THE HOLD STEADY drops a video for “I Hope This Whole Thing Doesn’t Frighten You.”

DUM DUM GIRLS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

TINARIWEN stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

BOY & BEAR perform unplugged for WFUV Live. 

MILAGRES stops by KEXP to play material largely inspired by singer Kyle Wilson childhood trips to the desert and his grandfather's involvement in the Manhattan Project.

SHARON VAN ETTEN drops “Every Time The Sun Comes Up" ahead of Are We There.

EFFED UP drops "Led By Hand" (ft j Mascis) ahead of Glass Boys.

R.E.M.'s live take on "Supernatural Superserious" from their appearance on Austin City Limits back in 2008.

JASON ISBELL is essayed at PopMatters.

BRITPOP: A Cultural Abomination?

LOVE, PEACE & SOUL: The Cutural Legacy of Soul Train.

JENS LEKMAN's TOP TEN, according to Stereogum.

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII announces its cast.Even casual fans may catch the major problem with this story.

DONALD STERLING, owner of the L.A. Clippers, received a lifetime ban from the NBA for racist comments, whose commissioner said he would do everything in his power to force the sale of the team. If other owners vote him out, Sterling will likely sue.

PRINCE HARRY and his girlfriend Cressida Bonas have broken up.

OLIVIA MUNN & JOEL KINNAMAN are also dunzo.

KIM KARDASHIAN & KANE WEST: Secretly marrying this week?

DAVID ARQUETTE is a dad again.

UKRAINE: Pro-Russia militants seized more state offices in Ukraine’s troubled east on Tuesday, in apparent defiance of the latest Western sanctions announced against them and their presumed backers in the Kremlin, which also showed no sign of wilting in its worst confrontation with the West in decades.

VENEZUELA: A former chief of Venezuela's intelligence service, Eliecer Otaiza, was killed on Saturday, officials have revealed.

NIGERIA: Schoolgirls abducted by suspected militant Islamists in northern Nigeria are believed to have been taken to neighboring states, a local leader has told the BBC. Relatives say they have been told of mass weddings involving insurgents and some of the girls abducted two weeks ago.

LIBYA: Gunmen with heavy weapons from Benghazi attacked Congress, sending lawmakers fleeing out a back door; several people were injured during the attack, which resulted in a postponement of the voting for a new prime minister.

EGYPT: A court in the southern city of Minya sentenced 683 people to death Monday in the most recent of a series of mass trials that have alarmed the international community.

A SEAL gets a belly rub.

A PRAYING MANTIS IN 3-D GLASSES may advance the science of robotics.

A DONKEY BEEKEEPER in a custom suit. No relationship to the canine beekeeper featured yesterday.

37000 CHICKENS killed in a fire. Too soon for the "extra crispy" punchline?