Robyn releases adorable, amazing etc new video for “Hang With Me”

There’s just something about Robyn that I love so much.  She’s extremely cute, a badass, and her brand of pop music is actually smart and biting.  I just got her new album “Body Language Pt. 1” yesterday and I seriously haven’t been able to stop listening to it.  The only thing I dislike about it is that the single version of “Hang With Me” is not included…. Because it’s coming out with Pt. 2 released in September.

In support of that album, Robyn’s relased a new video for the song and holy crap is it great.  Leave it to Robyn to take the cliched touring idea and make it fresh and innovative.  The video really gives you an inside look at her personality and the spirit of being on the road.  And the song is all kinds of amazing.  So please come inside to watch….

Liz Phair releases surprise new album

Like most Liz fans, I’m both surprised and confused by the news that she released a new album this past weekend.  The album, titled Funstyle, is available for purchase on Phair’s site for only $5.99 (digital or physical copies can be purchased), but it’s the music that has everyone talking.  First off, let’s begin with Bollywood–the smart, if not completely batshit, single Phair decided to release as a preview for her album.  And before I go any further, you need to listen to the song to truly understand what I am talking about.

Jenny Lewis and Jonathan Rice Debut New Single and Tour Dates!

It’s a fabulous day to be me because Jenny Lewis has released a new song with her boyfriend Jonathan Rice called “Scissor Runner” AND they’ve announced a tour together which means I WILL GET TO SEE HER LIVE! I’m pretty freakin excited as I’m a huuuuuuuge fan of Jenny and I’m really hoping she plays some songs from Rabbit Fur Coat during the set.  Anyway, “Scissor Runner” is available for a free download at their site if you sign up for their newsletter and you also have the option to buy their new album, released later this summer, in a number of packages.  The song definitely has some Fleetwood Mac undertones and is one you can’t listen to just once.   Tour dates after the cut!

Neko Case Will F*ck You Up

I’m seeing the New Pornographers Sunday night and it makes me almost giddy with excitement to know that Neko Case hasn’t lost her fire and is unafraid to threaten to fight every person in a show’s audience.

Because that’s exactly what she did at Boston’s House of Blues last week.  After a fan threw a CD directly at Pornographers frontman Carl Newman, Case was quick to remind the crowd that she’s “a piece of sh*t white trash” and then proceeded to declare war on whoever the culprit was.  Via AV Club:

Case showed her polemic punk-rock roots when she chided the audience, “I will go to jail—I don’t give a shit. I will fuck you up. I will fight every single fucking person in this room. Seriously, don’t pull that shit again.” The CD remained unharmed. “It’s still good,” Case said, “we can re-sell that.” (Hat tip, @riotactmedia)

Video of the threatening can be seen after the cut.  

Justin Bieber Kicks Off My World Tour

Last night Justin Bieber kicked off his My World tour in Hartford, CT and if you can hear him above the SHRIEKING girls, he sounded really good and seemed to do really well.

I have to question the artistic taste of whoever had the briliant idea of sending him up in a metal heart to play an acoustic set but what the eff, that was the video I could barely hear anything in so I guess fifteen year old girls hit puberty during that set.

If you’d like to see more of the videos from the tour, then please click click click away! Anyone else going to see him this summer?

Who Will Be The Legendary Artists 20 Years From Now?

Last night I was watching Behind the Music: Courtney Love (which was amazing, let me tell you) and I was so taken aback by how RAW she was performing in the nineties that it floored me. I know her tour manager called it a disaster whenever she would open her mouth on stage, but those performances have come to be nothing short of legendary in the past fifteen years.

I’m FINALLY, after almost four long years of unwavering support, getting to see Courtney live a week from today, and while I’m about to die waiting in antcipation, I can only imagine what it would have been like to see Love in her prime.  Yes, she’s clean and sober now and is still putting on a great show, but who doesn’t love Love when she’s stage diving and telling audience members to “get up on stage so I can kick your butt”?  Which got me thinking, which artists of my generation will be the ones that twenty years from now everyone will say, “I would have KILLED to see them in their prime”?

Read on for my possible predictions, and please add yours in the comments!

M.I.A. Ignites War/Hell on Earth For NYT Writer Who Bashed Her

Oh, M.I.A.  She’s never afraid to trash other celebrities (like Lady Gaga!) or give out the personal work number of the New York Times writer Lynn Hirschberg who wrote a scathing profile on the singer, attacking everything from M.I.A. bluffing her political knowledge to lying about status of her father.  And I personally love her for it.  For the tl;dr crowd, I give you: the ten most blistering parts of the New York Times profile via New York Magazine.

For anyone  wanting the other side of the story, M.I.A., personally hellbent on destroying  Lynn Hirschberg’s career, has posted the “true” story over at her blog which you can read and listen to here.  In the meantime sharpen your claws and come inside for a deliciously catty takedown of the artist….

Reason #546 I Love Kelis

Having disappeared from the game for almost four years, Kelis has bounded back as aggressively and ferociously as possible: with a brand new sound.

I’ve always loved Kelis for the simple fact that she speaks her mind, and doesn’t seem like someone you would want to mess with because she would cut you.  Similarly, I’ve always been a fan of Kelis’s work dating back to the Milkshake days (and especially when she released Bossy), but with the release of her latest single “Acapella” (sic) I was completely taken aback by the maturity and classy sexiness she had poured into her latest work.  The sound is decidedly disco meets electro-pop, a huge leap from her previous R&B/occasional alternative albums and it suits her beautifully.  From what I’ve heard, Kelis recorded the entire album of Flesh Tone with her son in my mind and Acapella is her love song to him.

The video is extremely futuristic and creative, and is stirring a lot of buzz for the album that will be released sometime in July (although I will be buying this directly from Amazon UK this week because I honestly can not wait to get my hands on it).  You can see the video in all it’s glory after the jump!

Why Fleeetwood Mac’s Rumours Should Be Required Listening For Anyone In Their Twenties

For years one of my best friends in the entire world was (and is) absolutely obsessed with Fleetwood Mac.  She would buy nearly everything relating to them or Stevie Nicks (her goddess) and almost cried when I gave her Stevie’s greatest hits one year for Christmas.  I always respected her love of them, and I always had a general idea of who Stevie Nicks was but I because was either A) lost in my grunge period or B) lost in my indie rock period, I never got around to actually listening to Fleetwood Mac until this past March when I was home for spring break.

And then it was as if every piece of my confusion, anger, hurt, and resilience was found in that record the first time I heard it.  I had never, since Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville, felt so connected to an album.   And I realized, I was very happy I had waited until I was twenty to listen to this.

Katy Perry Performs California Gurls (to a mostly dead crowd)

I’ll admit, for a while I was skeptical and worried about if Katy Perry could survive 2010 after America has become the United State of Gaga but with the release of her new single California Gurls I’m beginning to breathe easy. Yes, I love Katy Perry and you can shove it if you don’t.  I saw her live AND have her autograph.

The song has recently clocked in at number two on Billboard and for good reason, it’s a fun, summery song.  Katy recently performed the single at some event the CW was doing (nothing the CW does is noteworthy or important anymore) but oddly the audience was not having it.  Homegirl gave it her all but there was basically no movement, dancing, or hands going up like she requested.  (To which I say, please give me your effing ticket so IIIIII can enjoy it)  Katy gave it her all though and put on a lovely performance which you can watch after the jump!