Unplugging: Jimmy Fallon celebrates Pink Floyd

We are happy to see that besides recent awesome reissues (Pink Floyd, Nirvana), new albums are being released into the wild for our consumption. Get your credit cards ready, and prepare your stereo for what’s to come.

In celebration of the reissue campaign “Why Pink Floyd?” this week’s series of “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” episodes were deemed “Pink Floyd Week.”

Monday night featured The Shins’ cover of the trippy classic “Breathe,” with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason in attendance to talk about the reissue, and also his car fetish. The Foo Fighters, alongside Pink Floyd’s bassist Roger Waters, stopped by Fallon Tuesday to perform In the Flesh.” The rest of the week housed covers from MGMT, Dierks Bentley and Pearl Jam.

When Fallon asked Mason why the band, in collaboration with EMI, decided to release these precious goods now, Mason replied, “With so much downloading going on, this is probably the last opportunity to do all the artwork and packaging.” The Immersion box set includes unreleased audio and visual material from the archives, remastered studio recordings, and a nice load of Pink Floyd memorabilia that will keep a diehard fan out of work for about a week. Also released are vinyl, a best-of CD collection, and an “Experience” and “Discovery” edition.

In a recent interview with a local Atlanta radio station, Patrick Carney of The Black Keys squelched rumors about a Blakroc 2 release, and spoke of the upcoming Black Keys album. The Blakroc 2 trailer, which has gone viral since its posting late last month, was released without the Keys’ permission, and gave fans the false impression that its release will be sometime soon.

Carney confirmed that the Blakroc collective has completed material almost two years in the works, and that the trailer itself was made in 2009 during a recording session. At this time, there are no plans of a Blakroc 2 release, according to Carney. In regards to the new Black Keys album, Carney said, “we think it’s really good.”

Academy Award winning actor Tim Robbins has set aside acting to follow in his father’s footsteps with the release of his first folk album, which has been out since last July. The son of folk musician Gil Robbins, Tim Robbins grew up immersed in the folk scene of Greenwich Village.

After his father’s 2-year period with The Highwaymen, he went on to manage a popular folk venue, The Gaslight Cafe, which housed many performances from popular artists such as Bob Dylan, Richie Havens and Tom Paxton. Although Robbins still plans to make movies, for now his passion lies in the musical arts. His folk album can now be purchased on iTunes.

Facebook is always changing, and although new layouts and features may not please everyone, the possibility of a music-sharing feature seems to be a pretty sweet idea. On Thursday, Facebook released plans to integrate existing music streaming services into the site, as a way for friends to share their listening experiences. Through a “ticker” feed, Facebook friends will be able to connect to friends’ music-sharing services for live listening. Also a possibility is a chat space for musical discussion and analysis. Facebook streaming and sharing is also discussing branching out to video services like Netflix and Hulu.

Lulu, a collaborative effort between Metallica and Lou Reed, is what fans have been buzzing about for a while now. The group released its track list first, as well as the cover art and small clips of their first single off the album, “The View.”

Now, the full version of the single has been released for fans to enjoy while they await the release of the album. So far, responses to the track have been varied, although fans know to expect strange and limitless material from both Reed and Metallica.

Unplugging in Brief:

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon To Host Pink Floyd Celebration Featuring Performances From The Shins, Pearl Jam, Others  – This week was “Pink Floyd Week” on Late Night, featuring covers of classic Pink Floyd songs by popular artists in celebration of the “Why Pink Floyd?” reissue.

Watch: The Shins Cover “Breathe” on Fallon – The Shins commenced “Pink Floyd Wee” on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon with their cover of, “Breathe.”

Patrick Carney Addresses Blakroc 2 Trailer – In a recent interview, Carney set the record straight about Blakroc 2, and also raised spirits even higher about the upcoming Black Keys album.

Tim Robbins Takes To Folk Music – Successful actor Tim Robbins has stepped out of the world of film to follow in his late folk musician father’s footsteps.

Facebook Announces Plans For Real-Time Music Streaming Feature – Just when you think you’re getting used to new Facebook features, they make more changes! Don’t worry- this change in the works sounds pretty sweet.

Metallica and Lou Reed Release Full Version of “The View” – The first single off the collaborative effort Lulu has been released in full.

* Lily Angelle, MXDWN