Dev Hynes has announced the release of Lightspeed Champion’s sophomore full-length, a sixteen track, double intermission-y upper entitled Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You. If his more straightforward pop tunes under the Lightspeed Champion moniker don’t ring a or your bell, you might may recognize him as one part of punk bombardiers Test Icicles or a guest on the lovely new Basement Jaxx record. In any event, Hynes’ new output will be arriving on February 1 in the UK, February 16th in North America as confirmed by Hynes’ label Domino. Tracklist below:

Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You

01 Dead Head Blues
02 Marlene
03 There’s Nothing Underwater
04 Intermission
05 Faculty Of Fears
06 The Big Guns Of Highsmith
07 Romart
08 I Don’t Want To Wake Up Alone
09 Madame Van Damme
10 Smooth Day (At The Library)
11 Intermission 2
12 Sweetheart
13 Etude Op.3
14 Goodnight Michalek
15 Middle Of The Dark
16 A Bridge And A Goodbye

Basement Jaxx is unleashing a new album, called Scars, that will feature a star-studded set of guests. Coming to us on October 6, the production duo’s fifth album has collaborations with Santigold, Yoko Ono, Kelis, Lightspeed Champion, Eli “Paperboy” Reed, and Yo! Majesty, just to drop a few names. While their last album, Crazy Itch Radio, “strayed too far into pop territory” as half of the duo, Simon Ratcliffe puts it, other half Felix Buxton promises, “Scars is very much back to the kind of thing we used to do.” If you’re itching for a preview, enjoy the above video of their single “Raindrops” with this one caveat: it’s not what we would call office-appropriate.

As if Perez Hilton’s nefarious activities weren’t enough to signal the impending end of the world, two more news stories seem to signal that we are headed down a dark path whose only rational end is the destruction of mankind.

The literary world, as if it hadn’t been hobbled enough already by the blog book trend, is now further threatened: Jay-Z has signed a book deal. The book will purportedly consist of Jay-Z’s analysis of his own lyrics, although it is also rumored that he has signed a multi-book deal to include a “traditional” memoir and a business book as well.

In the musical realm, beware an attack of self-described “bath-time music”; Basement Jaxx will release two LPs this fall. The first album, Scars, will feature collaborations with Santigold and Yoko Ono, among others; the second, untitled LP (and “bath-time music” album), is allegedly “Pink Floyd-y, more ambient-y stuff.” Yes, ambient-y.

[Photo by Jamie Beeden]

From the excitement on the faces of our British dance fans, we were able to surmise that a new Basement Jaxx single has hit the airwaves. Last week, Basement Jaxx premiered “Raindrops” on Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 show Essential Selection. Featuring Felix Buxton on vocals (and on the vocoder), “Raindrops” has a much sunnier disposition than it’s title would suggest.
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If you grew up in the 90s like some of us (no names will be mentioned), then you must be creaming your collective pants. Let’s see, we’ve had Jane’s Addiction, Blur, Faith No More, Sublime, Jesus Lizard, Pavement, Orbital and The Libertines all in the news in the past couple months about confirmed or rumored reunions. And that’s not even taking into account The Specials or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Well, add one more to your list. The already once-reformed and broken up Pixies are at it again three years after their 2004 reunion stint.
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