Photo by Erez Avissar

"i generally dislike it when people spread hate about a band as hardworking and legitimate as the black keys. listen to #chulahoma #kimbrough"

-- Bon Iver's Justin Vernon defends the Black Keys against the haters, recommends their 2006 EP Chulahoma: the Songs of Junior Kimbrough (via @blobtower)

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Fugazi photos by Bert Queiroz

"Seeing Fugazi was life changing for me. The bleak landscape I was trodding through (BF- before Fugazi) suddenly turned into color, and dare I say it, they made me feel hopeful. Guy Picciotto… always struck me as a character from a twisted fairytale more than just some guy who happened into a band. not so much larger than life, more like a person who was born to be onstage. And Ian MacKaye is not only a great songwriter but also funny as shit. The guy has a  kind of impossible charm and also the ability to say what he means so precisely in one one phrase. It can’t be easy to be the canvas every American punk boy projects himself onto. Suffice it to say I love this band."

-- Kathleen Hanna talks about how excited she is about Fugazi's new online live archive. Read our interview with MacKaye here.

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"I can't remember [how to play] any of my new songs because they've been done for a fucking year."

-- Fiona Apple responds to a fan's request for new material at a recent performance at L.A.'s Largo. Jon Brion added, "Not her fault!" Is a second wave of the "Free Fiona" campaign, which rallied for her last record, 2005's Extraordinary Machine, imminent? (via Grantland)

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"I'm feeling optimistic about the future no matter what happens at this point. I mean, every band runs its course. We've been together way longer than any of us ever imagined would happen and it's been for the most part an incredibly pleasurable ride. There's still a lot of stuff we're going to continue to do. There's tons and tons of archival projects and things like that that are still going on, so there are so many ways in which we are tied to each other for the future both musically and in other ways."

-- Lee Ranaldo tells Rolling Stone that he remains hopeful regarding the future of Sonic Youth, despite Thurston and Kim's recent separation. As previously reported, Matador will release Ranaldo's solo album on March 20.

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"Amy Winehouse passed away this year and it was all 'drugs killed Amy Winehouse'. I think that the press killed Amy Winehouse as much as drugs did, because it sends people into that place where they've got no peace, and so they just try to escape. And sometimes you use drugs and drink to do that."

-- Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker on Amy Winehouse's death and the relationship between the press and celebrity. (via the Guardian)

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"Knowing her music and being a fan, it's very, very deep Kate Bush for me. It's concentrated. It's raw emotion. It's almost like a scene from her diary – she seems to be in love like a motherfucker. Really, really, really in love."

-- Big Boi gushes over the new Kate Bush album, 50 Words for Snow, in an interview with Rolling Stone.

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"I've been playing bass in a touring band for five years, and I've had intimate relations on the road four times... I'm lucky enough to be in a job where I get to tour the world and meet interesting people, but in my experience, musicians — especially females — get a lot less then you'd imagine."

-- Ellen of Los Campesinos! explains her sex life on the road and why female musicians don't get lucky as much as you might suspect. (via Nerve)

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"I told him, 'As much as I want to work with you, I kind of want to do this without you. I kind of want this to be done without you. I kind of want to do it on my own.'"

-- Frank Ocean on why he hasn't brought Kanye West into the studio with him for his solo work. (Via BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe.)

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Photo by Charles Bergquist

"Just want to give a sincere thanks to all our dedicated fans that came out to these college shows despite odd vibes and even odder pairing. Your support is something we'll never exploit, though sometimes i feel like I naively allow myself to be."

-- Alan Palomo of Neon Indian on his college tour with rapper/meme Kreayshawn (via @NeonIndian)

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"We're not... It's over. It's done."

-- R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, in response to the question: "So when are you getting back together?" (via BBC News)

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Photo by David Black

"For so many people, it's very hard to feel okay with success, because success is not cool. It supposedly tarnishes your thing; it ruins little pockets of scenes and the self-importance that comes from thinking you're the only people in your town that are doing something. That's what stops a lot of really talented people from sharing their music and turning it into a career."

-- Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never, on having the courage to turn an underground art into a full-time job. (Via Altered Zones)

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"I think it's like psychological warfare between men and women. Sometimes women don't know they're in control because they've just been tricked by men for centuries and centuries and fucking thousands of years. Since the beginning of time, we've been tricked by men to feel like we aren't the ones in power but really we are."

-- Up-and-coming Harlem rapper Azealia Banks speaks with Pitchfork contributor Joe Colly about the underlying power balance betewen men and women. (via The Village Voice)

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"the mp3 has killed the idea of what a traditional record store used to be, but that should only be cause for us to re-invent and support things the computer can never kill…we need these real places… where you can still buy a record from a local band or a hard to find label or root thru stacks of used vinyl ... lets brainstorm. lets build more of these places. lets stick together. lets support each other. lets figure it out.”

-- My Morning Jacket's Jim James expresses his sadness over the closing of storied Louisville, Kentucky record store ear X-tacy. (via My Morning Jacket's website)

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Photo by Tom Spray

"I actually played at my brother's wedding. And the song that they requested for me to play was 'Rid of Me'. That's a true story. My own brother."

-- PJ Harvey has a very...interesting...family (via GQ)

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