If you’re not up to date, the woman in this photo is giving the boys from Vampire Weekend A LOT of grief.  Whether it’s deserved will be decided by a judge.  Ann Kristen Kennis, a former model in the 80’s, is suing the band their photographer for using this photo without her consent.  The price tag for use of this pretty face is $2 million.  Ouch.

It’s pretty hard to believe that any Pitchfork approved indie band would ever see the top of a Billboard chart, but Arcade Fire did it this week with their third outing The Suburbs.  156,000 copies were sold, which is about 1.56 million in 2010 indie terms.

The band has also announced a barrage of tour dates.  I was one of the lucky few to get pre-sale tix on their site, but check Ticketmaster if you missed out on the first round.

For anyone who doesn’t know the musical biography of Jay Dee aka J Dilla, I encourage you to go read and explore the recent Pitchfork article charting his influence and story. His story was tragically cut short at 32, dying of a rare blood disease TTP, but his rich catalogue of beats continues to be used today - over four years after his death.

Love him or hate him, this guy sure knows how to make an entrance.  Isn’t this what we want from our celebrities?  Drama, raw talent, controversy, tragedy, boldness… Kanye West is a blend of all those things, and I’ll be buying his records until those ingredients change.  So it’s only par for the course that Kanye would jump up on a folding table and lay down new songs acappella at a venue like Facebook.

Something all great musicians have in common is their commitment to constant evolution.  Sharks have to keep moving to stay alive, and that goes for artists as well.  Charting Young Prayer to Person Pitch and now the beginnings of Tomboy, it’s an amazing trajectory - especially considering that it’s really just him and a few samplers.

Using “Tomboy” as a peek into the rest of the album, Noah looks to have ditched some of the Brian Wilson pop melodies and big colorful samples.  The sound is still full, but now resting on a flatter pulse.  We’ll hear the rest of the story in Sept.

Find some new mp3s over at Hype.

Panda Bear recently played at Primavera and you can grab the full set here.

Right in time for Comic-Con, Disney has started rolling out samples from Daft Punk’s Tron soundtrack.  I’ve never been equally as excited for a soundtrack as I was for the film.  It’ll take you a second to trudge through all the flash pages, but there are some sample tracks in their somewhere.  Check it out here.

It may take a few seconds, but that series of slashes and backslashes reads Maya.  Stream the entire new album on M.I.A.’s myspace now.

We’ve been putting up mixtapes on By Osmosis for a while now, and I thought it was time to share the love (even though this one is more about fighting).  Click on the link below to download the mix, and you’ll find the tracklist after the jump.

Click HERE to download (then click “regular download”)

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The day has finally arrived.  Our favorite boys and girls from up North have finally given us a tiny peak at their latest creation.  Let me warn you though - it is very tiny.  Arcade Fire’s new 12″ The Suburbs / Month of May will see full light in a few weeks, but click here to wet your beaks on what will sure to be another classic record (fingers crossed).

Just about everyone is filming “Take Away” sessions these days.  The plethora of unique, one off performances isn’t a bad thing, but few really stand out anymore.  Leave it to The National and cinematographer Ray Concepcion to put life back into the format.  The combination between an incredible space (abandoned castle), and one of the best releases of the year (High Violet), creates a mesmerizing visual and auditory performance.  Be sure to visit The National’s site to get your fill of music and tour dates.