So what’s slightly new and noteworthy, I wonder…

Crosby, Stills and Nash have asked Rick Rubin to produce a record of covers for them. Idolator suggests “All Apologies.” I’d like to hear them do “Enter Sandman.” Please enjoy this montage of ships and remember C,S,and N in olden days.

All hail the the return of Eminem. Apparently he’s in the studio and “has a lot to get off his chest,” according to Bishop Lamont. He should play SXSW next year. I’d like to start lobbying for that right now, thanks. This video of Weird Al and Eminem is like, you know what I’m sayin’, and involves a lot of Weird Al screaming. Whatever happened to Al TV?

Wow, wowee, wow! Jimmy Grumbles, I hope you’re reading this… British Lords of the Anthem, James, are headed out on tour for the first time since 2001. Of course they’re not coming to Louisville. Of course I’m leaving LA a week before they play the El Rey. Curses! Here’s the video for “Seven,” but it’s just one of their many kickass tunes.

Jarvis Cocker is writing songs for Wes Anderson’s upcoming kids movie. That all sounds rather perverse yet fashionable and twee but delightful. Doesn’t seem a stretch, that pairing. I feel like I must give you some “Common People” in honor of.

And lastly, can I just say that I love the fact that Billy Ray Cyrus credits David Lynch for starting his acting career? Awesome sauce.

Alright, I hope you’ve enjoyed this late night You Tubing silly news reporting of mine. News reporting? News regurgitating?

Either way… you can email us at musicblog@sxsw.com.

I’ll see what I can do, lp

A few recent stories from The Daily Chord have brought the issue of music in games to the forefront. Today’s report from the E3 conference notes the popularity and growth of music games, along with new initiatives from the Wii people. The placement of a new Guns N’ Roses track on the upcoming Rock Band 2 drew the attention of the NY Times. Apparently Axl remains savvy enough to get his long-delayed tunes to the ears of his fans in today’s popular format, traditional CD releases be damned. The Financial Times reported on Activision Blizzard’s plans to develop a retail platform around their Guitar Hero franchise.

As you ponder the implications of this trend, take a minute to check out an excerpt from the SXSW Music Conference in March. Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music & Marketing for Electronic Arts describes the unique ways in which music and games inform and enhance each other. Watch the clip via the SXSW Coverage Player. Scroll down to the “Music Placement in Video Games” clip. You can also download the clip here. It turns out that playing games is a serious matter.

Nick Hornby’s ‘High Fidelity’ nailed an entire generation of music loving guys who attempted seduction via the mixtape. The whole process of picking and recording songs to a cassette has been updated for the wired generation by a new site, muxtape.com.

For your listening pleasure, here is a mix of MP3s from SXSW showcasing artists from 3/12. It kicks off with 03 keynoter Daniel Lanois’ title track from his excellent “Here Is What Is” and ends with a piece from SOLI Chamber Ensemble, who performed at our Steve Reich night.

I hope you like it. Maybe we could go see a show sometime.

Exciting news today that the Jayhawks will do a new record with Mark Olson. I still remember their seminal SXSW show at The Austin Music Hall where I chaperoned a drunk to remain nameless actor who exclaimed, “I came all the way from Austin just to see this show!” Please enjoy their video for “Blue.” Mark Olson was just so cute!

Who else is super excited that Rush will perform on The Colbert Report tomorrow night? Who else finds it amusing that it was originally reported as Rush Limbaugh and not Geddy Lee and Co.? Please enjoy the video for “Subdivisions.” Everyone has an awesome teenage listening to Rush memory, don’t they?

This is old news, but I confess I’m fascinated by the re-emergence of Fred Durst as… a creepy mountain man? Has he been living in the woods? Did he drop LSD every day for a year? One might deduce either of those things after watching this clip, BUT… it turns out Fred has been directing a film called The Longshots, an inspirational tale about the first African-American girl to play in the Pop Warner Football tournament. The movie stars Ice Cube and Keke Palmer. I read about this in Seventeen magazine. I was never fond of Limp Bizkit, but this new Fred seems kind of alright.

And finally, yesterday that Beck guy announced some US Tour dates. I haven’t heard his new record yet, but I will soon thanks to the kindness of strangers. I’m sure it’s perfectly swell as most things Beck does are delightful (including an impersonation of a Rammstein show that I once saw him do. Hilarious!). Please enjoy the “Deadweight” video, a song far better than the film it appeared in. Michel Gondry is so awesome.

Okay, that is all for today. Or nearly tomorrow, as it were.

Email us at musicblog@sxsw.com. Subscribe to that feedie thing here and get all our scrumdiddlyicious posts delivered to your rss maker.

The music drags, lp

2006 SXSW Music Keynote Neil Young is on Charlie Rose tonight. Lately Neil has been mostly interested in talking about the electric car project he’s working on, surely he and Charlie will talk about that. Another topic on the table is the documentary of the 2006 CSNY tour that is making its way to the marketplace. Hardcore Neil fans will surely be watching for some mention of the long-awaited Archives project. The latest word is that the project is going to be on Blu-Ray discs only and will be out this fall. After so many delays, I’ll believe it when it arrives at retail. Anyway, set your Video Recording Thingie (VRT) to catch Neil, it’s always interesting to hear what’s on his mind.

The 2006 Keynote with Neil Young and Jonathan Demme is still up in our archives, and well worth a watch.