redman are headlining the festival's closing concert, which takes place on July 13 at Brooklyn Bridge Park (buy tickets here). Now organizers have revealed the show will also honor Yauch, who succumbed to cancer a little more than a year ago. Wes Jackson, the fest's executive director, and Rawbeatz, a DJ with fest producers Brooklyn Bodega, will oversee the tribute.

May 17, 2013 – Today's Britney Spears forecast calls for bubblegum with a strong chance of Will.i.am.The "Toxic" singer's new song for The Smurfs 2, "Ooh La La," has surfaced over at Just Jared, and it's peppy, guitar-bursting dance-pop that shouldn't overly upset Papa Smurf. After the "Britney, bitch" swagger of "Scream & Shout," this one is decidedly PG-13, beckoning us to "come with me and be my ooh la la." Spears will still dance with us if we don't wear "designer clothes," she promises. A couple of noteworthy twists: Spears tries out some Gwen Stefani-like (or, maybe closer to the point, Ke$ha-like) almost-rapping, and there's a pitch-shifting, dubsteppy breakdown.

May 17, 2013 – The Pogues shared some sad news with their fans this week. Philip Chevron, the London-based folk-punk group's guitarist and a founding member of Irish punk band the Radiators From Space, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. In a post on the Pogues' website, the group said, "The cancer is, in short, inoperable and will prove fatal in time, though it is at present impossible to measure life expectancy."Chevron received treatment in 2007 for head and neck cancer, and in April 2012 doctors told him he was cancer-free.

May 17, 2013 – "You ain't takin' nothin' but your clothes off," the Weeknd main man Abel Tesfaye coos more than once on "Kiss Land," the title track of his upcoming follow-up to three strong 2011 mixtapes recently compiled as Trilogy. That's right: The most memorable hook from the eponymous song on an album hilariously called Kiss Land is basically a low-budget porn version of the old traveler's standby, "Take only pictures, leave only footprints." Did we mention the song goes on for almost eight minutes?

May 16, 2013 – American Idol's 12th season wraps tonight, and Nicki Minaj won't be coming back. After rival TV singing competition The Voice ends its season on June 18, Christina Aguilera will be returning to fill her old seat, occupied most recently by Shakira. That's according to separate reports from US Weekly. Us' source on Minaj's exit is "an insider," who's quoted as saying, "She had a great time but she was only going to do one season anyway." The rapper would instead be using her time on a new album, touring, and endorsements. Minaj has yet to officially confirm her reported departure from the show. She would be following Randy Jackson, Idol's last standing original judge, on his way out the door.

May 16, 2013 – If you're looking for a sweaty, raw-throated, impassioned cover of East Coast dude-bro classics, be sure Patrick Stickles is somewhere in the building. The Titus Andronicus frontman was recently seen joining Diarrhea Planet for an extraordinarily intense rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." Now Stereogum points to a video of Titus Andronicus and tourmates So So Glos uniting at the end of a recent set at New Orleans' Siberia for a wild and raucous version of the Beastie Boys' "No Sleep Till Brooklyn." Stickles, a New Jersey transplant who now calls Brooklyn home, roams the stage shirtless and cigarette-dangling, while So So Glos, natives of Bay Ridge, deliriously shout the song's lyrics, with occasional changeups.

May 16, 2013 – Queens of the Stone Age's latest dystopian animated video begins with the text "BURN IT ALL DOWN" and ends with "THE END IS REALLY FUCKING NIGH." In between, the desert rockers grind through the disco-splashed brooder "If I Had a Tail" while the visuals depict a grim highway chase. The song, which QOTSA previously debuted live in Belgium, is taken from the band's upcoming album ...Like Clockwork, due out June 4 via Matador Records. The video is the fourth in a series with images by ...Like Clockwork cover art designer Boneface and animation by Liam Brazier, following "I Appear Missing," "Kalopsia," and "Keep Your Eyes Peeled." If it seems like QOTSA are asking you to keep your eyes peeled on a daily, if not hourly basis, well, it helps that the results continue to be worth watching.

May 16, 2013 – Kurt Vile is on the road in support of his SPIN Essential new album Wakin on a Pretty Daze, and last night the artful Philadelphia singer-strummer played a hometown set as part of the Non-COMMvention radio conference at local public station WXPN. His gorgeous half-hour solo acoustic set included both new and old material, including songs from 2009's Hunchback EP and 2011's Smoke Ring for My Halo, and he asked for requests. When, during a rendition of latest LP centerpiece "Wakin on a Pretty Day," his voiced cracked a little on the words "don't worry about a thing," it was almost too appropriate.Listen to Vile's full set here. And if you happen to have Windows Media Player, you can also check out a few songs Vile did earlier this week for Seattle's KEXP.