Rize of the Fenix is the third upcoming album by American comedy rock band Tenacious D.

The hard rocking comedy duo, are set to release their first album in over 5 years since the release of the movie soundtrack for their Hollywood film, “The Pick of Destiny”.

The new album “Rize of the Fenix” will be the bands 3rd studio album and will see Dave Grohl reunite with the band on numerous tracks on drums. Grohl has a long standing relationship with the band, playing drums for the band on previous album releases and, both Gass and Black, have appeared in music videos for Grohl’s band, Foo Fighters.

Though not much is yet known about the musical direction of the “Rize of the Fenix” album, I can take a stab in the dark that satire and comedy will continue to be a major aspect of Tenacious D's lyrical content.

It has also been confirmed that band will follow the album's release with live performances at Rock am Ring and Download Festival in June 2012. Download, which will be headlined by The Prodigy, Metallica and a reunited Black Sabbath, takes place over the weekend of June 8-10 at Donington Park while Rock AM Ring will see Tenacious D line up with Metallica, Motorhead and Marilyn Manson.

The comedy pair have also just announced their first American show of the year, at Sasquatch Festival in Washington over the weekend of May 25-28, alongside the likes of Jack White, Bon Iver and Beck.

Fans can visit the bands website at: www.tenaciousd.com to hear a snippet from the new album.

It’s that time of year again. With nominations for this year’s NME awards, released last night (January 30) exclusively on BBC Radio 1 during Zane Lowe’s show. The nominations saw Arctic Monkeys, Noel Gallagher, Lana Del Rey, The Vaccines and Odd Future among the acts nominated for gongs.

Arctic Monkeys – who've scored seven nominations in total – will go head-to-head with Kasabian, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Horrors and Muse for the Best British Band award. Somewhat ironically, Muse have also been nominated for three gongs in total including this year’s Worst Band award.

Ex-Oasis star Noel Gallagher is up for four awards in total, including the coveted Best Album for 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' and Best Solo Artist. He’s also going to be awarded the Godlike Genius Award on the night.

An Instrumania favourite, Foo Fighters, are up for the Best International Band award with lead singer and ex-nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl up for the Hero of the Year award.

The NME Awards has taken different forms over the past 60 years . Back in the 50s and 60s it was the Pollwinners' Concert, and from 1971 to 1993 it was a simple readers poll rather than the live ceremony that you see today. The 2012 NME awards will be the 15th year since the ceremony’s rebirth in 1993 after a 22 year gap of recognising and rewarding the very best in music.

For more information about the nominees and the ceremony or to get tickets, visit the official awards page at: http://www.nme.com/awards

With new categories and awards, the show is set to be a good night of music. The winners will be announced at the ceremony at O2 Academy Brixton on February 29.  Vote for your favourite artist at: http://www.nme.com/awardsvote

The Ting Tings spoke about the recording of their troubled new album 'Sounds From Nowheresville' revealing that they have to avoid "cheap, nasty hits". But the duo turned sour when asked about whether any of the songs on their new album would become big hit singles, the band replying: "We would rather write songs that nobody's going to hear than write dance tracks that would fit on the radio after David Guetta", with Katie White, the Ting Tings lead singer adding: "I'd rather puke on my own feet than that".

The English musical duo told the Guardian in a recent interview that they do not expect the new 10 track album to be anywhere near as successful as 'We Started Nothing', their debut album as they'd rather sell fewer records than have their music fit alongside the likes of David Guetta. (A little harsh maybe)
Jules De Martino also added: "It would have been so easy to quickly bash out any old shit off the back of the first album. Get it on the radio, have a cheap nasty hit. And we didn't want to do that."

The band is set to release 'Sounds From Nowheresville' on February 27, but their second album has already been leaked online over a month ahead of its official release.

According to fans on Twitter, the follow up to 2008's 'We Started Nothing' is already available to listen to online. The band were informed of the album leak last week, when hundreds of twitter fans sent messages to them to say how much they loved the new album.

The band have since pleaded to their label, Columbia Records tweeting "come on Columbia, let it go!!!". Ironic for a band that “would rather write songs that nobody's going to hear than write tracks that would fit on the radio” to want to release an album early to avoid fans listening to their music without paying. Just saying...

The new album is set to be released on Feburary 27th. Track listing for the Standard version is below.

Tracklisting

It’s been months since reunited collective, Soundgarden, announced that they were recording a "diverse" new album, their first studio album since 1996's Down On The Upside, (which was one of the first albums I ever bought but that’s another story). But we can now reveal that the band have gone one step further as they have been signed up to appear at this year’s Download Festival 2012 in June.

Soundgarden were signed this week to appear at the 10th year of the infamous Download Festival alongside Scottish band Biffy Clyro, comedy rockers Tenacious D and Chase and Status who were all added to the 2012 line-up, according to NME.

The weekend of June 8-10 at Donington Park will see the bill, which is set to be headlined by The Prodigy, Metallica and a reunited Black Sabbath, play to thousands of fans.

The Prodigy will headline the festival's first night (June 8). Metallica have confirmed that they will be headlining the festival's Saturday night (June 9), playing a set that will feature the entirety of their classic 1991 self-titled fifth album, known to fan’s as 'The Black Album', while Black Sabbath are currently set to close the event on Sunday (June 10).

Last year’s Download Festival was headlined by System Of A Down, Def Leppard and Linkin Park and even featured sets from the excellent Bullet For My Valentine, Rob Zombie and Pendulum.

Though the gig saw the return comeback show from The Darkness, their first major festival since Justin Hawkins' departure in 2006, the show was stolen by Steward 836. Steward 836 while awaiting the next live band to enter the stage, caught the attention of the crowd after one of the giant stage-screens showed him making the devil horns gesture. The official Download Festival website even featured him as an artist on their site.

You can find out more about the Download Festival 2012 and it’s lineup at the official Download Festival Website at: http://www.downloadfestival.co.uk

Radiohead, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg are to headline this year's Coachella festival in California.

Snoop Dogg is still set to headline this year's Coachella festival despite TMZ reporting that the Sweat rapper was arrested on Saturday (7th January) at the Sierra Blanca highway checkpoint after border patrol found a red prescription bottle containing under a half-ounce of weed on his tour bus.

Other acts on the line-up include Pulp, Florence + the Machine and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, as well as Swedish House Mafia, Arctic Monkeys, Bon Iver and La Roux, while Swedish punks Refused will play their first major gig in 14 years.

The first Coachella festival took place back in 1999 and featured top artists such as Beck, the Chemical Brothers and Morrissey, with over 25,000 fans visiting the two-day event. The event takes place in the desert near Palm Springs, and for the first time will be held over two weekends in April, featuring identical line-ups.

Tickets are set to go on sale to the public in a few days. You can find out more information via the tickets page at: http://www.coachella.com/festival-passes/how-to-purchase

The full line-up for Coachella festival 2012 is as follows:

Day 1 - Friday 13 and 20 April

The Black Keys, Swedish House Mafia, Pulp, Refused, Arctic Monkeys, Mazzy Star, Afrojack, Explosions in the Sky, M83, Amon Tobin, Cat Power, Madness, Jimmy Cliff and Tim Armstrong, GIRLS, the Rapture, Madeon, M Ward, the Horrors, Frank Ocean, James Alesso, Sebastien, Yuck, Neon Indian, Dawes, Black Angels, Deathgrips, Wu Lyf, Breakbot, Atari Teenage Riot, Feed Me, Givers, Other Lives, Band of Skulls, R3hab, Wolfgang, Midnight Beast, EMA, Ximena Sarinana, Kendrick Lamar, The Dear Hunter, Honeyhoney, Hello Seahorse!, Sheepdogs, LA Riots

Day 2 - Saturday 14 and 21 April

Radiohead, Bon Iver, the Shins, David Guetta, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Kaskade, Miike Snow, Jeff Mangum, Sebastian Ingrosso, Andrew Bird, Feist, Firehose, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, St Vincent, Martin Solveig, Subfocus, SBTRKT, Flying Lotus, Manchester Orchestra, Kasabian, AWOL Nation, Azealia Banks, Squeeze, A$AP Rocky, Buzzcocks, Kaiser Chiefs, Destroyer, the Head and the Heart, Laura Marling, Tuneyards, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Black Lips, the Big Pink, Childish Gambino, the Vaccines, Zed's Dead, Grouplove, Jacques Lu Cont, We Were Promised, Jetpacks, Gary Clark Junior, Borgore, Dragonette, We Are Augustines, Mt Eden, Destructo, Suedehead, Keep Shelley in Athens, Pure Filth Sound

Day 3 - Sunday 15 and 22 April

Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, At the Drive-In, Justice, Florence and the Machine, AVICII, La Roux, Beirut, the Weeknd, Girl Talk, The Hives, DJ Shadow, Calvin Harris, Nero, Wild Flag, Modeselektor, Dada Life, Porter Robinson, Santigold, Flux Pavilion, Dr P, Gotye, Seun Keti, Egypt 80, Beats Antique, Fitz and the Tantrums, Araabmuzik, Company Flow, Real Estate, Zed, Le Bucherettes, Greg Ginn, the Growlers, Noisia, Morgan Page, Gaslamp Killer, First Aid Kit, Oberhofer, Lissie, Thundercat, Metronomy, Wild Beasts, Housse de Racket, Fanfarlo, Spector, Gardens and Villa, Airplane Boys, Sleeper Agent