MUSIC BUZZ – A new audio file format that may come to replace MP3s — six channels of sound that the user can control. What’s the big deal? MT9 files allow you to remix them — turn up the bass, make it a capella, create a music-only version for karaoke, etc. They’re getting a big push in Korea, whatever that means.

The Best Links:

1. Will This Format Actually Get That Much Use?
2. MT9: Own and Edit Your Own Music
3. More Fun Than MP3s, Anyway
4. A New Replacement to MP3s is now being marketed
5. Kind of Icky Commercial Name: Music 2.0

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SCIENCE BUZZ – Biologist, Jason Bond discovered a new species of trapdoor spider which he has named Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi in honor of his favorite musician. Young joins the ranks of the late rock ‘n’ roll legend Roy Orbison who has a whirligig beetleOrectochilus orbisonorum named to honor him. I’m not sure if this makes spiders lovable or even creepier.

The Best Links:

1. Here is a Neil Young Track In Honor of His Spider
2. Neil Young Gets His Own Spider
3. “Neil Young gets new honor — his own spider “
4. New Species of Spider Named After Neil Young
5. Sneaky Spider Named for Rocker Neil Young
6. Neil Young, Now a Spider, Plans Blu-ray Box Set

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MUSIC BUZZ – Honda’s adorable robot will conduct Yo-Yo Ma and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a rendition of “The Impossible Dream.” This only fuels our theory that Yo-Yo Ma is, in fact, a Cylon.

The Best Links:

1. Prepare For The Robomaestro
2. “The Irony of a Japanese Automaker Trotting Out an Advanced Robot in the Motor City Will Likely Be Lost On Most of the Attendees, Who Will Be Students from the Detroit School for the Arts.”
3. Robot to Conduct Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Bring Upon Us “Inevitable Apocalyptic War Against Machines”
4. Honda Is Also Forking Over $1M to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
5. ASIMO Vs. Slippery Stairs
6. ASIMO: TV STAR!

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MUSIC BUZZ – The much-loved trip hop trio releases their first album in 10 years. Stream it now on Last.fm. Can it be nostalgic to listen to a new album? Really takes you back to the days of the Clinton Administration! The album comes out on April 29, but the pre-release on Last.fm has drawn a record number of listeners. Update: They’ve now limited the streams on Last.fm to 30 second clips, sadly.

The Best Links:

1. Listen to Third From Portishead Free at Last.fm
2. Some Sort of Weird, Radiohead-y Video Promo
3. Watch the Video for “Machine Gun”
4. “Has it been worth the wait? Frankly, no!”
5. R.I.P. Trip Hop
6. “Welcome back, trip-hop comfort food!”
7. Review: Yes, Worth the Waiting
8. The Web Weighs In

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MUSIC BUZZ – Brush off your kente cloth robe and clean up that fade - the hip hop trio is reuniting for the upcoming Rock The Bells tour. Amid economic recession, an ongoing war overseas, and George Bush in the White House, this summer should feel like 1992 all over again!

The Best Links:

1. Rock The Bells: the Official Site (with Dates, Performers, and a Full Schedules)
2. Tribe Called Quest Reunites (Again)! [Read The Press Release]
3. ATCQ: The Official Site
4. For A Tribe Called Quest, Rock The Bells Will Provide “The Best Summer Vacation Ever”
5. Find A Way
6. I Left My Wallet In El Segundo
7. Oh My God
8. Bonita Applebum
9. So Maybe Q-tip IS Using the Reunion Publicity to Fuel Sales for His Upcoming Album, “The Renaissance.” Whatever, In the Age of Hannah Montana, We’ll Take What We Can Get.
10. Don’t Go Anywhere Without Your ‘Tribe’ Shoelaces!

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MUSIC BUZZ – People are saying good things about her upcoming album of Tom Waits covers, Anywhere I Lay My Head. While the idea of an actor doing a concept album would usually make us shiver, ScarJo has apparently pulled it off.

The Best Links:

1. Confirmed: Scarlett Johansson Makes Best-Ever Album by an Actor
2. Listen to the Leak!
3. The Track-By-Track Preview of “Anywhere I Lay My Head”
4. Most Importantly, What Does Stereogum Think?
5. See ScarJo Lay Her Head (On Album Cover Art)
6. The Ten Greatest Albums Made by Actors (See? Anything Is Possible!)

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MUSIC BUZZ – The R&B chanteuse has skyrocketed to the top of the charts in England with “American Boy,” which features a little-known rapper named Kanye West. Somehow, we want to describe the song as “nu disco.” Instead, we’ll just call it “fun.”

The Best Links:

1. Video: “American Boy” [ft. Kanye West]
2. “Shine” Gets 4/5 Stars From The Times Online
3. “It Sounds Like Someone’s in It for the Green Card”
4. Producer Will.i.am Turns Out an “Addictive, Genre-busting Track”
5. Is Estelle’s “American Boy” the Song of the Summer?
6. “It’s Road Trip Material, It’s Background-music-on-a-Sunday Material, It’s Let’s-Sit-Down-and-Chill Material…It’s Hot!”
7. Estelle: Addicted to Condoms (She Said It, Folks)

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MUSIC BUZZ – A tiny synthesizer that uses a touch pad instead of keys. Perfect for musicians used to using laptops and iPhones, the Kaossilator gets a surprising number of sounds out of a tiny package. Same cool-to-dorky ratio as the keytar.

The Best Links:

1. A Kaossilator Demonstrated for You
2. Nice Description: Cyberpunk Lute of the Future
3. Baby, I Got the Kaossilator Blues
4. Jet Daisuke Shows Us What’s Up (In Japanese, Except for the Phat Beatz)
5. KORG Kaossilator’s Homepage

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