Morning Music Notes – This News is Wiggida Wiggida Wiggida Wack

Mac Daddy Dies

90s teen rappers Kris Kross have had one of their two members suddenly die. Chris Kelly (aka Mac Daddy) died in an Atlanta hospital last night at the age of 34 (via Consequence of Sound). No cause of death has been given, but rumours have suggested a drug overdose, while another initial report had said homicide.

The backwards clothes-wearing Kris Kross found fame with the track Jump, as well as a few other smaller singles. The band recently played a one-off show in Atlanta, too. It looks like the anticipated reunion will not come to fruition. Re-live the 90s with the video for Jump. But even cooler is that Deftones got word of the death and played a hard cover of Jump last night in honour of Mac Daddy. Check it out below, too.

Kris Kross – Jump

Deftones – Jump (Kris Kross cover)

Adam Yauch Gets Posthumous Playground and MCA Day

In two days, it’ll be one year since we lost Beastie Boy MCA far too young. You might recall there were some petitions to rename a New York City park after MCA. Now, it is official – Brooklyn Heights’ Palmetto Playground will be renamed to Adam Yauch Playground (via New York Post). The movement to rename a park had originally been for Squibb Park, but this was met with opposition.

Additionally, this Saturday will be MCA Day, which sounds like an awesome name for a day. It will take place at Littlefield, and will have rare photos and fan art for all to see, as well as DJs spinning Beastie Boys tracks. Check it out if you’re in the area.

The Vaccines to Release EP of New Tracks

Hot on the heels of last year’s Come of Age album, The Vaccines have an EP of new songs ready to unleash on their fans. The tracks were recorded earlier this year in LA (via NME). Singer Justin Young tells NME, “We recorded a few songs in LA last month with John Hill and Rich Costey, and we’re just working out what to do with them. They feel like a bridge to something else so I guess they’ll be an EP, but I guess there is a small chance they might be the start of album three, because I feel very creative at the moment. They feel quite different so it’s exciting. We’re trying a lot of things for the first time.”

Clearly, he means drugs and booze by the last part of that sentence.

Listen to Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld’s New Track

Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld has a new album of music that she’ll release on August 20. The album is called Hero Brother, and you can hear the title track below. It’s an instrumental track, powered by Sarah’s excellent violin work. The track would not sound out of place in a movie scene with panic and horror. The album was assisted by German composer Nils Frahm. Check out Hero Brother below.