We’ve recently noticed that many rock stars are calling for new levels of audience participation. Used to be that they’d pull you out of the crowd if you were female (a la Bruce Springsteen and Courteney Cox); now they want you to direct their videos. Just this week, Bjork announced a contest for a fan to direct a clip for “Innocence” from her forthcoming disc, Volta. Now we’re as invested in the Interweb as the next media organization, and we’re big fans of feedback (comments, please!). But we’re drawing the line here, because when Bjork, or Buckcherry, or Modest Mouse, or whoever else starts asking fans to make videos for them, it smacks of laziness.

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Tags: Björk•Music

Yeah, you’re all hopped up to hear the new Arctic Monkeys disc, Favorite Worst Nightmare. Lots of people are. Crank the volume to 11 and prepare to be messed with when "Brianstorm" comes squawking out of the band’s MySpace page. See ‘em live by jumping in here.

A morsel of Bjork’s new Volta is up for sampling on her page, too. The choppy "Innocence" is seductive in a robotic kind of way. The full CD doesn’t drop until May 8. The Icelandic one is does her thing on Saturday Night Live tomorrow.

The always impressive Queens of the Stone Age do the math on their latest track, "3’s & 7’s." It’s from their pending disc Era Vulgaris, and it’s currently streaming on their Web site. The guys will salute Ozzy Osbourne at VH1’s Rock Honors on May 24. Don’t miss.

Tags: Arctic Monkeys•Queens of the Stone Age•Rock Honors•Björk•Music

[Wait for It is our regular roundup of things to look forward to in
pop culture. Viva la future!]

Music

Bjork has announced the title of her next album, which means one thing: it’s time to bust out the dictionary. Volta, whose title comes from a musical term for "turn" or "time" (as in "the first time"), is set to drop May 7. Though the Icelandic oddball wrote and produced the record, as usual, she had plenty of help: Timbaland worked on three of the 10 tracks’ beats, Antony and the Johnsons‘ Antony Hegarty sings on two, Lightning Bolt’s Brian Chippendale and freelance drummer Chris Corsano take turns hitting skins, African musicians Toumani Diabate and Konono No1 dropped by, and a 10-piece female Icelandic brass section rounds out the list of cooks in the kitchen. Maybe most exciting is the contribution from Mark Bell, who helped make Bjork’s Homogenic the classic that it is. We could be looking at the avant-hop-Afro-noise-techno-big-band album of the year here. [bjork.com/unity]

Movies

It’s now carved in stone (or, really, etched in forehead) that Daniel Radcliffe will play Harry Potter through the rest of the series’ run. Daniel recently signed on for the final two Potter flicks — the first of which, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, begins shooting in September. By the time the seventh film rolls around, the 17-year-old Daniel will be legal, which begs the question: with his recent racy role in the UK stage production of Equus, can we expect a decidedly grown up Harry? Harry Potter and the Fan-Alienating Nude Scene, anyone? [Reuters]

Tags: Daniel Radcliffe•Björk•Movies•Music