M.I.A. released the somber ’27′ on Twitter a few hours after the news of Amy Winehouse’s death, stating that it was an unreleased demo recorded before her Vicki Leekx mixtape. The Soundcloud page links to the lyrics of the song alongside the message, “Dedicated to all my friends that died at 27″.

Billboard reports that M.I.A. and Swizz Beatz have been working on each others upcoming albums. M.I.A., who toured here as part of the Big Day Out in January, hasn’t announced any details of her new record yet but Swizz Beatz’ Haute Living is tentatively scheduled for release in the second half of the year.

CSS -  I knew I’d beat myself up for missing Andrew W.K. during this. 15 minutes later, not a fucking regret. Goddamn, that lady has energy. Maybe I’m just a sucker for stage charisma, but man, the whole thing just felt fun. Yeah, she crowd-surfed – just as everyone else did that day – but it didn’t feel like we were holding up some kind of musical god in our hands. Just a person like one of us sharing the fun of the moment. As a former ignorant non-listener of CSS, I came out changed. Sorry for doubting you, fans. – Michael McClelland

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Big Day Out’s the home of the rare phenomenon that is hipsters actually dancing to music. This could be because hipsters are right into their Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Or they were into them at Big Day Out, anyway. Forgive my cynicism – the vibes were actually soaring dangerously close to the point of ‘good’. Ed Sharpe and friends were smiling away to every note they played, which was a reassuring sign to us that the band were getting as into their music as we were. “You motherfuckers make me want to sing”, said the overly nice lead singer Alex. In return, we did too – to every song they played. It was really the only considerate crowd I experienced on the day… and I can thank the feel-good tunes of Edward Sharpe and the etc. – Michael McClelland

Lupe Fiasco – Well, at least we can confirm that Lasers is going to be terrible. Apart from playing the worst song from Food & Liquor (‘The Instrumental’) and his biggest hits (‘Kick, Push’, ‘Superstar’), the rest of Lupe’s set was all about his latest album, and most of the songs gave off first impressions of radio fodder, complete with Ryan Tedder-sounding guest choruses. Dude also got real primadonna when his sound cut out after experiencing some technical problems at the beginning of his set. He forced his band to restart ‘Shining Down’ twice while he walked off stage and tried to make another entrance. But he knew it wasn’t great: after apologising for the technical issues he reminded everyone that this was the first time him and his band had played together for six months. – Hussein Moses

Kody & Bic - Looks like Kody hasn’t left the Mint Chicks yet. You’d have guessed it from the sound of songs like ‘Time To Make A Change In Your Life’, with the trademark spazziness that got the Mint Chicks all the way to their Bad Buzz EP. And Kody hasn’t left that point either with the continuation of freak-out 60s pop bastardisation that proves those guys love Zappa and friends so much. Runga, on what appeared to be a Fender Rhodes, was all business – probably part of what made the unlikely duo gel so well together. Even though she for some reason struggled to tune her guitar, every other point of musicianship was in their favour. If you were ever in doubt of the skill of these two talents, Kody’s impressive drumming would have convinced you otherwise. Sadly, I missed this and other cool things during the first half of their set as I struggled to find my way to the stage. At least I timed it well enough to catch them covering ‘Hong Kong Garden’ by Siouxsie and the Banshees. Three non-alphabetical characters to sum up my reaction: !!! – Michael McClelland

Six60 – They’re being managed by CRS, which makes their prime slot on the top field a little more understandable, but did they deserve that spot? No. This was talent quest shit. They played a “remix” of ‘Smooth Criminal’ and then had this awful interlude moment where they all put down their instruments and danced on the stage to Dead Prez. They then played two more songs before the vocalist picked up his MPC and they preceded to do the exact same thing, except this time they danced to Snoop Dogg’s ‘What’s My Name?’ How does this pass for a performance? Embarrassing. – Hussein Moses

Iggy & The Stooges – These guys last played here back in 2006 but that was with former guitarist Ron Asheton (who died in 2009) and the band purely focused on material from their first two albums. This time it was all about Raw Power with the return of James Williamson. They rushed on stage and opened up with a succession of classic tracks – ‘Raw Power’, ‘Search & Destroy’, ‘Gimme Danger’ and ‘You’re Pretty Face Is Going To Hell’. They also threw in a couple of tracks from Kill City and ended the set with ‘Open Up and Bleed’, the memorable set closer from their classic live album Metallic K.O. Iggy was unstoppable and looked more psychotic than ever, and the band – complete with sax player Steve MacKay – were one of the loudest of the day. – Hussein Moses

Home Brew – “When I say ‘Fuck you Auckland,’ I want you to say: ‘Fuck you too, cunt.’” Fuck you Homebrew, fuck you too. Nah, it was actually this kind of hilarity that pulled me to see them on the Smokefree Hot Produce stage (which, of course, they slyly ripped the shit out of – tongues right next to their cigarettes, in cheek). Even though they got a bit of a bottling after the “fuck you” jab, I was right at the back having a good chuckle at the likes of this, ‘Benefit’ (about Homebrew’s government funding scheme) and ‘I Wish You Weren’t A Lesbian’. ‘Lesbian’ was directed at Anika Moa, this time. To our amusement, Moa directed a few things right back when she joined Homebrew on stage to share vocal duties on ‘Friday’ and ‘Fire’. The back-of-the-crowd chuckling continued – mostly because I knew if I stepped any closer, I’d have to share the song myself with the thoughtless meatheads that told me to “fuck off” every time I stepped on their close-range turf in their breeding ground, the boiler room. Homebrew was all good though. – Michael McClelland

Primal Scream – LCD Soundsystem or Primal Scream? I’m a bit of an idiot for abandoning the latter for the former halfway through. Well actually, I’m even more of an idiot for abandoning the very classy Primal Scream for the not-so-classy boiler room hordes just to catch a very obvious (yet always sentimental) single. Not going to name which one. It’s because Primal Scream were in such damn fine form at the green stage that I really never should have left. Bobby Gillespie, though he was looking (and strutting) a little like Mick Jagger in his younger days, sang the hits of 1991 with such cool I nearly thought a day hadn’t passed. He was dressed as well as the band was rehearsed, so it felt pretty cool to catch the Screamadelica album as good as it was meant to sound. It sounded like there was a little bit of dubious backing track work at play (they certainly didn’t have a full choir on stage with them), so you gotta wonder how much of their sparkle was their own doing. Or else, our own nostalgic imaginations got the better of us. Now, where’s that other Creation Records masterpiece when you need it? Come on, BDO. – Michael McClelland

M.I.A. – Hands down, the highlight. She smoked a spliff and took a shot of Patrón before ‘Teqkilla’; she stood behind a podium with eight different microphones that she used throughout her set, and she invited about two dozen people on stage for an encore of ‘Boyz’ and ‘Paper Planes’. Most of her setlist came from Kala and last years Maya, and apart from the weird exclusion of ‘Xxxo’, every track was a banger. ‘Steppin’ Up’, ‘Meds and Feds’, ‘Born Free’, ‘The Message’, ‘Bamboo Banga’, and ‘World Town’ all sounded bigger than ever. For those who were dubious about her being scheduled in the boiler room (which is now more of a canopy really) instead of the main stage needn’t have worried. It worked just right, and it was the perfect end to one of the best Big Day Out’s yet. – Hussein Moses

So the Big Day Out 2011 rumour mill (including us), which had this thing looking like 1992 with grunge acts Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Hole lined up as the headliners, did not happen. The official announcement went down this morning at 8am but because of the Australian announcement happening at midnight (AU time), the surprise had already been spoiled by those keen enough to stay up and wait for the news online. As some of us feared, we’re faced with acts that have been here in the past but for the most part, those artists are ones we will happily line-up to see again any day. Check out the acts for the first announcement below. It’s going to be a good summer.

TOOL, RAMMSTEIN, M.I.A., IGGY AND THE STOOGES, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, SHIHAD THE GENERAL ELECTRIC, LUPE FIASCO, GRINDERMAN, DEFTONES, THE BLACK KEYS, THE NAKED & FAMOUS, ANDREW W.K., WOLFMOTHER, THE JIM JONES REVUE, EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS, PRIMAL SCREAM SCREAMADELICA LIVE, BLOODY BEETROOTS DEATH CREW 77, BOOKA SHADE, SIX60, DIE ANTWOORD, VITALIC, KIDS OF 88, CSS, PLAN B, RATATAT, I AM GIANT, JOHN BUTLER TRIO, AIRBOURNE, DIE!DIE!DIE!, BULLETPROOF, BIRDS OF TOKYO, STREET CHANT, CRYSTAL CASTLES and more to be announced

FRIDAY JANUARY 21^st AUCKLAND MT SMART STADIUM

Maurice Rd Penrose. Gates open 11am

Tickets $150 (inc GST) +bf*. Strict limit of 4 tickets per customer.  Available from Real Groovy, Marbecks, all Ticketmaster Outlets, phone and credit card bookings 0800 111 999 or www.ticketmaster.co.nz, and from www.bigdayout.com

TICKETS ON SALE: FRIDAY 8^th OCTOBER

The first Big Day Out announcement for January 2011 is about a month away. It’s the country’s biggest music festival and already the rumours for next years line-up are rife. We decided to weigh up each artist separately to judge just how likely it would be if they played. Rankings are out of five (one being not likely, five being highly likely). Let’s do this.

Soundgarden -  5/5 – Details emerged at the beginning of the year that Soundgarden were back together and planning a tour and since then there’s been rumours they they’ll be back to play the festival for a third time. They headlined BDO in 1994 and 1997 before breaking up and anybody that’s heard Badmotorfinger will tell you that this is the sort of show that will bring BDO back from the dark corner it’s been in for the past few years. Also, Big Day Out need these sort of bands to draw the biggest crowds; acts such as Tool, Rage Against The Machine, Metallica, System of a Down and Muse have all headlined the festival in the past and they all tread that line between appealing to an alternative audience and getting played on mainstream rock radio. Without a doubt, these guys will be headlining the festival in 2011.

Stone Temple Pilots – 5/5 – Even as I’m writing this, it feels ridiculous to suggest that the festival is going to turn into a 90′s grunge revival but as it looks, there’s a pretty good chance that it’s going to happen. And it will be awesome. A lot of people seem to be more familiar with Scott Weiland’s heroin habit and his stint with ‘supergroup’ Velvet Revolver but keep in mind that STP were heavyweight’s in the 90′s. Sex Type Thing, Plush, Interstate Love Song, Sour Girl, Creep; a perfect soundtrack for when the sun begins to set on Friday afternoon at Ericsson Stadium.

Hole – 4/5 – Courtney Love is way unreliable so I’m apt to take anything she says with a grain of salt. But if this 90′s revival thing is going to happen (shout out to Fashion Quarterly, No Magazine, Black Magazine, Russh etc who will hop on this grunge buzz in about two months) then we should probably include Hole in the equation. Among such quotables as, “I remember the smell of New Zealand and the sounds of Tui birds. It’s not the most exciting place in the world … but it’s really beautiful,” Love told Stuff earlier in the year she was pretty sure it was going to happen.

Arcade Fire 3/5 – The bands latest album The Suburbs debuted at number three in New Zealand and number one in the US and UK, which should give you an idea of just how far they’ve come. They also put on a pretty memorable show on the main stage a couple of years back so they’re more than prepared for this. Also, they’re wrapping up their tour of the UK and Europe right now and since they didn’t get picked as part of the incredible Falls Festival line-up, BDO seems like a plausible option.

Blink 182 – 4/5 – Rumours tell me that these guys will indeed be playing the festival but are there still people that want to see them? Yeah, there probably are. Also, where would they fit into the timetable? Is it going to be in the evening at like 6pm when people are getting dinner or are they going to be given one of those 4pm time slots when everyone realises that they’re roasted as shit from sitting in the sun all day? Or are they just going to headline one of the smaller stages and we’re going to have to pretend that we like them as much as NOFX?

M.I.A – 3/5 – What better way for someone to hit all the main spots down under in one hit than to play the Big Day Out? Plus, Born Free deserves stadium status.

Die Antwoord – 5/5 – This is happening.

The Black Keys – 3/5 - There hasn’t actually been much talk of these guys heading down under at all but do the math; they’ve just released their latest and possibly best album of their career in the form of Brothers and the festival needs an act like this to even out the genres and keep the indie kids happy. They would be the perfect band to close of the small stages or play an afternoon set similar to what The Horrors did this year. Let’s hope.

Deftones – 3/5 – The Deftones played one of the most anti-climatic shows I’ve ever witnessed at the Big Day Out in 2003 but they’re back with a new album, Diamond Eyes, and seemingly as popular as ever. I’d be surprised if the band doesn’t get picked for the festival but according to this story they will be touring down here next year anyway.

Kings Of Leon – 4/5 – KOL are easy money these days. Remember when they first played all those years ago and Caleb was so wasted that he had to vom on the side of the stage? That was cool. Now they’ve got all got makeovers and are releasing shitty number one singles like Sex On Fire. They’re the poster boys for selling out but this also means that they have the ability to book a show at Vector Arena and sell that motherfucker out. If BDO’s cheque book stretched far and wide I’d say this would be a sure thing, but if the band (or their manager) were smart then they would just book their own show here over summer and rake that $$$ in themselves. Still, a Soundgarden/Stone Temple Pilots/Kings of Leon big three line-up seems awfully likely right now. Only time will tell.

When Born Free leaked a couple of months before the release of /\/\/\Y/\, it was time to celebrate. Here we had one of the most interesting and unpredictable artists from the past decade supercharging a sample of Suicide (of all things) to predictable levels of hype. “I don’t want to live for tomorrow/I’ll push my luck today,” it went. Then we had the other side of the coin; the haters. Was it all too gimmicky? I mean, Suicide? The ginger-genocide video? Truffle-fries?

It left a lot of speculation of how this thing was going to sound. What’s plainly obvious is that this isn’t a repeat of Kala, an album which took influences from around the world with songs being recorded in India, Jamaica, Australia and Liberia. Instead there’s new influences, themes and ultimately, sounds. Dubstep DJ and producer, Rusko, sizes up his tracks on the album with an obvious industrial bite. Likewise, Meds and Feds (produced by Sleigh Bells’ Derek Miller) relies on a deafening guitar loop to get its point across.

More than anything though, the album shows that she’s ultra-aware and predictably skeptical about how we’ve adopted our attitude towards the internet. She told Complex earlier this year, “When I came out in 2005, I felt like the Internet was a place where interesting new ideas and people could find new ways to coexist and ideas could be shared. But now corporations have gotten a hold of it and governments have gotten a hold of it. Everything we started, they’ve learned it, and now they use it for themselves.” It might sound paranoid but really, that’s the point.

The Message, which opens the album, is also filled with references to technology (“armbone connects to the handbone/handbone connects to the internet”) while the album cover says 1000 words about the topic all on its own. But that sense of paranoia finds its way deepest into songs like Teqkilla (which is by the way, not a track to listen to with a hangover), Story To Be Told and It Iz What It Iz. Diplo steps into to provide some of the most upbeat moments on the album with the near-anthems Tell Me Why and It Takes A Muscle while XXXO sounds like a spit-shined attempt at another crossover success. There’s plenty of highlights but at times it sounds like her ideas are getting pulled in too many different directions. But maybe that’s the whole idea after all. “We growin’ up in middle of a digital ruckus,” she says in Meds and Feds. The music here is just a reflection of that.

We’ve been keeping a pretty close eye on M.I.A’s Twitter lately and for good reason. Two weeks ago she posted this and now she’s finally come up for air. Here’s hoping the finish line comes up quickly.