KING KHAN & THE SHRINES drop a video for "Born to Die."

SPLIT SINGLE, ft. Jason Narducy (Bob Mould Band, Superchunk, Verbow), Britt Daniel (Spoon, Divine Fits), and Jon Wurster (Superchunk, The Mountain Goats, Bob Mould),is advance streaming their debut, Fragmented World.

PURE X is advance streaming the country-psych Angel.

COVES, a garage-psych duo, advance stream Soft Friday.

MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA is advance streaming Cope.

MIKAL CRONIN drops “Soul In Motion” as the A-side of a new single.

THE EXCITERS: What's a bear doing in the video for "Tell Him"? I have no idea.

THE HOLD STEADY: Craig Finn and guitarist Tad Kubler did a Reddit Ask Me Anything, including which version of the Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait" they prefer.

ANGEL OLSEN talks to SPIN about success forcing introspection.

JOHNNY CASH may have a few more posthumous albums in the vault.

THE 100 most influential music blogs in the world, according to Style of Sound.

GWYNETH PALTROW & CHRIS MARTIN are "consciously uncoupling" now, but they 'haven't been a couple for a number of years,' according to the NYDN. Even so, they sang together recently.

KANYE WEST recently “blew a gasket” after learning about a previous association between his fiance Kim Kardashian and bad boy singer Chris Brown.

CHARLIE SHEEN breaks bad on John Mayer.

INDIANA JONES and the Recasting of Someone Younger?

YOUNG PEOPLE went to movies much less in 2013.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST has a new trailer online.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 has a final trailer online.

UNITED STATES intelligence and counterterrorism officials expressed concern that al Qaeda's central command is trying to establish bases and recruit fighters in Syria for attacks against the West. US military officials said North Korea has the capacity to fire missiles on short notice and the US lacks assets to conduct amphibious operations in the Pacific. In the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea, President Obama called Russia "a regional power" and dismissed allegations that a perceived US retreat abroad had emboldened Russia.

MALAYSIA: A satellite image shows up to 122 potential objects in search for Flight 370 debris.

UKRAINE: How the last Ukrainian military vessel in Crimea tried to avoid being seized by the Russian navy.

VENEZUELA's military on Wednesday reaffirmed its support for President Nicolas Maduro following the arrest of three air force generals accused of plotting a coup amid ongoing anti-government protests.

DOGS react to magic tricks.

UKRAINIAN COMBAT DOLPHINS were also annexed by Russia.

CLOBBER: "Woof!" "What's that you say?" "Woof! Woof!" "Natural gas filling the house with a sparking heater?"

PET HOARDING: Pennsylvania SPCA officers spent the day removing 260 cats from a property in Frankford.

THE HOLD STEADY drops an animated clip for "Spinners," about the possibility of making it happen.

S CAREY, whom the NYT calls "Bon Iver's secret weapon," is advance streaming Range of Light.

NICKEL CREEK is advance streaming A Dotted Line.

FOUR TET played a full set for the Ray-Ban x Boiler Room SXSW Warehouse Broadcast.

LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS uncork a classic soul twofer for KUTX at SXSW. 

DAMON ALBARN dropped "Heavy Seas Of Love" ahead of Everyday Robots.

SIMON & GARFUNKEL: "I Am a Rock" on French TV.

KEVIN DREW talks to Pitchfork about the music he would play in certain life situations.

THE SWEDISH POP MAFIA: At some point over the last 15 years—it became an inescapable fact that if you want to understand American pop music, you pretty much have to understand Sweden.

JONATHAN WILSON: The hippie singer-songwriter with legendary friends is profiled by Magnet.

KISS makes the cover of the Rolling Stone after a mere 40 years. 

GWYNETH PALTROW & CHRIS MARTIN are...um..."consciously uncoupling."

CHRIS EVANS is Captain America for now...but what he really wants to do is direct.

LADY GAGA claims she's submissive at home. Might be the first truly edgy thing she's said.

TAYLOR SWIFT's strange personality chases men away, according to the ever-reliable RadarOnline.

IS JAY-Z older than I am?

SEAN PENN is heading to Venezuela to offer government-sponsored acting classes to aspiring thespians.

COLUMBUS SHORT, of ABC's Scandal, now has his own.

NORTH KOREA has test-fired what appeared to be two medium-range ballistic missiles, just hours after the US, South Korea and Japan met in the Netherlands to discuss the country.

UKRAINE's lawmakers on Tuesday dismissed acting Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh over his handling of the Crimea crisis following Russia's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula. A Ukrainian ultra-nationalist leader has been shot dead in what officials describe as a special forces operation.

VENEZUELA arrested three air force generals accused of plotting a coup in league with opposition politicians during the country's rumbling civil unrest, the president said on Tuesday.

TURKEY: The military said Syrian missile systems locked on to five Turkish jets patrolling the border. The military is on heightened alert after Turkish forces shot down a Syrian jet on March 23 that allegedly strayed into Turkish airspace.

A GOSHAWK flies through a tiny hole. Watch in super slo-mo.

HOW ANIMALS See The World.

FOUR LIONS were put down by the Copenhagen Zoo just a few weeks after killing and publicly dissecting a young giraffe, causing outrage among animal lovers around the world.

SHEEP are still needed for this year's Golden Shears World Championships.

THE ORWELLS drop a video for "Let It Burn" ahead of Disgraceland.

MESSENGERS: The British psych trio advance streams their debut LP, Illusory Blues.

TIMBER TIMBRE advance streams Hot Dreams.

LOTUS PLAZA, the solo side project of Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt, streams the improvisational Overnight Motorcycle Music.

SOUL ASYLUM, Live at the Aragon Brawlroom, Sept. 15, 1995.

THE BLACK KEYS got a "Fever" ahead of Turn Blue.

CHRISSIE HYNDE drops "Dark Sunglasses" ahead of her solo debut, Stockholm.

ANDREW BIRD covers the New Pronographers' "The Fake Headlines."

THE AFGHAN WHIGS  drop "The Lottery" ahead of Do To The Beast.

THE REPLACEMENTS played "Bast^rds of Young" and "Kiss Me On The Bus" in an infamous TV appearance.

CLOUD NOTHINGS get a lengthy profile at Pitchfork.

SLOWDIVE guitarist Christian Savill talks to Soundblab about why the band got back together, Googling yourself, and bizarre gig tales. (Thx, Frank Yang.)

MONDEGREENS: The psychology behind misheard music lyrics.

ODERUS URUNGUS, a/k/a Dave Brockie, frontman of the theatrical joke-metal institution Gwar, has died at 50.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON talks to the Wall Street Journal about the next challenge on her horizon: balancing family and career.

STACY KIEBLER and Jared Pobre are expecting a child.

KIM KARDASHIAN & KANYE WEST's Vogue spread.

JOHNNY WEIR's estranged husband filed legal docs accusing the Olympian of repeatedly cheating on him and treating him like a lap dog.

JAMES REBHORN: The veteran character actor penned his own obituary.

MOLLY RINGWALD remembers.

MALAYSIA: New satellite data reveals that missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 "ended" its journey in a "remote location" of the southern Indian Ocean, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said today.

UKRAINE: Afghanistan this weekend joined Syria and Venezuela and became the newest member of a select club of nations: those that have publicly backed the Russian annexation of Crimea.

EGYPT: A court has sentenced 528 supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to death.

SYRIA: The head of the organization overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile said he still hoped Damascus could meet a final deadline of June 30 but it might miss that target. Shocka.

A BABY MOOSE is freed from a gate by a hatchet-weilding samaritan.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A fish with legs.

THE 22 BEARS in his car, in point of fact, were not dogs.

DOGS: A Family Tree.

BILLY JOEL, with Brian Johnson on AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long," and Jimmy Fallon on 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Call it Twofer Monday.

CLOUD NOTHINGS advance stream Here and Nowhere Else.

SAINTSENECA advance streams Dark Arc.

WOLFMOTHER streams their surprise new LP, New Crown.

MAC DeMARCO advance streams Salad Days.

A.C. NEWMAN covers Bill Fay's "Be Not So Fearful" for The Walking Dead Original Soundtrack, Vol. 2.

SWANS drop “A Little God In My Hands,” ahead of To Be Kind.

THE FOUR TOPS: Levi Stubbs works up a sweat on live French TV, belting out "I'll Be There."

THE HOLD STEADY and its devoted fans are essayed at The Talkhouse.

JOHNNY CASH's posthumous "lost" album gives voice to a man in recovery.

ELBOW's Guy Garvey tells Under The Radar about four of his fave cities and the songs which accompany them. (Thx, Frank Yang.)

ALEX CHILTON: SPIN excerpts a new biography of the indie icon, A Man Called Destruction.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Divergent tops the chart with a 56 million debut. That doesn't seem bad against an 80 million budget, but it's less than most estimates and well short of the 69 million Twilight opened with in 2008. The competition heats up in April, which means Divergent will have to earn about as much overseas as it does domestically to profit. That's doable, but disappointing.  Even so, it's not as disappointing as Muppets Most Wanted, which placed with a mere 16.5 million. Again, not bad against a 50 million budget, but certainly not the 29.3 million opening of The Muppets reboot. Mr Peabody and Sherman shows with an underwhelming 11.7 million and an 81 million domestic total against a 150 million budget. 300: Rise of an Empire skids 55 percent into the fourth slot with 8.7 million; nevertheless, the sequel approaches 94 million domestic against a 110 million budget, suggesting robust overseas receipts will put this one in the black. God's Not Dead rounds out the Top 5 with a surpsrisingly strong 8.6 million; one wonders what -if anything- that potends for next weekend's Noah.  Below the fold the platform release of The Grand Budapest Hotel continues, bringing in another 6.8 million on about 300 screens. Meanwhile, the crowdfunded Veronica Mars crashed 75 percent to make only 490K in its second weekend.

MILA KUNIS & ASHTON KUTCHER are reportedly expecting a child together.

L'WREN SCOTT: Her suicide reveals the tragic side of NYC's glitzy scene.

KEVIN BACON, icymi, made a big, footloose entrance on The Tonight Show.

ALYSSA MILANO and her husband David Bugliari are expecting their second child later this year.

KIM KARDASHIAN & KANYE WEST hit the cover of Vogue.

KHLOE KARDAHIAN & LAMAR ODOM may be getting divorced, but they're reportedly chatty.

AMANDA BYNES looks normal, which is news.

LADY GAGA has defended her recent SXSW festival performance, which involved vomiting performance artist Millie Brown.

JOHNNY WEIR allegedly bit a chunk out of his husband's arm during a domestic dispute.

OLIVER STONE says Jewish control of the media is preventing an open discussion of the Holocaust.

JAMES REBHORN, one of those classic "That Guy" character actors, has passed away at 65, reportedly from melanoma.

MALAYSIA: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said authorities had a number of credible leads on the missing Flight 370.

UKRAINE: One of the founders of independent Ukraine’s military expects a Russian invasion. A top air force commander was being held after his base in Crimea was stormed by pro-Russian forces, Ukraine's acting president said as he called for his release.

VENEZUELA: Three Venezuelans have died from gunshot wounds during protests against socialist President Nicolás Maduro, pushing the death toll to 34 from almost two months of demonstrations that have been answered with deadly force from both security forces and armed pro-government gangs.

SYRIA: The Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front's Ahrar al Sham battled regime forces for control of the Kasab crossing along the Turkish border. The leaders of the western and central rebel fronts announced a battle to liberate the coast in Latakia.

EGYPT: Security forces thwarted an attempt to detonate an explosive device on the road leading to the el Arish airport. Some security sources said the intended target of the bomb was Sedki Sobhi, a top Egyptian general.

A GIRAFFE kisses a terminally ill zoo worker goodbye.

ELEPHANTS ON THE LAM after escaping from a circus near St Louis.

GIANT BURMESE PYTHONS have map and compass senses which help them travel "home" over vast distances, scientists have been surprised to discover.

A MACAQUE MONKEY, massaging a cat... mass hysteria!

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with LOU REED! I surveyed this legend's entire carrer when he ppassed away last year, but this documentary (after recapping his Velvet Underground days) focuses on what is (or was given the growing influence of the VU), his best-known LP, Transformer, which boasted tracks like "Walk On The Wild Side," "Vicious," "Satellite of Love," and "Perfect Day." So join Lou, David Bowie and many more in examining Reed's seminal artistic statement. A quote from Lou: "Just because I wrote it doesn't mean I know what it's about."

THE DANDY WARHOLS are advance streaming 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia, Live at the Wonder.

JOHNNY CASH's posthumous Out Among the Stars is advance streaming at Amazon.

WYE OAK played a six-song set for KUTX at SXSW. 

EAGULLS played a full set at NPR's SXSW showcase.

THE JAGS: "Back of My Hand," from TOTP and the "Where Are They Now?" file.

DEAN WAREHAM talks to The Vinyl District about the new album, the odds against a Galaxie 500 reunion, his thoughts on releasing his new album on 8-track, and speed-metal superstar Glen Campbell.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT talks to Drowned In Sound about growing up in a musical family, "Hallelujah," and more...

VERUCA SALT have reunited their original lineup for two new studio tracks, available on April 19th for this year's Record Store Day event.

THE GREATEST FICTIONAL BANDS, according to NME,

CUTOUT BIN: From America to the Replacements, from Devo to Van Morrisson, from the Rolling Stones to Tegan & Sara, plus Richard Thompson, Soul Asylum, The Clash, The Wonders and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Divergent, which is currently scoring 36 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Muppets Most Wanted, currently scoring 81 percent.  God's Not Dead opens near-wide without being screened for critics.

CHRISTIAN BALE is David Fincher's choice to play Steve Jobs in the untitled movie that Aaron Sorkin has written for Sony...but will he take the role?

PAUL WALKER's mother has filed a petition asking to be named legal guardian of the star's 15-year-old daughter.

CHRIS BROWN is hoping to buy his way out of jail...and he just may succeed.

LINDSAY LOHAN fired her sober coach.

CHRIS HEMSWORTH & ELSA PATASKY welcome twins.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE dances, vaccuums, and lip-syncs Santana in a deleted scene from "American Hustle."

PATTON OSWALD enlists in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

MALAYSIA: The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 resumed Friday in the southern Indian Ocean with long-range reconnaissance aircraft looking for possible debris from the jetliner in one of the most remote locations on Earth.

VENEZUELA: President Nicolas Maduro has used the military, legislative and judicial power consolidated during 15 years of socialist rule in a sudden series of blows against opponents who have spent more than a month protesting in the streets, knocking down their barricades and throwing dissident leaders in jail.

UKRAINE: Responding to Russia’s latest moves to formalize its annexation of Crimea, President Obama on Thursday announced new sanctions against Moscow and authorized possible future penalties against “key sectors of the Russian economy.”

TURKEY: The Turkish Prime Minister blocks Twitter and threatens to do the same for Facebook and YouTube. Social media has been a key tool for protestors in Turkey.

AFGHANISTAN: Weeks before an election, four men with pistols opened fire inside the luxurious Serena Hotel complex in central Kabul, wounding two people before being gunned down and sowing panic in an exclusive enclave frequented by foreign officials, prominent Afghans and an array of development workers, officials and witnesses said.

BASSET HOUNDS make like a clown car.

A RARE FEMALE CROCODILE died while mating at a dutch Zoo.

DOGS prefer quality food over quantity -- a behavior otherwise known only in humans and monkeys.

A STRAY DOG was rescued from a gang of thugs in Central Park...by Liam Neeson. He has a very particular set of skills.