Facebook launches 'Listen With Friends' service

Facebook have launched their new 'Listen With Friends' service, it has been announced.

Users of the social networking site will be able to listen to music at the same time as their friends and discuss the tunes using Facebook Chat, with PC Mag reporting that up to 50 people will be able to listen and talk about the tracks at the same time.

A musical note will appear next to Facebook users' names whenever they are listening to a track to notify their friends, who will then be able to select the 'Listen with' button to hear the song they are listening to.

In a blog post published today (January 13), Facebook product designer Alexandre Roche said of the 'Listen With Friends' service:

You can listen to the same song, at the exact same time—so when your favorite vocal part comes in you can experience it together, just like when you're jamming out at a performance or dance club

.
However, the service will only work if both parties have access to the same online music programmes. At the moment, only Spotify and Rdio can be used in conjunction with 'Listen With Friends', although ZDNet claims that more services are set to be announced in the future.

In September last year, Facebook and Spotify joined forces as part of a new initiative set up by the social networking site. The new features gives users access to over 15 million songs, and will also allow them to see what tracks are trending on the site, as well as letting users share music with friends, as part of a free service.

Red Hot Chili Peppers forced to move tour dates after Anthony Kiedis suffers foot injury 

  

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been forced to move a series of US tour dates after their frontman Anthony Kiedis was forced to undergo foot surgery.

The frontman is now recovering after he was forced to go under the knife to remove a crushed sesamoid bone and correct a detached flexor tendon in his foot.

The dates were scheduled to begin next week, but have now been pushed back until April. The band's European summer tour is completely unaffected by the postponement.

Van Halen - Tattoo

Van Halen unveil full details of comeback album 'A Different Kind Of Truth'

Photo: PA Photos

Van Halen have revealed full details of their long-awaited comeback album 'A Different Kind Of Truth'.

The album, which is the band's first with original frontman David Lee Roth since 1984's '1984', will be released on February 7. It is also their first studio album since 1998 and the 12th of their career thus far.

Van Halen have revealed that the first single from the album will be the record's opener 'Tattoo'. This is due for release tomorrow today.

The band have announced a large scale US tour and are set to be on the road across North America throughout the summer. No UK or European dates have been confirmed as yet.

The tracklisting for 'A Different Kind Of Truth' is as follows:

'Tattoo'
'She's The Woman'
'You and Your Blues'
'China Town
'Blood And Fire'
'Bullethead'
'As Is'
'Honeybabysweetiedoll'
'The Trouble With Never'
'Outta Space'
'Stay Frosty'
'Big River'
'Beats Workin''

Check out the official vid below:

The Doors - She Smells So Nice (FULL)

Hear The Doors’ Newly Discovered Song "She Smells So Nice"

The Doors debuted their newly discovered track today. Titled “She Smells So Nice,” the song captures the original band consisting of organist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, drummer John Densmore and late singer Jim Morrison on a high-energy bluesy original that was recently discovered by the album’s co-producer Bruce Botnick while reviewing the L.A. Woman session tapes.

While the song is billed as the band’s “first new, unreleased recording in 40 years,” the surviving members of The Doors actually released “Orange County Suite” in 1997. For that song, the members of The Doors played over a Morrison spoken word recording to create the first new Doors song since the ’70s.

You can hear “She Smells So Nice” below.

The White Stripes - 'Seven Nation Army'

The White Stripes to put out new 'outtakes' release this month

Photo Gallery: The White Stripes

The White Stripes are set to release alternate versions of two classic tracks, which have not been available to fans before now.

An early version of the band's 2002 single 'Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground', which is simply titled 'Dead Leaves' and an early recording of 'Let's Build A Home' will both be released on a special 7' vinyl, simply titled 'Outtakes'.

The recordings will be sold as part of Jack White's Third Man Recordings' exclusive series of From The Vault releases, with a third singles collection also set to be released by the Nashville based label.

The Killers will 'definitely' release a new album this year, says Brandon Flowers

• • 

The Killers' Brandon Flowers has revealed that the band will "definitely" release a new album this year.

In an interview with BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe, the singer confirmed that the band would put out their fourth studio album in the next 12 months, but refused to give a precise release date.

"It's just whether it's [released in] the summer time or the winter time," said Flowers when asked about the band's plans for a new LP, before adding it was "exciting getting everyone in the room to make some noise".

The frontman also said that he was eager to move away from the direction of their previous albums, stating:

We don't want to make 'Hot Fuss 2' or 'Sam's Town 2', or 'Day & Age 2'. We'll maybe take all that stuff, the best of all of it and do what we know how to do.

The Killers' as-yet-untitled new album will be the follow-up to their 2008 effort 'Day & Age'.

Previously, drummer Ronnie Vannucci revealed that the LP would have a more guitar-heavy sound and said he and his bandmates had been "writing some great Killers songs".

Van Halen to Perform at New York's Cafe Wha? This Thursday

Band expected to debut new single sometime this month

Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage

Journalists across New York have been invited to a Van Halen concert at the Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village this Thursday.  Though nothing is official, word is the band are going to perform a 45-minute set. The group hasn't played in public since the end of their 2007/'08 reunion tour with original frontman David Lee Roth, though they have been rehearsing for their upcoming world tour at the Roxy in Los Angeles for the past few months. A new album is in the works, and a new image released by the band has the date 2.7.12 on it. A new video and single is expected to hit sometime this month. The tour goes on sale January 10th.
The 250-seat Cafe Wha? may seem like an unlikely place for Van Halen to launch their new tour, but the club has an important family connection to David Lee Roth. His uncle Manny Roth owned and operated the venue, providing a stage to then-up-and-coming acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Bill Cosby, Bob Dylan, Richard Pryor and many others.
While the Van Halen camp has been extremely quiet about the band's plans for 2012, they recently put up a giant billboard in Times Square and teaser footage showing the band rehearsing at the Roxy. They have also given the fansite VHLinks two exclusive videos of the band reminiscing about Eddie Van Halen's old Volvo and judging wet T-shirt contests back in the Seventies. The site also says that a "trusted source" tells them the band has been "busy booking rehearsal space and hotel rooms for the band and their crew for [this] week in NYC."
Check out the image of the band's Times Square billboard below.

Van Halen's newly revealed album artwork.