Mariachi El Bronx (Photo: ATO Records)

Who doesn’t love music, especially when it’s FREE?!

The folks over at ATO Records have released a new Spring Sampler that is now available as a FREE download. The sampler features tracks from Alberta Cross, Alabama Shakes, Lucero, SOJA, Mariachi El Bronx, My Morning Jacket, White Rabbits, Primus and several others.

Get the tracklist and download link here.

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Two years ago Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo decided to begin his tribute to the late Jaco Pastorius.

A jazz musician by trade, Pastorius was known by other musicians for his intricate solos and ability to make his fretless guitar “sing” in upper registers.

“I loved jazz fusion and branched out from there,” Trujillo says in an interview with USA Today. “But Jaco had an edge that far exceeded his jazz persona. He was funk, he was rock, he was soul. And his whole attitude was punk.” Trujillo continues, “Jaco was my hero growing up.”

According to Pastorius’ biographer Bill Milkowski, “Jaco was the Babe Ruth of the bass.”When can we expect to see the film?

If you’re looking for a great music shop around Long Beach, look no further!

Since 1992, Fingerprints in Long Beach has welcomed independent music lovers of all kinds. Originally located in Belmont Shores, their new location in the East Village Art District offers more than just your average CD retail store experience.

Learn more about Fingerprints here.

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The Kaleidoscope Orchestra, performing at the Contact Theatre in Manchester, England, recently recorded a 10-minute classical piece using songs from GRAMMY award winning DJ Skrillex‘s More Monsters and Sprites and Bangarang EP’s, as the foundation. His remix of Benny Benassi’s “Cinema” plus his own songs “Right In,” “Equinox” and “Kyoto” were woven together to produce the orchestral experience.

The piece was written by Steve Pycroft, a composer, drummer and percussionist. Pycroft’s resume includes drumming on The Johnny Cash Story, creating remixes for notable dance artists and recording new material with Plan B.

Watch a 30 piece orchestra perform Skrillex.

Photo: Jay Tilles

A mixture of Britpop and ’70s-tinged soul ska with groovy gospel organs, the California-based band Suedehead dubs themselves “international soul rebels.” The name Suedehead applies to a dapper sect of ’70s British subculture; Suedehead kids who also liked ska and reggae, but preferred a more soulful, elegant style.

In the very intimate video, the director and friend Derek Bahn captures the subtle, intimate details of the band members including freckles on knuckles, the pulsating drum pedal, fingers plunking out notes on a keyboard, and guitar strumming. All juxtaposed with close-ups of frontman Davey Warsop standing in front of a black abyss.

Watch the video here.

Photo by Mark Mainz//Getty Images

It’s no secret that Jack White and Beck–who rock similar style these days with the long hair/hat combo–have been musically interested in each other for quite awhile. For example, almost a decade ago, the two played a show in Ann Arbor, Michigan together.

Recently, the two have come together to lay down some tracks at White’s Third Man studios for the Blue Single Series. The tracks are a scorching number called “I Just Started Hating Some People Today” and “Blue Randy.”

According to the Third Man Records website, the tracks were recorded in 2011 in Nashville while Beck was working on new material for his next album. Beck conjured up the tracks while on his final day in town at the studio.

Click to find out how to get your hands on it.

Photo by Jonathan Wood//Getty Images

Josh Homme totally gives off “cool bro” vibes and the Queens of the Stone Age frontman sure has enough talented artist friends to prove it. Just recently,the red-headed musical behemoth sang a sultry rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Jackson” with Florence Welch on MTV Unplugged and the Hives confessed that Homme was their main homeboy at an interview with KROQ/Los Angeles at Coachella.

Now Homme is showing off his really awful/hilarious/weirdly erotic acting skills with an album  “infomercial” for the Scissor Sisters’ forthcoming album Magic Hour which will include collaborations with artists like Diplo and Pharrell.

Watch the infomercial here.

Photo by Ian Gavan//Getty Images

Either we’ve just happened upon a highly-competitive time in musical history or our musicians are bored. Recently, Jack White brought up his beef with the Guinness Book of World Records people for not putting his “shortest concert ever” into the book; it wasn’t a viable option. But White decided that he wants to use the most metaphors in a concert. His recent try was rendered uncountable.

Now the Flaming Lips’ quirky Wayne Coyne–who bottled up his collaborator’s blood for his Record Story Day project–wants to break his own World Record by playing the most amount of concerts in a day. Currently, Jay-Z broke that record in 2006 with seven concerts and seven cities.

Coyne is planning to attempt his concerts on June 27th with eight shows across the American South. He tweeted that he’s interested in getting bands like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Grimes, and Ke$ha to join him.

Coyne attempts to break records.

Photo by James Minchin

This past month has seen quite a battle between the top five bands. Linkin Park’s newest single, “Burn It Down” has once again taken the #1 spot after coming in at #3 last week, bumping last week’s top played, Fun.’s “We Are Young”, down to #2. But Fun. is still having a good week, landing a second song on the most-played list with “Some Nights” at the #5 spot.

“Midnight City” by M83 climbed back to #3, while Grouplove’s “Tongue Tied” held firm at #4. See the full playlist here.

Courtesy EMI

Where’s the fun in rock n roll?

One Canadian band is leading the charge to bring the glory back to good ‘ol rock n roll. For their latest album titled Sick And Twisted Affair, My Darkest Days has helped themselves to an extra scoop of sex, a second swirl of whipped cream and fully intend to dump a jar of Maraschino cherries on top.

In a behind-the-scenes peek at their second album, the guys say it’s heavier, faster and darker than anything they’ve done before.

“A huge part of the reason we got into music was that music was fun. It was about rock and roll, that whole culture,” says mohawked guitar player Sal Costa. “Over the last little while, I think that’s started to die. Everyone’s writing music about depressing things. We wanted to bring back that edge that a lot of those 80′s bands had.”Go behind the scenes and listen to the full album.

With much anticipation, millions from around the world anxiously await the awarding of one of the biggest prizes in music history – The Black Keys’ 1991 Dodge Grand Caravan Limited Edition (aka El Camino). One lucky KROQ fan will be the center of attention as they drive home in this piece of rock n’ roll history on Friday afternoon.

Carpenters Union Local 409 has declared “that’s some real nice wood.” Rent-A-Wheel’s Bakersfield location Associate Manager says, “love those murdered out 12′s.”

Dodge Museum’s curator says, “Impressive,” while the Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri is petitioning for the return of the city’s most iconic motor vehicle. “It’s not every day a vehicle of this stature rolls through your streets.”

Ferrari F1 Racing Team manager Luigi Rigitoni requested it’s use for wind tunnel testing due to aerodynamic efficiencies. “Questo è il più grande macchina mai fatto!” he exclaimed.

Watch video of the van in action.

Courtesy EMI

Wonder how your favorite albums get made? Neon Trees say, in a behind the scenes look at their new album, that for them it started with a concept.

“The themes of the songs are a lot about playing pretend and so I thought that a movie theater would be a great way to kind of be a visual,” singer Tyler Glenn said. “It started back with the idea for the album being the ability that someone has to escape for two hours in someone else’s life.”
See Neon Trees’ 80s influences.

M83's Anthony Gonzales

Happy birthday Bob Moog, creator of the Moog synthesizer, the device that made it possible to make every song sound like a science-fiction classic. Moog’s invention was such an important milestone in modern music that Google has dedicated their homepage to the keyboard with a creative play-it-yourself “Doodle Synthesizer.”

A Theremin salesman at 20 years old in 1954, Bob Moog eventually created the first modular synthesizer in 1963. One year later he began taking orders for his creation.

Modern day bands that are vocal about their love of Moog synthesizers include Franz Ferdinand, MGMT, Passion Pit, Stereolab, Brian Eno, Blur, The Cure, The Cars and Depeche Mode.

In an interview during Moog Fest, appropriately located at the Moog factory in Asheville, North Carolina last November, Anthony Gonzales from M83 explained his fascination with the instrument. “I have a love for vintage synthesizers, and this is how it all started. My love of synthesizers is coming from my childhood. And since this moment, I’m obsessed with synthesizers because it looks beautiful and it has a sound of my childhood memories. I don’t think I can ever get rid of this. The history of the bands that played with Moog… they’re timeless.”

Watch M83′s Midnight City featuring sounds from a Moog.