In a first, iTunes is offering a download of a performance from NBC’s “Today” show. “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” the first single from KT Tunstall’s Feb. 7 Virgin album, “Eye to the Telescope,” is available as a free video download on iTunes until the album release date.
The song is No. 1 for the second week on Billboard Radio Monitor’s Triple-A chart. Tunstall, whose album surpassed the 1 million sales mark in her native United Kingdom in December, appeared on “Today” Jan. 20.
For the month following the album’s release, the video will be bundled for free with album downloads on iTunes. It is unclear if this is the first in an ongoing deal between iTunes and “Today.”
— Melinda Newman, L.A.
Alternate versions of tracks by Le Tigre, the Chemical Brothers and Gorillaz will be found on production duo DFA’s “The DFA Remixes — Chapter One” due April 4 via DFA/Astralwerks. The collection also features remixes of material from Blues Explosion, Soulwax, Radio 4, Fischerspooner, Metro Area and Hot Chip.
A second volume of remixes for tracks originally recorded by Nine Inch Nails, Goldfrapp and the Rapture is planned for this summer.
Here is the track list for “The DFA Remixes — Chapter One”:
“Deceptacon,” Le Tigre
“Mars Arizona,” Blues Explosion
“The Boxer,” Chemical Brothers
“Another Excuse,” Soulwax
“Dance To The Underground,” Radio 4
“Emerge,” Fischerspooner
“Dare,” Gorillaz (previously unreleased)
“Orange Alert,” Metro Area
“Just Like We (Breakdown),” Hot Chip
— Katie Hasty, N.Y.
Avril Lavigne will take a break from working on her third studio album to perform April 12 at the fourth Volvo for Life Awards at New York’s Rainbow Room. The event honors local heroes as nominated on VolvoForLife.com through Jan. 31. Beforehand, the artist is set for a Feb. 21 acoustic set as part of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turino, Italy.
Lavigne is also busy with her first forays into film, which will include parts in the Richard Linklater-directed adaptation of the book “Fast Food Nation,” the Richard Gere thriller “The Flock” and a voice role in the animated movie “Over the Hedge.”
— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.