"I'm no longer a member of VW," writes Rostam Batmanglij on Twitter — referring to Vampire Weekend, the band he co-founded and has been an integral member of for the past decade. Batmanglij indicates there's no ill will; he intends to continue working with the band's frontman Ezra Koenig on music including new Vampire Weekend tracks, but he's officially leaving the band to focus on his solo work. (Stereogum) The band's first show without Batmanglij will be a Bernie Sanders rally this Saturday in Iowa City. (Pitchfork)

Kanye West has announced that he'll debut his new album Swish at a Feb. 11 Madison Square Garden event that will also serve as the presentation of his Yeezy Season 3 fashion line during New York Fashion Week. (Billboard)

Girls co-star Zosia Mamet will play Patti Smith in an upcoming Robert Mapplethorpe biopic. In the movie, which starts filming this summer, former Dr. Who star Matt Smith will play the late photographer — a close friend of Smith's. (Billboard)

Steven Tyler says that he helped convince Axl Rose to reunite the classic Guns N' Roses lineup. As Tyler delicately put it to Rose, "You need to get the f--k back together." (Rolling Stone)

Modest Mouse and Brand New have announced a joint tour that will cross America this summer. It doesn't include any Minnesota stops, but it hits Chicago on July 2. (Pitchfork)

French billionaire Édouard Carmignac hired Neil Young to play a private show on Monday — and he got his money's worth from Young, who has typically been averse to pay-for-play private gigs. Carmignac got to sing harmonies with Young, and Young played his 1970 song "Till the Morning Comes," a favorite from the classic album After the Gold Rush, live for the first time ever. (Rolling Stone)

Billboard reports that Iggy Pop and Josh Homme will mount a joint tour behind their forthcoming album Post Pop Depression. According to Billboard, the tour will begin in Seattle on March 28; no other dates have yet been reported.

Arcade Fire will be joined by David Byrne at a Feb. 19 benefit for KANPE — a nonprofit founded by Arcade Fire's Régine Chassagne to benefit people in need in Haiti. (Rolling Stone)

La Sera have released a new video for "High Notes," the opening track from their forthcoming album Music for Listening to Music To. The album was produced by Ryan Adams, and comes out March 4. (Billboard)

In what might be the sexiest David Bowie tribute yet, Miguel covered "Space Oddity" at an acoustic show in Los Angeles on Monday Night. (SPIN)

The beef between B.o.B. and science is heating up. First, the rapper released a dis track criticizing Neil deGrasse Tyson for daring to counter B.o.B.'s suddenly strongly-held theory that the Earth is, in fact, flat. (Rolling Stone)

Then, TYSON – that would be Neil deGrasse Tyson's rapper nephew — released an answer song, remixing Drake's Meek Mill dis. (Gawker)

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