A Few More Things: Neil Young, Bon Iver, A$AP Rocky

Hope you haven’t forgotten about Neil Young’s proposed studio-quality music service called Pono. After showing off a prototype of the Pono portable player on the “Late Show With David Letterman” in September 2012, the Canadian rocker now says Team Pono is looking at an early 2014 launch.

Named after the Hawaiian word for righteousness, Pono aims to deliver the “very best possible” sound quality.

In an announcement addressed to “to everyone who loves music” Young explains, “The simplest way to describe what we’ve accomplished is that we’ve liberated the music of the artist from the digital file and restored it to its original artistic quality – as it was in the studio. So it has primal power.”

Young assures you that you’ll really be able to tell the difference between a Pono recording and the same song played on a CD player or through your iPod.

“Hearing PONO for the first time is like that first blast of daylight when you leave a movie theater on a sun-filled day. It takes you a second to adjust. Then you enter a bright reality, of wonderfully rendered detail.”

In addition to an updated version of the Pono portable player seen on Letterman, Pono will also offer an online library. Expect more updates to come from Young and Team Pono.

Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon gave an interview earlier this week that scared some fans and music publications into thinking the band had put out its last song ever.

“I don’t really write songs anymore,” Vernon told Australia’s triple j radio when asked about Bon Iver. “The last Bon Iver record was a very ‘sitting down with a guitar and writing’ kind of record… I really have to be in a specific headspace to even begin to illuminate an idea that would create another Bon Iver record, and I’m just not there. I’m really honored that Bon Iver gives me a platform to do whatever I want, but there’s only so much time you can spend digging through yourself before you become insular. I’m not in a hurry to go back to that temperature. All of the music I’ve been making shifting away from Bon Iver feels really good … so if I ever do go back to Bon Iver it will be all the better for it.”

Well, you can’t believe everything you read online or hear on the radio – even if it’s straight from the singer’s mouth.

Bon Iver’s label, Jagjaguwar, assured Consequence Of Sound that, “Bon Iver is not over by any means.” The statement went on to say, “Justin isn’t currently writing Bon Iver songs, but that doesn’t mean he won’t write them in the future. Bon Iver is off-cycle, and that is not new news. Right now Justin’s concentration is on preparing for the Volcano Choir tour, the first date being in Chicago on Friday.”

So, there you go.

A Made In America attendee claims she suffered whiplash at the Philadelphia event after being slapped by A$AP Rocky.

The alleged victim filed a private criminal complaint with the district attorney’s office and the rapper is now facing a charge of assault, according to the Associated Press.

The concertgoer says the incident occurred Aug. 31 while A$AP was trying to wave away fans getting a little too close as he made his way through the crowd at the festival. She claims the rapper slapped her in the face – an open-palm slap, no less.