Buzzy Canadian duo Purity Ring won’t release their long-awaited debut album until July, but a new video for the song “Belispeak” just might hold fans over.

I was working in a mechanic shop in Soweto when I got the call that Paul Simon was looking for studio musicians to record an album. “Paul who?” I asked. But I needed the money so I went. I was poor. I was supporting my mother, who was sick, and as a black musician in South Africa at the time, you’d get ripped off a lot, getting paid five dollars for an entire album. Paul was different. When I got to the studio, we started jamming. He liked everything I did.

Famed fashion photographer David LaChapelle does more than snap pictures for advertising campaigns and pal around with the world’s most glamorous trans woman. LaChapelle has a very solid resume as a music video director.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” So goes the oft-quoted line from William Faulkner’s Requiem for a Nun. Time is circular, and our relationship with our own personal histories is ever changing. This is a concept with which the enigmatic Fiona Apple is deeply familiar. The 34-year-old singer-songwriter is about to release her fourth album—the first in seven years—aptly titled The Idler Wheel is wiser than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords will serve you more than Ropes will ever do. The spinning wheel of time cranks back and forth for Apple, who continues to re-examine her past while trying to keep up with the present. Like most artists, however, Apple finds that her fans cherish the past more than she does.

Earlier this week, Atlanta rapper and former half of OutKast Big Boi announced the title of his upcoming album, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors, the follow-up to his acclaimed 2010 effort, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty. Today, he dropped a new single, "She Said OK," with a little help from everyone's favorite collaborator (and BlackBook performing favorite), Theophilus London, along with producer and artist Tre Luce.

Creepy kids have always been a part of music videos, but they've been popping up more and more over the past couple of years, from MGMT's "Kids" to Skrillex's "First of the Year - Equinox." Last year, creepy kids of the luminous-eyed, telekinetic powers-possessing variety were the subjects of the video for M83's single "Midnight City." In the video for the second single off of Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, "Reunion," the kids are back, stronger than ever, and now being tracked by some sort of government intelligence-gathering body of some sort. You can probably guess who wins out in the end. The song itself is lovely too. 

In our upcoming June/July issue, Fiona Apple opens up about her career and her new album The Idler Wheel is wiser than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords will serve you more than Ropes will ever do, which drops June 19. We can barely wait to share with you our profile of the enigmatic singer-songwriter, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the full piece. In the meantime, check out some of the interesting bits that didn't make it into the issue! 

The sixth studio album from Liars has a funny name. It's spelled WIXIW and pronounced like “wish you.” No matter how odd the title is, however, the music from the band that rose to indie fame alongside Interpol and Yeah Yeah Yeahs in an early aughts New York City is, as always, excellent.

Although he’s been around the track a few times, I wasn’t familiar with New York rapper El-P until last year, when he did a pretty great guest verse on Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire’s “Last Huzzah.” He delivers his lines with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. How cool is that? El-P has a lot going on this summer. He produced Killer Mike’s highly-acclaimed new album R.A.P. Music and has an album of his own that just came out on Tuesday called Cancer for Cure. (Buy it here.) El-P is a talented, creative, and interesting man. And the video for his new single is crazy and wonderful in all the right ways, except one.

On Wednesday night after devouring a deliciously colorful macrobiotic plate at Souen, my friend and I took a leisurely stroll on over to The Studio at Webster Hall to check out the Danish songstress CallMeKat. Her set started minutes before we were inside, and I could hear her soft yet boisterous voice emanating beyond the door. I wanted the ticket lady to sort her biz out with a bit of urgency so we could get inside.