-- These are tough times for record companies, but Matador at least has a smart approach to the art of the sell: giving away tons of free stuff to actual paying customers! You won't be able to hold a physical copy of Sonic Youth's The Eternal in your hands until June 9, but as early as March 24, you'll be able to order the album through Matador's Buy Early Get Now program and get all kinds of bonus material. Buy Early Get Now customers will get to stream The Eternal on April 28, and they'll also get a bonus limited-edition live album that the band taped at a huge July 4, 2008 free concert at New York's Battery Park. Matador also promises additional MP3s before or after the album's release date.-- Riceboy Sleeps, the side project that Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson shares with boyfriend Alex Somers of Parachutes, has already released a hardcover art book and recorded "Happiness", the haunting ambient hymn from the Dark Was the Night benefit compilation. According to a note on the Sigur Rós website, the two are currently recording their first album in Hawaii, and they plan to release it this summer. The two songs currently streaming on the duo's MySpace page are real purdy.-- According to Billboard, an Atlanta judge has thrown out felony drug charges against Lil Wayne, ruling that his 2006 arrest came after an illegal hotel room search. Now Wayne just has to beat his drug case in Arizona and his gun case in New York, and he'll be home free! (Wayne's "Prom Queen" video isn't an actual crime; it just sucks really hard.)-- If you were into emo before anyone thought the Devil Wears Prada was an acceptable band name, there's hope. Horn-rim heroes far have reunited and signed with Vagrant, and they plan to release their fifth album this spring.-- On March 10, Merge will digitally reissue three out-of-print albums from subwoofer-voiced depressive songwriter Richard Buckner: 1994's Bloomed, 2000's The Hill, and 2002's Impasse. Buckner will tour this spring, so get ready for a weightily dour night out.