Flavor Flav performs at SXSW on Friday
Photo: John Shearer/ Wire Image

AUSTIN, Texas — Every March, the music industry throws on a pair of shorts, slathers on the SPF 45 and heads on down to Austin for South by Southwest, a weeklong celebration of bands, BBQ and (sometimes free!) beer. It's a brutal bacchanal and music marathon powered by thousands of acts playing in hundreds of venues — at all hours — plus an unreal number of open bar tabs and fancy private parties.

Sleep is not exactly a top priority, so MTV News has dispatched three of its most tireless reporters into the fray. They'll be filing reports a few times each day (scroll down for the evening report), which will chiefly serve as a way of keeping you up to speed about what's going on deep in the heart of Texas, but also double as a convenient way — for us, anyway — of making sure everyone's still alive.

The Day

James Montgomery, MTV News writer: Another afternoon, another 36 Kool-Aid-colored wristbands to weigh down my wrists. At every day party I attend, my wrist gets slapped with a brightly colored piece of plastic (or, as is the case at the Levi's/Fader fort, two pieces), which — in theory — are supposed to keep the unwashed masses from gate-crashing and allow me preferred access to VIP areas and/or free booze. But the only thing they're really good for is snagging on clothing and making me look like this guy.

I know, I know ... cry me a river. But after only three days at SXSW, I'm totally starting to feel the inner Andy Rooney in me come to life (and he loves Robyn Hitchcock). Maybe it's the fact that every dude here is wearing a tank top, or the fact that every girl looks she's Karen O's stunt double. Who knows? ...

OK ... deep breath. Spent the afternoon at the SPIN party, where there was free popcorn, free ice cream, free cigarettes and, of course, more free wristbands! There was also a middling set from New Orleans funk act Galactic featuring cameos by a who's who of rappers that no one cares about (Lyrics Born, the Coup's Boots Reilly), a Kirsten Dunst sighting and a truly awesome early evening performance from the Kings of Leon, who rock nearly as hard as their pants are tight (and that's very).

Off now to get some dinner ... then hopefully catch a sweaty, late-night set from Girl Talk. Oh, also, my buddy in Beirut just invited me on a four-hour "BBQ excursion" set for Saturday afternoon. Wristbands or no, things are lookin' up, indeed!

John Norris, MTV News correspondent: By and large, the consensus in the local media and among people I have talked to seems to be that while the significance of SXSW has changed — I mean, we all know where music is "broken" in 2007, and it ain't at one gig at one festival — the festival still plays a vital role. As a one-stop shop for those who don't have bands rolling through their town every week, and for artists to get their music seen and heard by those in and out of the mainstream biz.

Among the bands, at varying levels of notoriety, that have introduced themselves to me on the streets of Austin and gotten their music into my hands in the past couple of days: Aloke, the GoStation, Locksley, New Year's Day, the Animators, the Stock Market Crash and some pretty cool garage girls from Atlanta who go by the lovely name the Coathangers (who count in their arsenal a fairly demure jam called "Nestle in My Boobies").

Finally, I have been avoiding going on a vegan rant for the last few days and just sucked it up and dealt with foraging around town to find non-animal-product dining. When in Rome ... yeah, yeah. Well, I'm sure as hell not gonna start eating flesh slathered in barbecue sauce, that's for sure. I'm often in situations like this — it means repeated trips to Asian places, which at least know what tofu is — so I've been twice to P.F. Chang's and once to Veggie Heaven. But then you slip and eat cheese sometimes. At last year's SXSW, even Chrissie Hynde — as much an icon of animal rights as a goddess of rock — told me she occasionally will eat cheese and she's been vegan for more than 30 years. Really, I love longhorns. To look at. Or pet. Not to eat, sit on or wear. End of screed.

Gil Kaufman, MTV News writer: I'm going to announce a moratorium on the bad-name thing, though Chicago's Flosstradamus get an honorable mention. Let me just say this now: If Australia's Youth Group don't become the next U2, something is seriously amiss. These guys have the kind of swaying, epic songs — like "Shadowland" — that fill up a dingy daytime bar show and make it feel like a stadium.

The pressure to melt down in public for new hot messes like Amy Winehouse must be intense, but it doesn't seem to be slowing down the hottest mess on everyone's tongue this week, Atlanta's notorious Black Lips. More than six years into their career, the band still knows how to shock, or revolt, as when guitarist Cole Alexander lost his lunch mid-solo just two songs into the band's set. Pro that he is, he never missed a lick, though the crowd did take a step back.

Note to the dude walking down the street with earplugs in: Bro, yeah, it's loud in the venues sometimes, but you can take them out on the way to lunch.

One of the reasons rock stars love South By (that's what the cool kids call it, for real) is they can just blend in, because every hipster doofus worth his salt has rats-nest hair, too-tight jeans and an expensive-looking ripped shirt. So, if you walk down the street and see Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore hanging on the corner, or Joan Jett waiting for a cab outside your hotel, yeah, it's them.

Speaking of which, I was on the phone in the elevator and I see a guy walk in with a huge clock around his neck and a bunch of dookie chains and my first thought is, "What kind of a bozo thinks he can cop that look from Flavor Flav in 2007?" Oh, my bad, it was Flavor Flav! We chatted, I wished him luck on his show Friday night (March 16) and when the doors opened, he gave me a knuckle pound and zoomed out into the lobby on his wheelies.

Here's what I missed today but heard about from people who were better line-jumpers than me: Pete Townshend jamming on "The Seeker" with the Fratellis, and Vietnam — or "those dudes with the giant beards," as one patron described them.

The Evening

James Montgomery: If you like slightly tubby guys with super scraggly beards, rare, out-of-print Boredoms 7-inches and uttering the phrase "They're still playing the same song?!" then the Ecstatic Peace Records and Tapes showcase was the place to be Friday night. Owned and operated by Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore, Ecstatic Peace releases records (actual records; like, on vinyl and everything) by a whole lot of erudite, experimental bands that you've never heard of, many of which — including the ethereal Gown, the drone-y Black Helicopter and the unpronounceable Charalambides — were on display tonight.

Of course, doe-eyed dreamboat Michael Pitt's little grunge outfit, Pagoda was there too, but I spotted John digging them pretty hard, so I'll leave it to him to document their set. Needless to say, it didn't take me long to get my fill of avant instrumentalism, and I was quickly out the door. But not before snagging a copy of the free Ecstatic Peace 'zine for my reading leisure. Thanks, Thurston!

Then it was off to Stubb's, where a little of the old "I'm with MTV News ... my camera crew is inside, and I need to get to them now!" routine (note: professional!) got me to the front of the line and into the much-hyped gig by Damon Albarn's new project, the Good, the Bad and the Queen. I'd been hearing a lot about how the whole thing was some sort of semi-conceptual play, a sort of time-skipping portrayal of life in London throughout the 20th Century, and I was anxious to check it out myself.

Sadly, all I got out of the performance a whole lot of former Clash bassist Paul Simonon's booming, bubbly low-end (I mean, seriously, dude was loud) and a few pictures of Albarn in a top hat. Playing on a stage littered with streamers and Union Jacks, in front of an impressionistic portrait of London, the atmosphere was right, but the music — all percolating, dubby basslines and three-quarter-speed guitars — wasn't. Truth be told, the whole thing was a complete snoozer. And if it was come sort of concept, I wasn't getting it. Maybe, on this night, I just wasn't smart enough for any of it. Not sleeping and existing solely on ribs and cigarettes tends to do that to a person.

John Norris: While I didn't stick around at Stubb's long enough to check out the Good, the Bad and the Queen, there was still plenty of the Snide, the grungy and the unexpected to go around.

Began my travels at Buffalo Billiards, where you rack 'em up downstairs and upstairs you hear music — cool music on this night, in the form of Nashville's Clem Snide, the band fronted and really embodied by one of the dryer, wittier guys in indie music, Eef Barzelay. He led his two backing players through a 40-minute set full of Clem Snide's trademark tunes that build and build ... and suddenly end. Eef's sarcasm was in abundance as well, in songs like "Girls Don't Care" and in his between-song patter, like when he told the SXSW crowd "You quench me. Your applause is like calamine lotion on my mosquito-bitten skin." Oh and he even busted out a bit of Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable."

Three encounters making my way down a packed 6th Street: former MTV VJ and walking musical encyclopedia Matt Pinfield, shooting a show for DirectTV; my old pals Taylor and Zack Hanson, being interviewed for another video outlet; and Damaris Drummond, a performance artist who is planning to cover herself with vintage Atari joysticks on Saturday and ask people to choose one to play with. Where in Austin will this happen? "Wherever they will let me," says Damaris. I am not kidding.

Nor am I kidding when I say that Michael Pitt rocks. Pitt may be the easy-on-the-eyes actor who starred in "The Dreamers" and "Last Days," but he has apparently put acting on the backburner indefinitely to concentrate on his neo-grunge band Pagoda, who played outdoors at the Mohawk. With Pitt on guitar and wailing vocals (playing a Cobain-like character has clearly had an impact on him), plus bass, drums and cello (!) the band ripped through one impassioned song after another, and you might have thought it was 1993 all over again. Only one beef though: say something, dude. I get it, you want to downplay the "movie star as frontman" thing; who wouldn't? But apart from "Thanks Thurston" and "This is our last song," Pitt was totally mute ... and he tended to overdo the whole back-to-the-crowd thing. Mike — you can play guitar, you can sing and scream, your band is good. Lighten up.

Plenty light and comfortable is Mancunian troubadour Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy. Although large open-air Stubb's may not have been the best setting for his sound, Gough lit up the night with his peppy alt pop, including the winning title track from his most recent release, Born in the U.K. Plus, he's a dead ringer for my MTV News buddy Aaron Pinkston, who was watching the show with me. There could be a sitcom in here. Couple of bearded, longhaired, beanie-wearing dudes from opposite sides of the Atlantic. It could work ...

Gil Kaufman: If there's anyone who loves the Ramones more than me, it's Japanese punk bands. Which is why the Japan Night showcase is always at the top of my list. This year was no disappointment, with a killer set from Osaka's The50Kaitenz, a power trio who rocked a blistering set of Ramones-inspired rockabilly while wearing matching black suits with Colonel Sanders-style black string ties. They were followed by the equally off-the-charts Pistol Valve, a 10-woman collective with eight horn players, an electric violinist and DJ, all combining forces (like Voltron!) to create a truly unique brand of Afro-Cuban-funk-jazz-hip-hop-a--go-go, all while wearing fedoras and varying stages of lingerie.

After flashing my badge, dropping some names, pretending to call my nonexistent cameraman and using every slimy excuse I could think of to jump in front of the two-block long line, I finally got in to see hot not-mess Brazilian funk carioca trio Bonde do Role. The group — really just two MC's and a DJ — mash up party-ready Bailefunk rhythms with hip-hop and samples that range from classic rock to Brazilian dance and snatches of the "Grease" soundtrack, and they had the packed house bouncing off the walls. They got even the most jaded hipsters to throw down.

Can James snag himself a nap? Are there more Beyoncé covers in John's future? Will Gil's line-cutting come back to haunt him? Check back all weekend for our SXSW coverage!

Earlier this week:

· "Tom Morello's SXSW Gig Turns Into Raucous All-Star Jam With Slash, Perry Farrell"

· "Amy Winehouse Raises Eyebrows, Bloc Party Draw A Mob As SXSW Wakes Up"

· "Pete Wentz Clones Descend, Lily Allen Warbles As SXSW Gets Under Way"

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

[This story was originally published on 3.16.2007 at 8:45 p.m.]

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Rihanna, Ludacris and KT Tunstall have been added to ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007." All three acts will perform at Nokia Theatre Times Square in New York. In the meantime, Lady Sovereign has hopped onto the roster for "MTV Goes Gold: New Year's Eve 2007," for which she'll join other performers Nas, Gwen Stefani, Ciara and more. The show airs live December 31 at 11 p.m. ET, with a tape delay on the West Coast. And last but not least, Ruben Studdard is playing a free New Year's Eve show in Hawaii. The Honolulu Symphony will join the "American Idol" winner for the event, dubbed Gospel Goes Classic. ...

Kelis hosted Trace magazine's 10-year anniversary bash Wednesday night at Room Service nightclub in Manhattan. The R&B vixen was joined by her husband Nas, "Project Runway" winner Jay McCarroll and current Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera as they all toasted to the cultural mag reaching its diamond mark. Kelis, Snoop Dogg, supermodel Iman and Mya are set to appear in Trace's 10-year anniversary issue. ...

Harry Potter has a home in Georgia after all, The Associated Press reports. On Thursday (December 14), the state's Board of Education upheld a Gwinnett County school board decision denying a mother's request to have the volumes removed from library shelves. "It's mainstreaming witchcraft in a subtle and deceptive manner, in a children-friendly format," said Laura Mallory, the mother in question. She might challenge the board's ruling. ... Trick Daddy is hosting Christmas toy drives in Miami on the next two Saturdays in conjunction with his Trick Luvs Da Kids Foundation. Pitbull will also be in attendance. ...

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt aren't done adopting children, the actress told "Good Morning America" on Thursday, according to AP. "Now the questions are more when you have a mixed-race family, do you balance the races so there's another African person in the house for Z? So there's another Asian person in the house for Mad?" Jolie said, referencing Zahara and Maddox, two of the couple's three children. ... Katt Williams pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon and was sentenced to three years of probation on Thursday, AP reports. The Los Angeles judge also told him to pay restitution but gave him credit for the three days he spent in jail early last month. ...

Taking Back Sunday have recorded a version of "12 Days of Christmas" for AOL Sessions. A fan-made animated video is also circulating. ... Editors have released an EP of remixed tracks from The Back Room exclusively on iTunes. The U.K. rockers are currently recording their proper follow-up. ... The ultra-rare copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico that was "won" by a hoax bid last week is about to be up for auction on eBay once again. The LP, which was to be sold for $155,000, was expected to be back on the site Thursday afternoon. ...

After months of legal wrangling, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that "Alpha Dog" — a crime thriller starring Justin Timberlake — can be released in theaters January 12 despite objections from murder suspect Jesse James Hollywood, on whom the movie is based. According to The Hollywood Reporter, an attorney for Hollywood said he will file an appeal on the ruling based on his belief that releasing the film will make it impossible for his client to get a fair trial. The film, which also stars Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone, changes the characters' names, but Hollywood's attorney is concerned that the big-screen retelling of his client's alleged kidnapping and murder of California teen Nicholas Markowitz over a $1,200 drug debt could taint a jury pool. ...

According to a post written on Nine Inch Nails' Web site, not only is Trent Reznor hard at work on a new NIN album, but it's "possible" he's finished already. "We begin mixing in January," Reznor wrote on NIN.com. "Juggling fifteen all-new tracks around. Testing sequences. No leftovers from [2005's] With Teeth. Highly conceptual. Quite noisy. F---ing cool." ... Less than a week after an album's worth of demos she recorded as a gift for her pal Dave Sitek were leaked to the Internet, Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O has weighed in on the situation. Her take: "Sh-- happens." Writing on the YYYs' site, O took the high road — as opposed to Sitek, who practically wished karmic castration on those responsible for the leak of the KO at Home album. She said she felt "a little grossed out" by the idea of her song sketches hitting various file-sharing sites but shrugged the whole thing off and even ended her post with some advice for curious fans. "If you happen to get your mits on one of those old demos ... my personal favorites and the only ones I would have released for anyone to enjoy [are] 'Pumpkin' and 'Snakes and Worms,' " she wrote. "The rest I would have pitched or buried." ...

Slash and Chris Robinson were among the guests who popped up onstage with Jet at a Los Angeles club show over the weekend. Former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones also took part in the show, which ended in an all-star jam of the Faces' "Ooh La La." ... Army of Anyone will headline the 2007 installment of the annual SnoCore Tour, which kicks off in Houston on January 18. Hurt have been tapped to open. Dates are currently scheduled through February 8 in Hartford, Connecticut, with a full run of shows to be announced in the coming weeks. ... Hinder have rolled out a whole host of tour dates for the coming year. Two dozen stops have been scheduled from January 13 in Ketchum, Idaho, through February 23 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Black Stone Cherry and Finger Eleven will open on most of the dates. ...

Yoko Ono alleges that her chauffeur threatened to release private audiotapes and photographs and to kill her and her son, Sean Lennon, if she didn't give him $2 million, The New York Times reports. Koral Karsan, 50, who worked for Ono for 10 years, was arrested at his home in Amityville, New York, on Wednesday and was charged with attempted grand larceny, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. Following his arrest, Karsan claimed that Ono had fabricated the charges to stop a sexual harassment suit. Police said the charges followed a confrontation with Ono in her apartment on Friday, in which Karsan presented Ono with a list of his complaints along with a photo of her in her pajamas and a tape that contained her "personal opinions on people and events." During a meeting on Tuesday, Karsan met with Ono's lawyer and allegedly demanded $2 million and threatened to kill Ono, Sean Lennon and himself if his demands were not met.

12.13.2006

Diddy and Snoop Dogg have rolled out the itinerary for their 18-city 2007 European tour. The co-headliners will open the trek with a March 12 gig in Oslo, Norway, and close it with an April 2 concert in Nottingham, England. Expect Diddy and Snoop to mine their respective new releases, Press Play and Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. ...

Dates for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' upcoming tour with openers Gnarls Barkley have been announced. The 17-date run will kick off in Oklahoma City on January 12 and wrap in Houston on March 7, with just one concert scheduled for February. The trek will make stops in Dallas (January 13); Nashville (January 17); Cincinnati (January 20); Washington, D.C. (January 25); Orlando, Florida (January 30); Des Moines, Iowa (March 2); and San Antonio (March 6). ...

There's more No Doubt on the way, Gwen Stefani tells MTV News, but she'd rather just revel in her Sweet Escape for now. "This record puts me on the yellow-brick road to the No Doubt record I might do. I can smell it. 'Sweet Escape' and some other melodies remind me of the No Doubt feeling." OK, so she can smell it, but when will we hear it? "They were in the studio earlier this year," Stefani said of her bandmates, "and I've been trying to get prepared. I didn't know creatively what kind of record we could do. I couldn't picture it, but now I have an idea in my head. But can't we just enjoy the moment? Everyone asks me what's going to happen next, but the album just came out a few days ago." ... AFI and Tenacious D are performing at Spike TV's Video Game Awards, set to air Wednesday (December 13) at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Samuel L. Jackson is hosting. ...

Daughtry will ring in 2007 from New York, performing on Fox's "New Year's Eve Live," hosted by Cat Deeley of "So You Think You Can Dance?" The band fronted by former "American Idol" contestant Chris Daughtry will play their single "It's Not Over" live from a Times Square stage in New York. Toni Braxton will also perform on the special. ... Aretha Franklin is taking her life story to the stage, the Detroit Free Press reports. The Queen of Soul plans to turn her 1999 autobiography, "Aretha: From These Roots," into a touring stage production. The show will follow Franklin from her youth in Detroit through her friendships with Sam Cooke and Dinah Washington up to her status as an R&B icon. The singer said she will hold auditions to cast singers that will portray her at various stages. ...

Stephen Colbert has one regret about his controversial speech at the White House Correspondents Association dinner in April — he didn't go far enough. During "An Evening With 'The Colbert Report' " at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice Tuesday, the comedian revealed that, midway through his routine, he scrapped one joke because he thought it wouldn't go over well. "I thought, the president is always giving awards, it's time for him to get one," Colbert said, "and what's the highest award I could give him? A certificate of recognizance: 'That I, Stephen Colbert, recognize, you, George W. Bush, as the president.' I had the certificate handy and everything. I thought he could hang it on the fridge. Instead I have it hanging on my fridge, as my 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' award." ...

"Borat" has inspired yet another lawsuit — this time from a man who didn't even make it into the film. The Associated Press reported that a man claims in a suit that he was "accosted" in a South Carolina restaurant restroom by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who was posing in character as a bathroom attendant. The man, who is not named in the suit, seeks unspecified punitive damages and requests that the scene — which was featured as part of a Comedy Central movie special and made the Internet rounds — be excluded from the DVD release. ... George Clooney was in Egypt Wednesday lobbying the Egyptian government for support in helping the victims of Sudan violence, AP reports. He met with the foreign minister, as well as the son and wife of the country's president, to discuss relief options. Clooney, who visited China last week for similar discussions, is traveling with actor Don Cheadle and two former Olympians. ...

Clinic, Richard Swift, Vic Chestnutt, French Kicks, Earlimart, Autolux and Hella have entered the Noise Pop 2007 fold. The festival, celebrating its 15th anniversary, will take place in San Francisco February 27 through March 4. ... J. Robbins — who used to be in Jawbox and Burning Airlines but more recently has been producing for bands like Murder by Death and Against Me! — is asking for financial aid to help him and his wife support their newborn son, Cal. The baby is suffering from spinal muscular atrophy, and the family is facing rising medical bills. Go to DesotoRecords.com/cal/index/shtml to find out how you can help. ...

Veteran actor Peter Boyle died Tuesday in a New York hospital, CNN reports. He was 71. Best known in recent years as the cranky patriarch on the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," Boyle racked up dozens of film and TV credits over his nearly 40-year career — which he started after leaving an order of Christian monks — including the role of the monster in the Mel Brooks comedy "Young Frankenstein" (1973) and a supporting part in "Taxi Driver" (1976). Boyle's publicist said that the actor, who survived a stroke in 1990 and a heart attack in 1999, suffered from heart disease and a blood disorder. ...

It is the worst of times for rock musicals on Broadway. Just a month after the Bob Dylan musical "The Times They Are A-Changin' " folded up its tent after less than a month, the Great White Way version of "High Fidelity" has been silenced as well. Producers of the show, based on the popular 1995 hipster book by Nick Hornby (which was turned into a memorable John Cusack movie in 2000) will pull the plug on Sunday after just 10 days of playing to half-full houses, according to Variety magazine. "Fidelity" has suffered from slow advance sales and poor reviews since it began in previews on November 20, with some insiders saying the plot — about a rock snob and the girl who broke his heart — was too targeted toward young heterosexual men, the group least likely to check out a Broadway musical.

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Karen O
Photo: Chung Sung-Jun/ Getty Images

There's been something of a controversy swirling on the streets of Brooklyn, New York — and throughout the blogosphere — this week. It involves an album's worth of rough demos recorded by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O; a very, very (very) irate music producer; some old luggage; and one extremely lucky/mystified music fan.

Confused? Well, so is pretty much everyone associated with what is quickly becoming known as "The KO at Home Situation," a sticky web of privacy violation, enraged e-mail missives, prophetic apologies and some seriously misplaced suitcases.

The whole thing started late Sunday night, when an album called KO at Home began making the rounds on various file-sharing sites. The album contained 16 rough — and we mean real rough — sketches of songs recorded by YYYs frontwoman Karen O and given as a gift to her friend, TV on the Radio mastermind/producer Dave Sitek. Also circulating was a scan of the note O taped (with tiny South Korean flag stickers) to the inside of the album, in which she quotes Oscar Wilde and signs off with the blessing, "We're in it for the long haul, kid, we feel cuz we're real. All the love + safe travels + good luck, Karen."

Taken at face value, the songs — scratchy acoustic numbers with purported titles like "Beside Me" and "Save the Seeds" — and the sparse packaging were nothing particularly special: simply an inside look at O's writing (and gift-giving) methods. But just how did the album make its way from Sitek's possession to the wild world of the Internet? Well, that's where things get a little more interesting.

"Mike," the guy believed to have leaked the album, wrote an e-mail to music blog Stereogum.com, saying he received KO at Home from a friend who found it in a suitcase Sitek left behind when he moved out of an apartment. Mike wanted to give the album as a gift, but, being a YYYs fan, he made MP3 copies of all the songs for himself too. He then leaked those MP3s online, because, as he put it, "The tracks were interesting, and I thought other fans might appreciate them."

Of course, that explanation didn't fly with the YYYs themselves, who contacted Mike via MySpace and asked him why he had leaked the material. Nor did it jibe with Sitek, who said he saw the entire thing as a tremendous violation of his privacy. As such, he fired off a response on his blog in which he wished karmic retribution upon Mike and basically blamed him for the downfall of mankind as we know it. A sample line reads: "You are a tired and confused animal who has no grasp on consequences (I coincidentally feel that way about ALL of our species since we have outlived our usefullness (1970).

"To whomever found/stole/'unearthed' the demos that Karen gave me and posted them on the internet: Thank you. I am due to learn a new kind of forgiveness. A kind that all of humanity will need to learn as we betray each other, hurt each other, steal from each other to fill the 'content void' that has become the worldwide networks, our worldwide lives," Sitek wrote. "I am not shocked that you are in possession of something you obtained through dubious means ... nor am I shocked that you posted it on the Internet and by its very naming acknowledged whom it belonged to ... and did not return it to that person. You would surely not return the 'found wallet' ... because you too are in line to learn this very same lesson ... and you surely WILL be betrayed. Someone you know will turn you in for this, or someone you don't know will dig through your trash, will obtain your mothers medical records, etc."

Of course, the whole thing left Mike — as he wrote to Stereogum — feeling "completely sh---y" and "like a di--," and he said he now regrets leaking the songs in the first place. And Sitek, who must've gone for a nice long run or dunked his head in a bucket of ice water, seemed to accept his apology, updating his blog with an all-capped apology of his own. He wrote: "I APOLOGIZE FOR THE TONE OF THE LETTER I WROTE A FEW HOURS AGO."

Continuing with all caps (but slightly modified here), Sitek expanded on his apology. "My friend Pete threw away some suitcases of mine," he wrote. "Someone who knew they were mine, went through them, found the disc, posted it online. ... I freaked out (not thinking it was my suitcases discarded by a friend ... but rather [assuming] (wrongfully) it was from one of many boxes discarded by the firemarshall after a house fire)," he continued. "Since then, the story was told to me, by the person I was not very articulately appealing to ... his name is mike, he apologized. ... He didn't see what that would trigger in me ... what affects it would have on me, my friends and my ever dwindling sanity. I re-read the post, felt like I wrote it out of anger and confusion. I apologized to mike for my tone."

Of course, two apologies aren't going to change the fact that an album's worth of unreleased personal material by O is now floating around the Internet for all to hear, but both Mike and Sitek seem content to just put the whole incident behind them. And while Interscope Records — home to both the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the Radio — confirmed that KO at Home is O's work, the label had no additional comment on the songs or the leak.

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