1. Exciting news for fans of opening musical medleys and movie spoofs: Billy Crystal is returning to host the Oscars for what will now be his ninth time. Not exactly the most interesting choice that the Academy could have made, but given the recent PR roller coaster they’ve been on, perhaps that’s for the best. [via EW]

2. Damon Albarn’s supergroup The Good, The Bad, & The Queen — which also features Paul Simonon of The Clash, as well as Simon Tong and Tony Allen of The Verve — reunited for the first time in three years last night to play two gigs, the first on board a new Greenpeace boat in the middle of the River Thames. [via NME]

3. Starz is developing a new six-hour series about the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire called Harem that’s based on an idea by Gina Gershon; the story, written by Ann Peacock (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe), will reportedly revolve around Roxelana, “a beautiful young slave girl whose ambitions knew no bounds and whose marriage to Suleyman kicked off what became known as the ‘Reign of Women.’” [via THR]

4. Brian Eno was the musical guest on last night’s Colbert Report; watch a clip of his entertaining interview with Colbert, as well as a performance of “Lean On Me” that included a cameo by Michael Stipe, here.

5. For the first time in 80 years, five murals that Diego Rivera created for the Museum of Modern Art back in 1931 will be displayed together as part of a new exhibition at the museum that opens on Sunday. [via NYT]

Bonus Buzz: 86-Year-Old’s Rage Comic

We’re not usually big readers of the UK’s Daily Telegraph, but we did read with interest a recent report that UK band Marconi Union’s song “Weightless” has been proclaimed “the most relaxing tune ever.” The article claims that “scientists played the song to 40 women and found it to be more effective at helping them relax than songs by Enya, Mozart and Coldplay.” This doesn’t exactly sound like scientific proof to us, and although the song is certainly a pleasant, Eno-influenced piece of atmospheric ambience, it’s nothing revolutionary (if you want to hear it, you can head to another UK newspaper site, where it’s streaming). Either way, we were more concerned by the fact that the Torygraph claims it’s “more relaxing than Enya, Mozart and Coldplay,” as if those three artists were the yardstick by which a piece of music’s relaxing qualities should be measured. We’re not standing for any such nonsense, so here’s a Flavorpill relaxation playlist — next time you’re having trouble sleeping, give some of these tracks a spin and see if they help any!

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The epic collaboration between David Bowie and Brian Eno produced what some argue were the three best releases of Bowie’s career. We’ve played our Berlin Trilogy (Low, “Heroes,” The Lodger) LPs so often we’ve practically worn them out, so we couldn’t plug in our headphones fast enough when we saw that Dangerous Minds had posted a rarely heard Bowie/Eno cut from the Lodger sessions. “I Pray, Ole” is an upbeat, Bowie-penned track with a driving, shout-along chorus and a synth underpinning that could only have come from the twisted, Krautrock-infected mind of Eno. Listen to it after the jump, and be sure to let us know WTF is going on with Bowie’s outfit in the video, which may well be the missing link between the ’70s and the ’80s.

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When the discussion of the finest lyricists in rock ‘n’ roll comes up, you tend to hear the same names mentioned again and again. Bob Dylan. Leonard Cohen. Tom Waits. Morrissey. Nick Cave. Warren Zevon. They’re all worthy choices, for sure, but we find it a bit sad that there are plenty of other fantastic lyricists who never seem to make their way into such conversations. After the jump, we’ve put together a collection of lyricists who we reckon don’t get the credit they deserve, either because their music is generally undervalued or because their skills in other areas tend to overshadow their linguistic talents. Let us know in the comments who else you reckon doesn’t get the lyrical love they should do.

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A few days ago we shared adorable pictures from the early years of some of our favorite writers with you, including an amazing photo of Ernest Hemingway in a dress. Today, we thought it might be fun to revisit the concept, but this time turning our focus on the music world. We don’t know about you, but we never really picture rock ‘n’ roll stars as having childhoods; wearing clothes that your parents have picked out for you and going through an awkward stage is the opposite of bad-ass. So, if you’re curious as to what Courtney Love looked like decades before she ever met Kurt — or you’d like to see how freaking cute he was as a little kid — click through to check out our roundup now.

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Earlier this week the folk over at Pitchfork published a collection of their favorite music books. It’s a pretty comprehensive list, encompassing everything from Mötley Crüe’s tragicomic memoir The Dirt to Jon Savage’s erudite punk tome England’s Dreaming. We couldn’t help noticing, however, that of the 60 books on show, precisely one was written solely by a woman (along with a couple where there’s a female co-author, and one anthology of women writers). We’re not suggesting that Pitchfork has gone out of its way to exclude women — the fact is that, sadly, like much of the music industry, music criticism remains very much a boys’ club. That doesn’t mean, however, that they’re entirely blameless. Here are ten great books about music written by women that really should have at least merited consideration.

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Whether you spent the 4th of July braving the crowds to watch the fireworks or (like us) holed up at home listening to what sounded like the apocalypse unfolding outside, you may well be feeling a little fragile this morning. Either way, rest assured that, as ever, we’ve got your back with a selection of new tunes to ease your transition into the working week. There’s a bunch of interesting music streaming for free on the internet — from The Horrors’ new baggy direction to some Radiohead remixes, blissed-out psychedelic country, and a woman that Brian Eno met at the gym. Listen after the jump.

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For old Smiths fan like us, anything new from one Stephen Patrick Morrissey is always cause for interest, if not necessarily celebration – we’re resigned to the fact that nothing he makes now is going to rival the glory days of The Smiths, but nevertheless, his solo material is still worth hearing. As such, we were excited to hear that he performed three new songs on BBC Radio 2 today, and that these songs are now available online to stream for your listening pleasure. See what we made of them after the jump. (And also click through for new stuff from Brian Eno and Flying Lotus.)

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1. To the surprise of no one, Twilight won big at last night’s MTV Movie Awards: Eclipse won the popcorn for Best Movie, while Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart took home the night’s big acting trophies. Oh, and at some point Pattinson and Taylor Lautner made out or something. [via MTV]

2. Meanwhile, on the weekend’s other awards ceremony, Spike TV’s Guys Choice Awards, Jennifer Aniston was honored for her Decade of Hotness. The show will air on Spike this Friday, June 10th. [via PopEater]

3. The Italy-based fourth season Jersey Shore has set its premiere date: August 4th. Honestly, between reports about Ronnie and The Situation‘s fight and the news of Snooki smashing into a police car, we feel like we’ve already seen it. [via WSJ]

4. The nominees for the first Critics Choice Television Awards were announced earlier this morning. Modern Family leads the pack at six nods, with Mad Men close behind at five. Boardwalk Empire, 30 Rock, The Good Wife, and Justified are also well represented. See a full list of nominees at The Wrap.

5. Kanye West has finally released the video for “Monster,” which leaked all the way back in December. This time, it comes with a disclaimer: “The following content is in no way to be interpreted as misogynistic or negative towards any group of people. It is an art piece and it shall be taken as such.” Huh. Watch it at Vulture.

Bonus link: Watch Brian Eno interviewed on Al Jazeera

Rolling Stone, bless them, republished their list of “The 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s” on their website this week. The feature – originally published in 1989 – makes for strange and occasionally bewildering reading. For a start, it’s topped by The Clash’s London Calling, which is undeniably a masterwork but also was undeniably released in 1979 (and no, we’re not buying the January 1980 US release date as an excuse here). Now, we know better than anyone that lists are always subjective, and whatever you include people are going to complain (hey, it’s actually nice to be complaining about someone else’s lists for once). And admittedly, we’re evaluating this list with the benefit of 20 years of hindsight. But even so, there are some glaring omissions from RS’s selection – here are 10 records that really should have featured somewhere near the top, but didn’t feature at all.

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