MGMT Reject Jay-Z, R.E.M. Records, & Dave Rawlings Covers Bright Eyes

Remember that minor blogospheric meltdown when it was revealed that MGMT were to appear on Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3? Yeah… what a summer. Well, as we all know by now, the MGMT bros were left off Hova’s final tracklist (I figured they were bumped off by Alicia Keyes or Mr. Hudson or something) and here’s why: “MGMT turned me down,” Jay-z told Gotham (via Digital Spy). Perhaps it was that “Brian Eno” track and they wanted to keep it for their next LP.

R.E.M. are apparently back in the studio, as a recent photo of Michael Stipe with Accelerate producer Jacknife Lee was sent to fansite Murmurs by R.E.M.’s tour manager, Bob Whittaker. Murmurs says the photo depicts Stipe and company starting “work on the new R.E.M. record.” Watch ‘em twiddle them knobs here.

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November 9, 2009 10:11am    MGMT   Jay-Z   R.E.M.   David Rawlings  

Trent Reznor, Tom Morello, & the Roots Join Anti-Gitmo Campaign

As we previously reported, many famous rock musicians and a songwriter for Sesame Street were outraged late last year when news broke that their music had been used to torture inmates at Guantanamo Bay. Whereas Drowning Pool’s Steve Benton said it was “an honor to think that perhaps [their] song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like that,” Trent Reznor, Rage Against The Machine, and many more were understandably furious.

Now Reznor and Rage’s Tom Morello have joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, along with R.E.M., Pearl Jam, the Roots, Rosanne Cash, Rise Against, Billy Bragg, and Jackson Browne, Huffington Post reports.

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October 22, 2009 10:52am    Trent Reznor   Tom Morello   R.E.M.   Pearl Jam   the Roots   Billy Bragg   Jackson Browne