The Black Keys are releasing their eighth album Turn Blue anywhere and everywhere you can buy music on Tuesday, May 13. Thankfully, you can listen to the whole damn thing on iTunes before you impulsively buy because the Black Keys.

Dan Auerbach, the Black Keys lead singer, told Rolling Stone that this is "headphone record."

From RS:

"Turn Blue is a genuine turning point — into a decisively original rock, with a deeper shade of blues," writes Rolling Stone's David Fricke. "You still get the minimalist vigor of the Keys' first records a decade ago. But this is more brazen severity, richer and forward in its hip-hop allusions, super-size-rock dynamics, pictorial studio flourishes and offbeat commercial savvy."

Strap on those headphones, plant your ass and keep those mushrooms handy.

I went to the second weekend of Coachella a few weekends ago and a few people who knew I went asked me what the best performance I saw over the three days of heat, dirt and the constant reminder that I am no longer young. While it was amazing to see Outkast again, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band were stellar, and I finally got to see Superchunk again after twenty years (again, I am old), the highlight was still seeing Future Islands.

The synth-pop group with death-metal touches (I am not joking) hit it big all of a sudden off their performance on Letterman a few months ago and surely some people were there to see lead singer Samuel T. Herring's interesting and enthusiastic dance moves, but what really stands out for me is the utter sincerity of their music and the way they perform. Between miming ripping an invisible mask of his head and pointing directly at members of the audience and asking if they believe in love, Herring was smiling, appreciative of the opportunity to play such a big stage and demonstrating that the band's occasionally new-ageish/motivational tape lyrics weren't a put on. These guys really believe in what they're doing.

I have no idea how long tickets will last for the band's show at 191 Toole when they go on sale Friday, but I'll be hitting refresh on my laptop starting at 11:55 a.m. The show, which will almost certainly sell out or get moved to a larger venue, is scheduled for August 25. Tickets are $18.

Having taken much of its inspiration from the desert, the new Lightning Records collective is throwing simultaneous desert parties this weekend.

On the Arizona side, Lightning Strike: Keeylocko brings a host of Tucson bands to Cowtown Keeylocko, the Old West town and saloon near Three Points. On the California side, a music and art celebration takes place in Joshua Tree.

Conceived as a music and art collective, Lightning Records will release its first quarterly wave of five tapes this month, celebrating with the May 3 Lightning Strikes.

Keeylocko performer/hosts Ohioan and Algae & Tentacles are the Tucson bands that will be among the 20 artists to release new music on Lightning Records this year, along with Cy Dune, Wooden Wand, William Tyler and Delicate Steve.

Ohioan’s Ryne Warner and Algae & Tentacles’ John Melillo say they wanted to harness the spirit of the label and present music in an atypical way, drawing people together in one place, outside the city, to draw a better focus on the performers.

“The thing that really interests me that doesn’t get considered much is the context in which we experience music,” Warner says. “I get pretty worn out always going to bars to experience music in that context. It presents a monotonous mentality. I wish there was a different sort of communal experience happening.”

Joining Ohioan and Algae & Tentacles at Keeylocko will be Vox Urbana, Burning Palms, Katterwaul and Halcyonaire, from Oakland, Calif.

If you’re a fan of horror-movie soundtracks and/or spooky prog rock, you’ll want to be at the Marquee Theater in Tempe this Thursday night. Legendary Italian soundtrack maestros Goblin are playing an ultra-rare gig that you're not likely to witness again. Get ready for some scorching renditions of tunes from the cult classic horror films Suspiria, Dawn of the Dead, Tenebre, Deep Red, and hopefully some numbers from their debut album Roller, one of their few non-soundtrack albums.

Goblin played a few select gigs across the U.S. last year, and now they’re on a brief tour that’ll take them through the southwest. The band has been through several line-ups since their incarnation; this tour features original keyboardist Maurizo Guarini, guitarist Massimo Morante, bass player Fabio Pignatelli and drummer Agostino Marangolo.

From the get-go, the crowd was all-ages, meaning just about every last age. Kids already hung onto the stage barrier or clung to their moms and dads when Chicha dust took the stage in spicy Latino garb and began leading the crowd in their trademark chicha side-stepping. The six-man crew made the stage feel full with a sound that has continued to flesh out and gain complexity since the band emerged about two years ago as a chicha cover band, a side project of Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan. 

In theory, a balcony seat is much to be prized at the Rialto Theatre, and is priced accordingly. On Wednesday, April 23, Beck showed seat-holders the limitations of that benefit, as dozens of balcony denizens responded to the star's magnetism by flooding the already packed floor. 

The plus side of balcony seats, it turns out, is that when you stand up and dance, you're more visible. Beck and his irrepressibly entertaining bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen (also of NIN) called out the upstairs dancers for a round of applause. The response from the floor was among about a hundred deafening cheers of the evening.

Beck's own signature quirky dance moves had me longing for a gif series of them to watch at home. Fragments of what could be killer '90s hip-hop stylings are sort of a visual equivalent of guitar fills. They emerged in the latter part of the show, following the obligatory, but not at all perfunctorily performed, songs from his new album, Morning Phase. The selections were decidedly pre-coffee, although they reflected all the complexity and innovation we expect of Beck's music. He made a point of mentioning that the Rialto show was only the second live performance for many of them.

Fireworks started with the video and light show shortly after Beck donned his hat, a sort of mangled fedora alleged in The Village Voice to have been stolen from the set of the TV mini-series Witness. That's when he began digging into his back catalog with his well-seasoned band, who not only recorded Morning Phase with him, but also toured his world-dominating 1996 blockbuster, Odelay.

The encore included a crowd singalong of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." Don't hate.

Tucson's own Salvador Duran opened solo. He was wildly applauded throughout his set and the crowd demanded an encore, likely an extremely rare event among crowds waiting for Beck as a headliner. 

Tucson Weekly's nationally recognized rock photographer par excellence C. Elliott was on the scene.

Middle age pop-punk rocker Avril Lavigne is struggling to stay relevant with the kids these days. The 29-year-old artist didn't intend on debuting her latest music video Hello Kitty on Tuesday. According to her rep, the video was "leaked" a day early, and the response wasn't pretty. The overwhelming consensus is that it was racist and insensitive towards Japanese people. In the video, Lavigne is drinking sake and dancing around Japan in a obscure cupcake skirt while surrounded by four Asian dancers in matching outfits the whole time.

Lavigne responded to her haters via Twitter:

RACIST??? LOLOLOL!!! I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video…
— Avril Lavigne (@AvrilLavigne) April 24, 2014

…specifically for my Japanese fans, WITH my Japanese label, Japanese choreographers AND a Japanese director IN Japan.
— Avril Lavigne (@AvrilLavigne) April 24, 2014

Obviously, there's more to Japan and their people than cutesy, colorful outfits and eating sushi. The worst part of this is the really random dubstep bridges. Maybe this is all just a publicity stunt to get everyone to buy her newish self-titled album? It has to be good since Nickelback's Chad Kroeger helped write it.

According to ColorLines via Billboard, now that Prince regained control of his musical catalogue from Warner Bros, a re-release of Purple Rain is in the works for it's 30th anniversary and more new Prince magic:

In a major move, Prince has regained control of his musical catalogue from Warner Bros after a bitter separation from the label back in 1996. As part of the deal, Prince will re-release his classic “Purple Rain” album in time for its 30th anniversary. The artist also announced plans for a new album, though it’s unclear if that new project is also part of the deal.

As Billboard explains, the fight over Prince’s catalogue is as important one:

As 2013 loomed, record label executives and artists managers said that they were unsure how copyright terminations and ownership reversions would play out as they expected a precedent-setting court case to decide whether the “work-for-hire” clause in standard recording contracts could successfully be challenged by artists. Works created under work-for-hire contracts are not eligible for copyright reversion. But privately some label executives have also said that in some instances the wiser course might be to negotiate the reversions and retain control of issuing artists’ catalog eligible for copyright terminations.

In cutting what appears to be a landmark deal, Prince has chosen to remain with the label that was the subject of his ire back in the 1990’s avoiding a risky and costly legal battle and still regains ownership of his catalog.

Financial terms and length of the licensing deal were not disclosed; nor does the announcement make clear on whether the artist is gaining ownership of his catalog all at once; or more likely as each album becomes eligible for copyright termination.

Here's the new song they posted:

A girl needs a hand fan to occasionally stir the charisma in the air, or she might swoon at  a Joe Ely show.  One can only guess what tools of self-preservation the attending poet or story-teller might employ. It's likely that the temptation to retire their pens is nearly overwhelming.

Tucson Weekly rock photographer C. Elliott was working hard for you last night, which, we remind you, was the day after your taxes were due, 2014. In a few hours, we'll bring you Joe Ely at Hotel Congress, where, we confess, we were sorry to miss young T. Mills. From the looks of the line for Club Congress, we are going to guess you all went there after being turned away for Foster the People. Here's what you missed.