Ron Asheton, The Stooges‘ guitarist, was found dead in his Ann Arbor, Michigan home this morning.

After Asheton’s personal assistant was unable to get a hold of him, detectives found his body on his living room couch. It seemed to appear that he had been dead for several days. There is no confirmation for his reason of death, although police suspect a heart attack may have been the cause. An autopsy is pending.

The band had this to say about their friend:

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On 28 February 2009, ‘Section 92′ of the Copyright Amendment Act will come into effect in New Zealand. The act states that any Internet user accused of sharing copyright works is automatically guilty, and the punishment is abrupt disconnection from the Internet.

From the act:

“An Internet service provider must adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the account with that Internet service provider of a repeat infringer.”

Until now, file-sharing control has tried to implement the ‘3 strikes’ rule, where a gradual reaction to copyright infringement is enforced. This ‘graduated response’ involves formal warnings and limiting infringers connection speeds. So, cutting off Internet connections and websites based on nothing more than accusations is being considered, to put it lightly, too authoritative. Both ISPs and artists are resisting the legislation, pronouncing that Internet access is a basic human right.

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How is this woman not absolutely everywhere? Her voice is soulful and rich, and she is looks like a healthy, gorgeous Amy Winehouse. I mean really I think the main reason she’s on this list is because she’s meant to be an icon. She’s the next Gwen Stefani, Betty Davis, Blondie, all mixed into one. There is no doubt that some point, possibly in the near future, she will be huge. Love Grenades have a catchy sound, an amazing look, and tons of appeal. If the music industry was still somewhat functioning I would say, look for them on billboards soon, but that’s a little more tricky now-a-days.

Check out more on Love Grenades below and vote for them this Friday in our BeatCrave Fav Poll…

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The old people of England have their knickers in a knot over the possible demise of morris dancing. What is morris dancing you may be pondering? It’s a renaissance form of dance that enjoyed a resurgence, along with folk music in the 1960s and ’70s.  The most important part of this type of dance is wearing crazy outfits that involve bells on one’s knees and crazy hats. Since most young people do not find it fun to dress up as old coots and do quaint little dances, some are forecasting that the form may die out within the next 20 years.

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Yesterday, we saw the artwork for Dan Deacon’s new album “Bromst” and today we get to hear a free track from it. Pretty sweet.

For the last three years Dan Deacon has been working on Bromst. Fusing together the growing intensity of his live performances with his background in electro-acoustic composition, the outcome is a collection of pieces that are intense and epic and at the same time down to earth and welcoming. Bromst embodies the same energy and excitement as Spiderman of the Rings, however the craftsmanship and composition on Bromst have a wider scope and richer palette.

Unlike the completely electronic Spiderman of the Rings, the instrumentation on Bromst is a mixture of acoustic instruments, mechanical instruments, samples and electronics. The player piano, marimba, glockenspiel, vibraphone, live drums, winds and brass give Bromst a much richer tone than his previous work.

Check it out below…

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In today’s convoluted rock scene, it seems that either artists attempt a throwback sound influenced by the classics (Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan) or they dive into the uncharted waters of music that will turn into the genres of tomorrow (Animal Collective.) In both cases, not many can pull it off (Black Lips) and even fewer can pull it off well (Black Keys.) The Deep Vibration is no exception to that rule; they’re a bluesy four-piece rock band searching for that elusive throwback sound. It’s obvious that these guys are influenced by the classics, however they seems to achieve their sound without coming across as trying too hard or simply imitating (Panic At The Disco) in their new release “Veracruz.”

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Whoever said that “music is a science” might want to keep quiet for a couple of minutes while we talk about Mariah Carey. While it’s never fun to have everything that comes out of one’s mouth sifted and analyzed, it’s interesting to every once in a while take a peak at the thought process behind a title. When singer Mariah Carey’s album was released to the masses last spring, little did she know that eventually an established mathematician would have something to say about her work.

E=MC² was the follow-up to Carey’s 2005 release, The Emancipation of Mimi. It apparently strived to be clever via its title - in which E stands for “Emancipation”, while MC² stands for “Mariah Carey times two.” Nice thought, cute even, except that Dr. David Leslie has this to say:

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There are quite a few new album releases on the docket for this year already. Here’s a round-up of some of the new releases that have been recently announced:

Beastie Boys: January 27th

The Beastie Boys are reissuing the old favorite: Paul’s Boutique. The reissue will be digitally remastered to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original release of the album.
The new disc will have all the artwork originally included with the vinyl in an eight-panel digipack. Album purchases will also receive a foldout poster and a free downloadable track-by-track commentary.

Razorlight: March 2009

Razorlight will be releasing their third album in the US this Spring. The new eleven track album “Slipway Fired” is a follow-up to their 206 self-titled album that made it’s way to number one on the UK charts. The band has also planned a very brief North American tour traveling to NY, LA, and Mexico City.

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