Remember that time the Verve wrote this huge pop hit “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” and then got sued for looping a short sample from the Rolling Stones, resulting in the Verve losing all the money they made with the song? TOTALLY RAD!
Anyway, the Verve are back with their new album, Forth, and it’s streaming right now on their MySpace page.

THE VERVE STREAM ENTIRE ALBUM
IN STORES AUGUST 26

New York/London - August 19, 2008 — The Verve are now streaming the full album Forth at the following:

www.myspace.com/theverve

The Verve’s long-awaited studio album Forth will be released on the band’s imprint On Your Own Records via Megaforce/RED in the USA on August 26 and internationally via EMI on August 25. It was produced by The Verve at State Of The Ark and Metropolis Studios in London.

Track Listing:

1. Sit & Wonder
2. Love Is Noise
3. Rather Be
4. Judas
5. Numbness
6. I See Houses
7. Noise Epic
8. Valium Skies
9. Columbo
10. Appalachian Springs

Considered one of the most influential, innovative and spellbinding bands from Britain, The Verve recently performed at 2008’s Coachella, sold-out two nights at The Theatre @ Madison Square Garden and headlined Glastonbury and V Festival 2008. The Verve consist of Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and Pete Salisbury.

I might have a few cents to throw in about Atmosphere, the time I interviewed Slug, the state of independent hip-hop and other topics, but seeing as how I have an article due for Jake for the Synthesis weekly…here’s the part where I copy and paste an entire press release.

ATMOSPHERE TO PAINT THE NATION ON FALL TOUR
Atmosphere’s Fall tour embarks on September 10th in the US.

Atmosphere are ready to “Paint The Nation” and will do so by playing over 50 shows across the US this Fall in support of their new album, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold. The trek kicks off September 10th in Fargo, ND and includes festival dates including Monolifth in Denver, Street Scene in San Diego, Edge Fest in Phoenix and KFMA Fall Ball in Tucson. The full lineup of the “Paint The Nation” Tour is Atmosphere featuring special guests Abstract Rude, Blueprint and DJ Rare Groove. The first leg of the tour is below and the second leg will be announced next week.

Atmosphere killed it on the Late Show with David Letterman this past Wednesday night, check out the performance of “You” featuring backup vocals from P.O.S. here:

Atmosphere's sixth studio album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold debuted at #5 on the Top Billboard Top 200 in April and has now scanned almost 120,000 units and is the fastest selling Atmosphere record to date. Atmosphere was MTV's 52/52 "Artist Of The Week." back in May (you can watch clips on Atmosphere's MySpace). Atmosphere headlined the first ever Soundset Festival in Minneapolis this past May that featured the very best in independent Hip Hop. Soundset sold over 12,000 tickets. The first single off the album, "You" is getting heavy airplay across the country and is currently climbing the Alternative charts thanks to rotations at KROQ/LA, INDIE 103/LA, 91X/San Diego, KNDD/Seattle, KVGS/Las Vegas, KITS/San Francisco, KEDJ/Phoenix, KROX/Austin, KWOD/Sacramento, KCCQ/Des Moins, KFMA/Tucson, WLUM/Milwaukee, Sirius, XM and Music Choice among others. Look for the music video for "You" to hit in the beginning of September. Atmosphere has now performed "You" on Conan, Letterman and is booked for Jimmy Kimmel's outdoor stage on Wednesday, September 24th.

"As a front-man, the charismatic Slug has matured into one of hip-hop's best performers." LA Times

First Leg of the "PAINT THE NATION" Tour Ft. Atmosphere & Special Guests Abstract Rude, Blueprint and DJ Rare Groove
**Bold are festival dates w/just Atmosphere
Wednesday 10-Sep-08 Fargo, ND The Venue
Thursday 11-Sep-08 Sioux Falls, SD Sioux Empire Expo Center
Friday 12-Sep-08 Omaha, NE Slowdown
Saturday 13-Sep-08 Denver, CO Monolifth
Monday 15-Sep-08 Boise, ID Knitting Factory
Tuesday 16-Sep-08 Missoula, MT Wilma Theater
Thursday 18-Sep-08 Eugene, OR McDonald Theater
Friday 19-Sep-08 Sacramento, CA Empire
Saturday 20-Sep-08 San Diego, CA Street Scene
Sunday 21-Sep-08 Bakersfield, CA the Dome
Monday 22-Sep-08 Santa Cruz, CA Catalyst
Thursday 25-Sep-08 Los Angeles, CA Wiltern
Friday 26-Sep-08 Las Vegas, NV HOB
Saturday 27-Sep-08 Phoenix, AZ Edge Fest
Sunday 28-Sep-08 Tucson, AZ KFMA Fall Ball
Tuesday 30-Sep-08 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
Wednesday 1-Oct-08 New Orleans, LA Tipitina's
Friday 3-Oct-08 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution
Saturday 4-Oct-08 Orlando, FL Firestone
Monday 6-Oct-08 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
Tuesday 7-Oct-08 Ashville, NC Orange Peel
Wednesday 8-Oct-08 Richmond, VA Toads Place
Friday 10-Oct-08 Baltimore Ram's Head
Saturday 11-Oct-08 New Haven, CT Toad's Place

MySpace: www.myspace.com/atmosphere
Label: www.rhymesayers.com

You could give your money to Psychostick to have your name immortalized in a song!

Comedy/metal band Psychostick has launched a new way to help raise recording money for their next album: in exchange for a $50 donation, Psychostick will use their fans’ names as a lyric in their new and unwritten song, “400 Thank Yous” (working title). The band plans to start recording in August with a spring 2009 release via Rock Ridge Music.

“Our fans have been asking more and more frequently about when we’re going to record our next album. The problem has not been a lack of songs - we have enough songs to record two new albums. We simply haven’t been able to afford to stop touring and record it. Finally, something had to be done. This was our solution,” says guitarist Josh “The J” Key.

From July 14th through September 30th, Psychostick will be accepting the $50 donations (limited to only 380) through their website, www.psychostick.com. Businesses will have the opportunity to name drop in one of only 20 places for $250.

OR drop some cash our way! Synthesis will gladly post praises of you and kiss your proverbial ass on this highly-trafficked blog here for a mere $25 dollars donation to our paypal. Want to get back at your ex? Propose marriage? Declare your birthday wish list? Hit us up, yo!

Yesterday as Kirty South and I drove back from Olympia WA, HANDS DOWN THE WORST PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES (with a few notable exceptions), I got to select the playlist on his iPod. Between The Shaggs and Deerhoof songs, there was plenty of ’80s pop, with no fewer than three Michael Jackson songs strewn in there. Man, that dude could write and perform a song. Despite child-touching allegations and a two-decade long decline in productivity and popularity, you still gotta give it up for Michael as an artist.

This led me to wonder: so when’s Wacko Jacko gonna release a new album? Apparently, it’s in the works. According to Billboard, songwriter Claude Kelly penned a song for the new Akon album. When Akon played Kelly the track, it featured none other than Michael Jackson. The track “Hold My Hand” will reportedly be released on both Akon’s album, and Jackson’s upcoming release (no release date yet). I for one can’t wait. No, seriously.

Claude Kelly, who can write a hit song, but apparently has no eye for design, is understandably way stoked.

“I wrote the song and gave it to Akon with the intention of it going to maybe Whitney Houston, but Akon said he wanted to cut it himself. I thought, ‘It doesn’t get any bigger than this’,” the 27-year-old New York native tells Billboard.com. “A few months after, Akon plays the song for me and all of a sudden I hear Michael Jackson’s voice. I was literally shaking by the time the song was over.”

And they have the boring, self congratulatory press release to prove it!!!!!111:

New York, NY – On July 1, Slipknot, the Grammy Award winning, multi-platinum nine man hard rock enigma, will unveil its new imagery in an exclusive partnership with AOL Music, the web’s most trafficked online music destination*. This highly anticipated debut kicks-starts the launch of Slipknot’s new album, All Hope Is Gone, which is set for release on Roadrunner Records on August 26th. Masks are an integral part of the band’s identity and to reflect this point, AOL Music’s Spinner.com will host a retrospective photo gallery of Slipknot masks throughout their career, spanning all three previous albums and including the most recent controversial “Purgatory Masks.” The Slipknot mask unveiling will be featured on the main page of Spinner.com worldwide for 24 hours.

Slipknot is a groundbreaking nine-piece machine born out of Des Moines, IA. The band has sold over 10 million albums worldwide. Their last studio album VOL. 3: (THE SUBLIMINAL VERSES) was released in May 2004, debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, selling over 240,000 copies its first week and 1.5 million copies in the U.S. to date. The album broke new ground for the band and spawned the hit singles “Duality,” “Vermilion” and “Before I Forget.” In November 2005 the band released SLIPKNOT 9.0: LIVE, a gold-certified double live album. December 2006 saw the release of the DVD Voliminal: Inside the 9. Certified platinum, it is a vivid, brutally honest glimpse of the world inside the band.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to clown (OMG PUN) on Slipknot. In fact, the couple of times I’ve seen them live they were pretty badass. It’s just that, when it comes to masks, and metal, you can’t fuck with GWAR. Seriously:

Jean Grae is from South Africa and used to be in the rap crew Natural Resources until she went her own way when they split. This will be her first album in FOUR years, titled Jeanius, and it drops on July 8th. It’s coming out on Blacksmith Music and they’re hoping this anticipated album will be the one to bring her out from the underground scene and make the move to mainstream. The album was produced by “9th Wonder” which includes Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige and Destiny’s Child. If you think you’ve never heard of her, she was on the Rock The Bells tour, toured with Talib Kweli, and coached on the “I Wanna Be A Rapper” MTV show.

Bottom line: Jean Grae has mad rapping skills. She can flow like no other and spit lyrics with them best of them plus she’s hard as eff.