Bits of Things: Insults and Thin Rays of Hope for Music

Stuff has been happening. Here's some of it.

- The war against Nickelback continues. After Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney dissed the ever atrocious Nickelback in Rolling Stone, saying ""Rock & roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world," Nickelback tweeted thanks for the "biggest band" compliment. You're welcome?

- Good news for people who've had mostly bad news. For the first time in seven years, music retailers saw a bump in music sales. It may be a meager 3%, but hey, we'll take it. This also means that the new Nielsen Soundscan report is out, which is just about as exciting as the annual State of the Media Report. I believe a "woot" is in order.

- And speaking of selling music, The Beatles's Abbey Road sold 41,000 copies– vinyl copies, that is– in 2011. That makes it the top selling vinyl record of the year, as it should be. Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Mumford & Sons, and Radiohead rounded out the top five.

- Brendan Benson of the Raconteurs is set to release his fifth studio album, What Kind of World, in April. What's more, he'll release it on his own label, Readymade, which is also brand-spanking new. 

- Another release to look forward to is Of Montreal's forthcoming album Paralytic Stalks, out Feb. 7. Until then, Pitchfork is streaming a song from the album titled "Dour Percentage." Have at it. 

Tighten Up : Black Keys

Some random whistling today reminded me of "Tighten Up" by the Black Keys, a break out tune of sorts that was out in 2010. Happily, I found the music video on Youtube and it's pretty great. I don't know what's better, the little boy lip syncing, the other little boy flipping him the bird, or how unconcerned the dads (the Black Keys) are that their kids are pummeling each other. And then it gets better.

Please note what's happening in the frame above. Patrick Carney (the guy with the glasses) pulls a doughnut out of his pocket and hands it to Dan Auerbach (the one without). Yes.