The New Music

Brooklyn experimental crew Gang Gang Dance have rightfully signed to 4AD Records. The band will follow-up 2008’s brilliant Saint Dymphna later this year. (I smell a “best album of the year” candidate.)

We’re still a good two months and a day away from She & Him’s second album Volume 2, but the duo of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward have given us a taste of what to expect with a new song. You can download “In the Sun” over at Pitchfork.

So remember that Suede reunion we reported on? Well, it turns out that Bernard Butler is not part of it because he wasn’t asked to join. Speaking with BBC 6 Music, Butler explained that it’s nothing personal and he actually approves of it. However, at the one-off gig they’re doing, he added, “It’s a great charity and I’ll be in the front row chucking peanuts at them!”

Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos has gone off on his North American record label after they licensed the band’s song to McDonald’s. Kapranos logged on to Twitter to use some choice swear words (which we won’t reprint) to deride the “psychopathic corporation” that is Epic and Sony for ruining a lucrative proposed deal with White Castle. Wait, I think that White Castle bit was a joke…

Primal Scream have begun working on the follow-up to 2008’s Beautiful Future. Bassist Mani told NME.com, “We’ve got some half ideas left over from the last album, so we’ll bring them up and give them a kick around, we’re into it.”