CHVRCHES have released an evocative new video for their song “Leave a Trace.” The song will appear on the band’s new album Every Open Eye, due out Sept. 25. (Pitchfork) After the video’s release, frontwoman Lauren Mayberry responded forcefully to negative comments made by some users of the site 4chan regarding Mayberry’s appearance in the video.…

Record producer Bob Johnston has died, at age 83, in a Nashville hospice. Johnston worked on some of the most acclaimed albums of the rock era, including Bob Dylan‘s Blonde on Blonde, Johnny Cash‘s At Folsom Prison, and Simon and Garfunkel‘s Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. It was Johnston to whom Dylan was speaking when he said, “Is it rolling, Bob?” at…

In a new Rolling Stone feature on the 100 all-time greatest songwriters, Minnesota native Bob Dylan comes out on top. “Dylan’s vision of American popular music was transformative,” writes Rolling Stone. “No one set the bar higher, or had greater impact.” Runners-up were Paul McCartney (#2), John Lennon (#3), Chuck Berry (#4), and Smokey Robinson (#5). Tom Waits has penned a poem in…

Here’s your first look at actor Tom Hiddleston as Hank Williams in the forthcoming biopic I Saw the Light. The film will hit selected theaters on Nov. 27, with a wider release to follow. Thom Yorke is writing music for an upcoming Broadway production of Harold Pinter‘s 1971 play Old Times. “I’ve enjoyed exploring through music the script’s themes of love and…

Showtime president David Nevins announced that Patti Smith is collaborating with the cable network to create a limited-run TV series adaptation of her 2010 memoir Just Kids. The book focuses on Smith’s relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and includes stories of their run-ins with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and other luminaries.”The medium of a television limited series offers narrative freedom…

Björk says she’s ready to move on from promoting her critically-acclaimed, emotionally taxing breakup album Vulnicura. After canceling a series of European tour dates, the Icelandic singer-songwriter took to Facebook to tell her fans that the “intense” performances supporting Vulnicura have ended “for reasons beyond my control.” She says she’s now writing new music, and says she feels “the…

Prince has announced that, at least initially, his new album HitNRun will be released exclusively on Jay Z‘s streaming service Tidal. “After one meeting, it was obvious that Jay Z and the team he has assembled at Tidal recognize and applaud the effort that real musicians put in2 their craft 2 achieve the very best they can at this…

Ryan Adams is in the process of recording a covers of all the songs on Taylor Swift’s album 1989, but Adams is setting the songs entirely in the style of the Smiths. When Swift learned of the project and Adams confirmed it, she tweeted, “I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight or ever again,…

‘Tis the season for supergroups—apparently. Earlier this week we learned of the formation of EL VY (featuring Matt Berninger of The National and Brent Knopf of Memomena), and now we have Nevermen: a trio comprising Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio), Mike Patton (Faith No More), and rapper Adam “Doseone” Drucker. After working together for years, the three have finally released music – the song…

Lenny Kravitz may now know better than to go commando next time. While performing a gig in Sweden, Kravitz was wearing leather trousers that split open when he performed a squatting dance move. Kravitz evidently didn’t notice anything was amiss at first, but did exit stage rather quickly to put on another pair of pants.…