Britney Spears - "Till The World Ends"

Hate all you want to, this is a banger.



In the words of Ms. Funai, a legend in her own right, "B has a house with 12 rooms in it, and 6 of them are full of wigs that she snatched off of haters.  Legend."

Love it.

Death Cab For Cutie - "You Are A Tourist"

Death Cab For Cutie released their newest single, "You Are A Tourist", last month and told us to expect something different from them with this new album.  Keeping in that same vein, DCFC announced that the video for their newest video would be filmed in one take and it would be broadcast live while it was filmed.  Check the video below.



I'm not sure how to feel about this new album.  I'm a huge fan of Ben's writing, with his love of the extremes and upbeat sadness.  The uncertainty comes from the fact that BG isn't really sad anymore.  For those unaware, he's married my personal crush object Zooey Deschanel since the release of their last album (don't worry, I've already worked through the pain), so he has absolutely nothing to be depressed about.  Here's how Sad Ben felt about marital bliss before:




"You said your vows and you closed the door on so many men who would have loved you more"

Amen to that.

We won't know for sure if he can still muster those emotions until Codes And Keys is released on May 30, but here's to hoping for the best.

Paolo Nutini - "Last Request"

This song is really speaking to me right now.


Paolo Nutini - Last Request (US version) from shmor on Vimeo.

Blogger Will Oliver of We All Want Someone To Shout For wrote this really short essay that picks at a thought that I as both a music lover and psuedo-blogger have been toying with for a while: when is too much music too much?  It's kind of an oddly disturbing thought to me.  At exactly what point is too much enough, especially when it's something you love?  And how much longer can we keep going before we hit that point?  Check it out.

Read here.

And for good measure, take this upbeat music video.  It'll make me feel better.


The New Pornographers: Crash Years from Rockonlelkek Staff on Vimeo.

New Childish Gambino EP

It's here and it's dope.  Stream all of Childish Gambino's new EP below.


Childish Gambino- Freaks and Geeks EP by blastyourmusic


I'm sorry, Drake who?


Download here.

Cults - "Go Outside" (MTV Supervideo Version)

In an attempt to end over-told jokes about there no longer being a need for the M in MTV, they've created Supervideos.  SVs take songs by, at least so far, artists that MTV doesn't play and hires actors and directors to make music videos for them.

I suppose I appreciate the sentiment:  using the actor's star power to attract people to hear new music.  But there are a few problems.  First of all, the "stars" that they used for the video to Cult's fantastically dreamy-but-playful "Go Outside" are Emma Roberts (Julia Robert's neice of Disney channel "fame") and Dave Franco (James Franco's brother of Greek "fame" [seriously, no one watches that show] and also one of the new cast members who ruined "Scrubs").  The other problem is that the video kinda sucks.  Hard.  Watch below.

MTV Shows

Favorite part: when they run because they see a Mexican.  Yea, that's what I do too.

Apparently the band agrees with me, because not only did they not promote the SV at all, but they went as far as to tweet that the real video is coming soon and that this is "just an MTV show", completely writing it off.  Burn.

**BONUS** - Also worth checking out, but this time because not only is the song dope but the SV features cutie Anna Kern: LCD Soundsystem's "Pow Pow".

Stream Lykke Li's "Wounded Rhymes"

Streaming full albums before they release seems to be all the rage these days.  Toro y Moi did it.  Radiohead did it.  Now it's Lykke Li's turn to give us the goods before Wounded Rhymes' March 1 release.

Stream here.

I've mentioned my love for Lykke Li before, and this album just piles it on.  My favorites so far?  "Sadness Is A Blessing".  Amen to that.

"I'm your prostitute.  You gon' get some."

Stream Radiohead's "The King Of Limbs"

Radiohead is always full of surprises.  About a week ago, Yorke and company announced that not only was their new album completed, but they would be releasing a digital copy to anyone who pre-ordered the album on Saturday.  As in, tomorrow.  Awesome.

People buzzed about how cool it was that we would all experience a simultaneous eargasm (I'm paraphrasing) when everyone listened to the album at about the same time; something that is rare these days thanks to the inception of album leaks.

Then, just to prove they're no one's bitch (my words, not theirs), they sent out the digital copy a day early.  Needless to say, the album spread across the internet like wildfire.  And, quite conveniently, you can stream the whole album here.  Who loves ya, baby?

 Radiohead - The King of Limbs by ThePEAK

Bonus!  With the early release of the album, the ban also released a music video for the first single, "Lotus Flower".  It has Yorke doing awkward white boy dances.  You're welcome.



God bless you, Thom Yorke, you magnificent, wonky-eyed bastard.

Coldplay - "Strawberry Swing"

This video makes me very happy.  Go ahead and get all the inevitable "You know how I know you're gay" jokes (why is that still happening, anyway?) out of your system.  I fucking love Coldplay.


Coldplay - Strawberry Swing from Hatem Zekri on Vimeo.

Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" Wins Album of the Year Grammy

In a rare moment of good judgment from National Academy of Recoding Arts and Sciences, Arcade Fire won the top honors, Album of the Year, at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.

I'm pumped that my favorite album of the past year was recognized, but the thing that excites me the most about the win is the shear triumph.  Appreciate the weight of the situation.  AF beat out mainstream phenoms Lady GaGa and Katy Perry, rap icon Eminem, and the airwave-invading Lady Antebellum.  All of these artists were constantly played on TV and radio.  Persistent exposure.  I can almost guarantee you that you've never heard Arcade Fire on the radio or seen their videos on TV (even though they're amazing).  The indie voice was heard loud and clear tonight, and it was beautiful.

Another beautiful moment:  after hearing that they won, lead singer Win announced that they were gonna play another song on the spot in celebration (and "because [they] like playing music"), and immediately burst into "Ready To Start".  This is what musicians look like, folks.

Celebrate with me by listening to "Month Of May", the track they played just before their win, and the aforementioned "Ready To Start".

 Month Of May by axfight

 Arcade Fire - Ready To Start by Lucky_Vitoria

Childish Gambino - Freaks and Geeks

CG just released another track from his upcoming EP, entitled "Freaks and Geeks".  This is the hardest I think I've ever heard him go, but with lines like, "Are there Asian girls here?/Minority Report!" and a particularly hard punchline about waffles, it's still got that Childish charm.  I have no idea what it's going to be named yet, but the EP should be out in "about a month or so", and the anticipation is getting kinda heavy.  Listen.

 Freaks & Geeks - Childish Gambino by GBZGBZ

Sick.

Erykah Badu - "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long"

Erykah Badu is an artist who has been praised the world over for her music, but because of her post-1994 Afrocentricity and penchant for weirdness, I feel like people overlook one other thing:  she's damn pretty.

General rule of thumb:  Never question Three Stack's judgment.

See her new video for "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long" below.


Erykah Badu - Gone Baby, Don't be Long from beeple on Vimeo.


Badu's latest album New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh is a phenomenal addition to her catalog.  For good measure, here's the controversial music video to my favorite song from the album, "Window Seat".


Erykah Badu "Window Seat" from triggerhappy on Vimeo.

Toro Y Moi - "New Beat"

If you troll the indie music blogs even casually, you've no doubt seen the unsettling (at least to me, it is) album cover for Toro Y Moi's Underneath The Pine.  Despite the barrage of hype, the album actually doesn't come out until the end of the month, which speaks to how good the tracks that have been released already actually are.  Here's the very recently released video for the newest track "New Beat".


Toro Y Moi - "New Beat" (Official Video) from Urban Outfitters on Vimeo.

Does this remind anyone else of those pictures of STDs they showed us back in Health class?

Be sure to check out Underneath The Pine when it drops on 2/22.

**EDIT** - Thanks to Urban Outfitters, you can stream the album in it's entirety here.  Love it.

Chiddy Bang - Rebel

New track from Chiddy Bang's upcoming album The Swelly Life.  Check it.

Chiddy Bang - Rebel by Pretty Much Amazing

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?

A couple of days ago, comedian Michael Ian Black tweeted that "Listening to 80s music is great for an hour or so.  Not sure how we did it for a decade."  He's got a point.  After a while, things you start to feel sick, like when you eat too much candy.  Too much of a good thing, I suppose.  That being said, I could listen to The Smiths for hours.  Morrisey's not-really-good-but-somehow-amazing vocals give me hope that one day I can be a frontman despite my voice, or lack thereof.  (I'd have dope stage presence.  You don't even know.)  I feel like if I was born a few years earlier on in the 80s, I would have needed The Smiths just to make everything else more palatable.  Here's one of my favorites by them.  You may recognize it as the theme song to the show "Charmed".

 How Soon Is Now? - The Smiths by ruinednation

...and here's Death Cab For Cutie covering another great Smiths song, This Charming Man:



Interesting fact:  Mexican gangs are really into The Smiths.  It makes me wonder if they're aware of the homosexual overtones.

Lykke Li - "I Follow Rivers (Dave Sitek Remix)"

For the uninitiated, Lykke Li is an indie goddess.  Li's new single "I Follow Rivers" got the remix treatment from TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek.  Listen/download below.

Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers (Dave Sitek Remix) by Pretty Much Amazing

Also check out a couple of older Lykke Li tracks that made her debut Youth Novels one of my favorites.  First, there's "Little Bit", a fantastic song about the vulnerability you feel when you realize that you just fell in love.  (Also great: the line "For you, I'd keep my legs apart".  Yes please.)

 Little Bit by LykkeLi

Second is "I'm Good, I'm Gone", which is her refusal to be set back by love.  I love the sentiment.  Watch the vid which has Lykke doing weird dances and female bodybuilders playing the drums for no discernible reason.


Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone from Lykke Li on Vimeo.

And be sure to check out Lykke Li's sophomore album Wounded Rhymes on March 1.

Love this bitch.

Adele feat. Childish Gambino - "Rolling In The Deep (Jamie xx Remix)

One of my idols teams up with one of my favorite songstresses?  My God, life is awesome.

 Adele - Rolling in the Deep (Jamie xx remix) ft. Childish Gambino (wemakeitbetter) by JThunder

Fresh.

Das Racist's Heems Remixes "Teenage Dream"

 VS. 

What a weird day for music.  First, there was that Kesha track that Three Stacks made worth listening to (almost), and now this.  Das Racist's Heems took Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream", slowed it down, and rapped over it in his too-cool-to-care monotone.  Listen/Download below.

Das Racist's Heems x Katy Perry - Teenage Dream by Pretty Much Amazing

She looks like a sluttier version of Zooey Deschanel, so of course, I dig.

Kesha & Andre 3000 - Sleazy (Remix)

Kesha (I refuse to use that fucking dollar sign) is the musical antichrist.  I know I said that about Soulja Boy, but Satan is tricky.  He takes many forms.

Anyway, using said trickery, Her Unholiness managed to get Outkast's Andre 3000, undeniably one of the best lyricists out there, to put his talents to use on a remix of her song "Sleazy".  I don't want to talk about my disgust.  Just listen below.

Sleazy (Remix) - Ke$ha feat. André 3000 by HDMI44

I also refuse to taint my blog with a picture of Kesha, so take this picture of Three Stacks looking fly instead.

Beth Ditto

Beth Ditto is a big girl with an even bigger voice.

Yesterday, the Gossip frontwoman released a self-titled solo EP.  Listen to the electropop track "I Wrote The Book" below.

Beth Ditto - I Wrote The Book by dynmk

And for good measure, here she is with the rest of  Gossip in the video for Heavy Cross.  The video's a little gauche for my tastes, but Beth's doing her own thing, so you gotta respect that.

Gossip - Heavy Cross from Popbytes on Vimeo.


*BONUS FUN FACT*: Some doctors have been quoted as saying that they consider her to be a danger to public health because her self-love, despite her heft, is "normalizing public obesity".  No bullshit.

Yeah.