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The new album Micah P Hinson And The Red Empire Orchestra, by gravelly Texas songwriter Micah P. Hinson and his Red Empire Orchestra, is out 6/14 on Full Time Hobby. The first single, “When We Embraced,” showed up 6/2, but another track — in our opinion, the album’s standout — showed up for the first time in today’s Drop. We asked Hinson what inspired the song and, more specifically, “Who are the ghosts chattering down the hallway?” Hinson responded indirectly, but his honesty offers straightforward insight into the track. You can read his response and listen here. Also, if you’re curious about the single “When We Embraced,” it’s at his freshly minted MySpace.

On top of the gift of a free Hinson track, this week’s Drop offers a chance to win a jam-packed 1993-2003 Radiohead flash drive, the 7-CD Radiohead box set, and Radiohead: The Best Of in multiple formats.

Ateaseweb.com’s been closely following all that’s going with Radiohead, because that is what they do. A few weeks ago the site reported the band’s been tinkering with a new tune during soundcheck, and yes now a new song’s in the setlist. It’s called “Super Collider.” Dublin got the first performance of it on Friday night: Thom solo, soulful vocal overtop a central, major-key piano figure (a quick flip to a descending minor thing and a bridge, too). Also, as for the Single Song Eliciting Multiple Instances Of Goosebumps award I just made up, this year’s big winner is Portishead’s “The Rip,” which did it upon premature evaluation and again in the desert and again in pencil-drawn form. Just the prospect of Thom and Jonny covering it backstage in St. Louis was enough for a fourth, Thom’s vocal swell where the band would enter a fifth, and so on. Two Heads are better than one. (Ugh shoot me I just did that.) So, there’s that little video waiting for you, too.

Prince covered “Creep” at Coachella. Most folks know this. That said, it’s been difficult finding reliable footage of the Purple One’s take on the top of the Modern Rock 500, because Prince’s NPG people are extremely thorough about removing the clips, including the one’s we’ve tried linking. See, click on this for a real-life example. If Prince writes a song, and holds the copyright, he reserves the right to be as intense as we wants … even if it’s annoyingly draconian. Thing is, he didn’t write “Creep.” Radiohead did. Thom Yorke & Co. know this.

We all like to listen to Daydream Nation while sipping skinny mochas at the local Starbucks. Of course we do. Making that guilty pleasure a little bit easier, 14 celebrities of various stripes each chose a SY track for a Starbucks-approved compilation, Hits Are For Squares. (Some would argue Starbucks-sponsored compilations are for squares, too, but whatevs.) The curators include Radiohead, Beck, one of America’s Funniest People David Cross, the unlikely duo of Dave Eggers and Mike Watt, Who fans the Flaming Lips and Eddie Vedder … and, uh, Chloë Sevigny, Flea, and others. In addition there’s an exclusive track, “Slow Revolution.” We have the Venti-sized tracklist.

Swedish post-punks Love Is All affix their implacable stamp onto the Purple One’s “Darling Nikki” here, shifting the P.O.V. to female, ramshackling and distorting the structure. The result? It sounds a lot like Love Is All doing “Darling Nikki,” though with a bit of Tony Basil in Josephine’s spastic shouts. You can listen at MySacee (via GvB). Fun, but not as great as P’s “Creep.”) It’s one-fifth of their new five-song covers EP, for which they’ve unveiled some details:

Today your regular bloggers have been replaced by Ben, Chris, Nick, and Jason of Death Cab For Cutie. The band’s new album Narrow Stairs is out now. DCFC are not professional bloggers, so please send them tips.

By Chris Walla
It feels, of late, like more has been written about “The Radiohead Model” than about the music Radiohead actually makes. It’s a fascinating game those guys play, all the ways they tell their story; the little corners they choose to lift to show off their flashy lights and old effects boxes. And, of course, their genuinely well-intentioned and sometimes peerless music.

As we mentioned, Jay-Z’s playing overseas festivals this summer … like, for another instance, headlining Glastonbury. Noel Gallagher, for one, doesn’t think a hip-hop artist should be playing the top Saturday night slot because it screws with the history and roots of the UK festival. Plus, “It’s wrong.” Jay-Z responded in an interview with Bizarre. Via The Sun:

“We don’t play guitars, Noel, but hip-hop has put in its work like any other form of music.”

Jay — who had a 2003 hit with “99 Problems” — sees his slot at the famous festival as rap’s next logical step.

The operative phrase here is “a hit,” not “his only hit.” That’s the thing Noel, Jay-Z ’s continued to be relevant, while you should be happy to get any festival spots, continuing to do no more than standing on the shoulders of your past accomplishment. Jay continued.

Hate ‘em or hate ‘em, you guys love talking about Coldplay. EMI’s bragging that 2 mililion people downloaded the first free single “Violet Hill,” so feel good, you’re not the only ones hate-listening. And Chris Martin knows this: On the new cut “Viva La Vida,” he croons “revolutionaries wait for my head on a silver plate.” So, one point for self-awareness, and another for turning out a fresh sounding (if U2-y in spirit) track. A Coldplay song with a string section and church bells that manages not to sound pretentious? No small feat, you guys. We credit fatherhood. Or Eno. Either way, the half-the-title track to the forthcoming Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends will probably inspire fewer bilious comments than last time — and definitely fewer comparisons to Radiohead.

As mentioned previously, My Bloody Valentine are returning to the US of A for their first show in 16 years when they touch down in Monticello, New York to curate a jam-packed edition of All Tomorrow’s Parties with Polvo, Built To Spill, Shellac, Tortoise, and other bands we listened to a lot before we had facial hair (as well as some relative newbies like Drones, Fuck Buttons, Wooden Shjips, etc.). Well, for those of you who can’t make it to NY State, those seminal shoegazers might be coming a tad closer to your hometown than you originally thought. Some dates were already announced, like Roskilde and some UK stuffs, but there are definitely surprises.