Blog Posts by Simon Vozick-Levinson

WHO: A trained chef-turned-rapper from Flushing, Queens, Action Bronson has built up a loyal following in the year and a half since he decided to leave the kitchen for a recording studio. His full-length debut, Dr. Lecter (out now on iTunes and his website, actionbronson.com), is a peppery stew of food jokes, weed talk and pro wrestling shout-outs drizzled liberally over his producer pal Tommy Mas' deft boom-bap loops. (Listen to "Barry Horowitz" below.) For a certain sector of early Nineties nostalgists, it's the ultimate in comfort food with a contemporary twist.

CULINARY ARTS: "My profession is a chef," says the portly 27-year-old. "I just happen to rap." He studied at the Art Institute of New York City's culinary program before working at innumerable steakhouses, a vegetarian restaurant in downtown Manhattan - and Citi Field, where he helped prepare post-game meals for the Mets. (He loved it, even though he's a Yankees fan.) Those experiences lend a unique flavor to his rhymes,

The cancellation of the inaugural Music to Know festival - originally scheduled for this weekend in East Hampton, New York - has left Vampire Weekend fans without any opportunities to see the band perform in the U.S. this year. "Despite our unique vision and arranging a world-class line-up, ticket sales were not adequate to allow the event to continue," said a message posted on the festival's website on August 6th. "We wanted to let everyone know now before engaging more deeply."

Vampire Weekend were set to headline the first night of the new festival. Other noteworthy acts on the bill included second-night headliners Bright Eyes, Aussie psych explorers Tame Impala, British pop warbler Ellie Goulding, California roots-rockers Dawes, new-wave vets Tom Tom Club, Canadian party-starters Chromeo and more.

UPDATE: "We are disappointed the festival was cancelled with such short notice," Vampire Weekend's management said in an August 9th statement. "We were assured when we booked the show

When Björk came home to Iceland after her 2007-2008 world tour, she found herself at a career crossroads. For the first time in years, she had no immediate obligations to any record label. "That was really exciting," she tells Rolling Stone. "It's sort of where Radiohead were a few years ago [before they self-released In Rainbows]. I could do whatever I wanted."

Three years later, the singer is gearing up to unveil Biophilia - an ambitious cross-platform project including her seventh studio album (due this fall), high-tech live performances, a revamped website, a documentary and a line of interactive iPad apps (one for each new song) that she will roll out later this year. She sees Biophilia as an experiment that just might change the way music is consumed. "I think I'm probably semi-autistic or something - I'm just obsessed with riddles," Björk says. "It felt like the music industry was off the grid, and I wanted to solve the riddle."

David Fricke Reviews Björk's 'Vespertine'

She

The Foo Fighters have been known to sneak jokes into their backstage riders on past tours, but they've topped themselves this year. The hilarious 52-page list of demands for venues on the Foos' 2011 world tour - complete with coloring book pages, word searches and more - went viral this week after the Smoking Gun posted it online.

"Our tour manager, Gus Brandt, has always been the one to write the rider," frontman Dave Grohl tells Rolling Stone. "That's his personality and sense of humor - he's a wicked smartass. And after the last rider gained so much positive attention, we were all very proud that someone got it."

Video: Foo Fighters Hang With Rolling Stone Backstage at SXSW 2011

Earlier this year, Grohl asked Brandt what he had in mind for their latest road trip. "The first idea was to make the rider look exactly like a laminated Waffle House menu, with, like, suggested servings and s**t like that," the singer says with a laugh. "But evidently that was just a little too tricky, so

Rufus Wainwright hit a New York studio with producer Mark Ronson this week to start recording a new album - and it's shaping up to be the poppiest music he's made in years. "We've been in for three days, and I already look 20 years younger," Wainwright told Rolling Stone. "I have to start looking around for motorcycle outfits or something, I feel so damn cool!"

After spending the last few years working on an opera, Prima Donna, and last year's dark piano cycle All Days Are Nights, Wainwright is looking for a new sound. "The main objective - not for the entire [album], necessarily, but for portions of it - is to be danceable," he said. "I just want to make something that you love, driving around in your car listening or losing your mind to on a dance floor. Something to serenade us through these very, very troubling times."

Choose Rolling Stone's Cover: The Sheepdogs vs. Lelia Broussard. Vote Now!

Ronson, who has worked with pop acts including Amy Winehouse, Adele and Lily Allen, was an

On May 31st, My Morning Jacket will celebrate the arrival of their new album, Circuital, by live-streaming on YouTube a special hometown gig at Louisville's Palace Theater, directed by Velvet Goldmine's Todd Haynes. 

MMJ was approached recently by American Express' Unstaged, a series of webcasts pairing musicians with filmmakers. They chose to work with Haynes (who also directed the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce), whom they got to know after frontman Jim James covered "Going to Acapulco" for Haynes' Bob Dylan tribute I'm Not There in 2007.

Photos from Levon Helm's 2010 Midnight Ramble With My Morning Jacket

"We're working on a narrative that's going to tie the whole thing together, so that it's not just a concert video," says drummer Patrick Hallahan. In addition to scripting interstitial scenes, Haynes is also helping the band brainstorm possible costumes and "a bunch of different visual surprises" for the webcast. "We really love Todd's visuals. He has a wonderful eye."

The set will

TV on the Radio bassist Gerard Smith has been diagnosed with lung cancer, the band announced today. Smith will be sitting out TV on the Radio's tour this spring while he undergoes treatment.

"Gerard is fortunate enough to have health insurance and is receiving excellent medical care," the band wrote in an online statement. "Already we have seen dramatic results. Combine that with Gerard's legendarily willful disposition and it might just be cancer that has the problem."

According to the statement, Smith was diagnosed shortly after the band finished recording their upcoming album Nine Types of Light (due April 12th). He has been a member of the band since 2005, contributing key parts to their acclaimed albums Return to Cookie Mountain and Dear Science.

Photograph by Josh Rothstein for RollingStone.com

There aren't many bands more associated with Brooklyn than TV on the Radio. But when it was time to start working on their fifth LP, Nine Types of Light (due April 12th), the art-rockers convened in the sunny Los Angeles house that producer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Sitek began renting after 2008's Dear Science. "When we recorded all the previous records, we were in a room with no windows for months at a time," says Sitek. "Having a barbecue running the whole time was certainly a different vibe."

Rolling Stone reviews "Will Do" by TV on the Radio

Between waging epic ping-pong battles and feasting on home-grilled meats - "We probably ate our weight in lamb in the process of recording," chuckles singer-guitarist Kyp Malone - the band took turns laying down instrumental parts in Sitek's living room, kitchen and patio. "I've become less concerned with what [an album] sounds like in an ­anechoic chamber or in a mastering suite," Sitek says. "Make music in real life, for real life.