by SHANE SINNOTT

One of the more anticipated albums of 2009, Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest (due out on May 26), leaked last week. Robin Pecknold, the guy from Fleet Foxes (and a man with no apparent fear of hyperbole) is calling it “the album of the 00s.” You can get “While You Wait for the Others,” one of the many tracks floating around online, at tinyurl.com/dnx6ea. Before you do, though, you might want to read the band’s take on the leak on their blog (tinyurl.com/cl5y6l), which might make you feel a little guilty.

If you spent 2008 out of U.S.-media range and want to catch yourself up in five minutes, check out DJ Earworm’s “United State of Pop” video. Every year, Earworm mashes up Billboard’s top 25 songs, and you can see 2008 at tinyurl.com/8rj57u. Also, and this seems kind of weird, Earworm has written a book, an “in-depth guide to mash-up construction” that “explains everything from the basics of music theory and song selection to more advanced topics such as a capella extraction and mastering.” Order it at tinyurl.com/asn39p.

Our semantics lesson this week comes from some enterprising artists who have decided to sue their label over iTunes royalty rates. F.B.T Productions, two producers from Michigan who have worked with Eminem, are suing Universal over royalties made from iTunes, Napster, T-Mobile and other online retailers. The cases hinges on the distinction between “licensing” music and “distributing” music. When the label does the former, the artist gets a 50 per cent cut of the profits. In the latter case, 12 per cent. Universal is saying, naturally, that iTunes sales constitute distribution, but F.B.T. is arguing that it’s way more like licensing. After all, Apple can “reproduce” the songs it is selling for free, and Warner isn’t incurring any distribution costs. If the artists win, it’s likely to be trendsetting, but either way, it’s a sobering reminder of how quickly things have changed. Artists who signed contracts even five years ago are finding themselves now hosed by the vague language over the (at the time) small online distribution market.

And quickly, see Wayne Coyne trash Arcade Fire—“We’ve played some shows with them and they really treat people like shit”—at tinyurl.com/atwnhj.