The Wrap-Up brings you the 5 largest music news stories of the week as well as information about new album and music video releases.  

HEADLINES OF THE WEEK

1. Beach House releases first single off new album BRU Exposure favorite Beach House released their first single, “Sparks,” off their new album, Depression Cherry. As we reported in early June, the album, the follow-up to 2012’s stellar “Bloom,” will be released in late August. If “Sparks” is anything to go by, their new sound is more aggressive and dense than their classic dream pop sound. We’re excited to hear the album and even more excited to hear them live at Lupo’s on August 26th (presented by BRU). Get your tickets now!- first single   2. New Modest Mouse video Is Modest Mouse crazy? Is Modest Mouse actually dressed up like medieval royalty with touches of industrial wasteland? Their new video features crowns made of forks, weirdly human-looking cake, and a killer pair of gold leggings on lead singer Isaac Brock (no, none of that was a typo). Yet somehow…it works. As NPR points out, Modest Mouse has always thrived on the unexpected; the video for “The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box,” released Wednesday, is certainly unexpected. The crazy-eyed medieval/post-industrial landscape reflects the track’s frenetic tempo and discordant backing strings. This video is their third off the most recent album, “Strangers to Ourselves.” 3. Beck and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore perform in cowboy-themed performance art…thing? Beck and Thurston Moore played together in London on Tuesday night in a collaboration worthy of last week’s collabs and covers-themed wrap-up. Moore joined Beck and several other artists on stage for one night of a thirty-day-long performance art piece by American artist Doug Aitken. Tuesday night’s performance included an orchestra, train noises, a rhinestone-wearing Beck, and lots of cowboy hats. We can’t explain it; the Guardian aptly describes it as “another weird and wonderful example of [Beck’s] chameleonic charms.” Take a look for yourself in the video above.   4. Chris Martin shows up at bar in India, plays set Restaurant-goers at the Summer House Café in Delhi, India, were shocked to see Chris Martin–that’s right, Chris Martin of Coldplay (and Gwyneth Paltrow) fame–play an acoustic set on the tiny bar stage. Martin played his (arguably) most famous songs: “Paradise,” “Viva la Vida,” and “Fix You.” Unsurprisingly, the set was greeted with shock, awe, and tons of screams. Now we have to ask–when will Chris Martin show up unannounced for an impromptu show in a bar in Rhode Island?   5. St. Vincent reveals new song at David Byrne’s Contemporary Color show A whole host of incredible artists have participated, or are slated to be in, David Byrne’s (former Rhode Island resident and Talking Heads frontman) magnificent presentation of color guard–which bears little resemblance to the flag spinning from high school band– titled “Contemporary Color:” Dev Hynes, How to Dress Well, Zola Jesus, and others. But one of our favorite moments occurred when St. Vincent debuted her new song live in the New York Contemporary Color performance on Saturday night. The song, titled “Everyone You Know Will Go Away,” is piercing, urgent, and a little other-worldly, especially when paired with the beautiful and complex routines of Byrne’s show. Check it out above!  

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