News: Russell Simmons, LCD, Cooper Temple Clause, Sebadoh

Hip Hop mogul and Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons has announced that three specific racial and sexist epithets – ‘Nigga’, Bitch’ and ‘Ho’ - should be removed from all clean versions of hip hop records. Most clean versions already have these words edited but quite often they slip through the net and Simmons is calling for an official ban. Speaking to Associated Press he said "We recommend these words are always out, this is a fist step. It's a clear message and a consistency that we want the industry to accept for more corporate social responsibility." His call-to-arms does not seem to include homophobia or glorifying violence for some reason.

James Murphy has roped in some very cool pals to help him out with the next LCD Soundsystem single. The Neu!-esque ‘All My Friends’ will be released via DFA/EMI on May 21st with two cover versions of the track performed by Franz Ferdinand (produced by Erol Alkan) and John Cale. Also on the B-side will be a cover of Joy Division’s ‘No Love Lost’ by LCD themselves.

Following two no-shows at last week’s Camden Crawl festival, Cooper Temple Clause have decided to call it a day after five years and three albums. First to leave was Daniel Fisher who, speaking to NME, explained “In the wake of this decision the rest of the boys agreed to call it a day and pursue other interests. Friendships are well and truly intact and the love very much remains within the camp.”

Details of this year’s Ivor Novello award nominees have been released with nice surprises among them. Artic Monkeys are up for ‘Best Song Musically & Lyrically’ with ‘When The Sun Goes Down’ whilst Hot Chip and Amy Winehouse will be battling it out for ‘Best Contemporary Song’ with ‘Over and Over’ and ‘Rehab’ respectively.

Finally, fans of the mighty Sebadoh can finally put their battered vinyl and tape cassette copies of their classic debut LP ‘The Freed Man’ into storage - unless they want that real lo-fi authenticity - as Domino will be reissuing the album on CD from July 10th with 19 extra tracks – that’s 52 tracks in total!