Last week it was all over the news that some Jay-Z master tapes from the early 2000s were at the center of an alleged extortion plot where the holder of the tapes was asking for a significant amount of money to ensure their return. Because Jay-Z is such a major artist, this garnered a lot of…

Ian Rogers begs to disagree with Billboard’s assessment of Beats Music’s uneven first 100 days. On April 28, the company CEO posted to the Beats Music blog “100 Days and Runnin,’” which reads part checklist, part testimonial, and part advertisement. “It’s been a busy 100 days and we’re not slowing down anytime soon,” Rogers writes,…

“At its best, Superunknown offers a more harrowing depiction of alienation and despair than anything on In Utero.” That was part of Rolling Stone‘s take on Soundgarden’s fourth album when it arrived in 1994. And now that the LP is turning 20 — and the band is celebrating with an anniversary reissue and played the record in its entirety at…

The Japanese love robots more than maybe any other culture, and they love music too. Put them both together and you have guitar player with 78 fingers that leads a robot band. You have to admit that this is pretty amazing though. Watch Squarepusher x Z-MACHINES and, on some level, be amazed. [Bobby Owsisnki]

As country music’s audience skews younger than at any time in its history, what city has the genre’s most fervent 20-something fans? The obvious choices might include Nashville, recognized as country’s business center; Dallas, a stronghold in the center of cowboy proud Texas; or Los Angeles, where KKGO — and KZLA before it — has…

Oscar-winning film and music composer Hans Zimmer has created the first official hymn to mark the 10th anniversary of Tomorrowland, a leading electronic dance music festival held every year in the Belgian town of Boom, outside of Brussels. The 2014 edition takes place July 18-20 and July 25-27. The festival approached Zimmer to compose a…

As one of the pioneers of Hip Hop, Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons was asked to share one of his earliest rap memories during a recent interview on the Juan Epstein show. According to Russell, the first time he saw rap was at the Charles Gallery in Harlem, New York. He added that even though…

This video, via sonicstate, is a review of the Intellijel Atlantis Eurorack synthesizer voice. The Atlantis is a new Eurorack module that is a complete synth voice in a single Eurorack module. The Atlantis is inspired by the Roland SH-101, but is not intended to be a conservative reproduction of the original. …

Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Google and Abu Dhabi Media are considering a sale of Vevo, the music video streaming platform launched in 2009, according a report from Bloomberg. The company is said to be mulling bringing on Goldman Sachs to oversee the sale, according to three sources contacted by Bloomberg….

The ‘Orange Is the New Black’ Season 2 trailer (warning: NSFW) offers us one crazy sneak peek into the Netflix series’ second season, with Red sparring with an old enemy but a new inmate, Officer Bennett seemingly becoming power hungry, and, of course, Piper hardening her shell after dealing with the aftermath of viciously beating…