Mark Ronson & Florence Cover Kelly Clarkson

Enjoy their take on 'Since U Been Gone' at last night's Diesel XXX London party.


MP3: Mark Ronson - Stop Me (Remix)

Lou Reed Unfetters New Video

Enjoy a magnificent live performance of 'Caroline Says Part II' (featuring Antony) below.


MP3: Lou Reed & Antony - Caroline Says Part II (Live)

Dandy Warhols Announce New Charity Endeavor

Learn all about Breathe Easy in the clip below. Visit the benefit's MySpace page here.


MP3: Dandy Warhols - The World Come On

Lykke Li Duets With Bon Iver In LA

Enjoy their joint take on 'Dance Dance Dance' below. Visit Lykke on MySpace.


MP3: Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance

Alicia Keys & Jack White Debut New Video

Enjoy 'Another Way To Die' (the theme song to James Bond: Quantum Of Solace) below.


MP3: Alicia Keys - Like... (Remix)

Conor Oberst, M. Ward & Gillian Welch Cover Lucinda Williams

Enjoy their brilliant collaboration on 'Sharp Cutting Wings' (in Austin) below.


MP3: Conor Oberst - Danny Callahan

Sufjan Stevens & St. Vincent Cover Phil Collins In Brooklyn

Enjoy a snippet of this weekend's take on 'In The Air Tonight' in the clip below.


MP3: Sufjan Stevens - Chicago

Joan As Police Woman @ Bowery: An Eternal Flame

Four months ago I saw Joan As Police Woman at NYC's Mercury Lounge. On that spring evening, the trio (led by Joan Wasser) previewed a bevy of tunes from their romantic sophomore LP, To Survive. Now, with the album's release under their respective belts, Joan & the gang performed a proper 90 minute set which, once again, included myriad selections from the aforementioned record, as well as an assortment of tracks from their magnificent debut, Real Life. While the gig was undoubtedly alluring from start to finish, there are two moments that easily stand out for yours truly. One of which would be Joan's tremendously passionate take on Jimi Hendrix's 'Fire'. The other would be the surprise guest appearance by none other than Rufus Wainwright for the set closer, 'To America'. A genuinely beautiful collaboration. Read Joan's interview with The Guardian here. Visit Joan As Police Woman on MySpace. A handful of photos, the complete setlist & a Real Life era MP3 follow.









(Setlist) Honor Wishes. To Be Loved. The Ride. To Be Lonely. Holiday. Hard White Wall. Feed The Light. Magpies. Start Of My Heart. I Defy. Fire. Eternal Flame. Christobel. To America. (Encore) Real Life.

MP3: Joan As Police Woman - Eternal Flame

Chemical Brothers Set To Produce New MGMT LP

The pairing certainly has promise.

Read more at Pedestrian TV.

View my photos of MGMT @ McCarren Park here.

Visit MGMT on MySpace.

MP3: MGMT - Destrokk

Ben Gibbard & Zooey Deschanel Cover The Everly Brothers

Enjoy a snippet from their take on 'Dream' at last week's DNC benefit gig below.


MP3: Death Cab For Cutie - Wait

Crystal Castles Unveil New Video

Enjoy the Health/CC collaboration on 'Crimewave' below. Health MP3 at bottom.


MP3: Health - Girl Attorney

Mystery Jets Remix Own Tune With Help From Kate Nash

Check out 'Disco Elizabeth' below. Download a Mystery Jets track at bottom.


MP3: Mystery Jets - Hideaway (Switch Mix)

Johnny Marr Permanently Joins The Cribs, Readies New Single

The former Smith sure is keeping busy!

Learn all about his latest endeavor here.

The quartet's premiere collaboration will hit shops by Christmas.

Brand new press shot (featuring JM) accompanies this post.

Visit The Cribs on MySpace.

MP3: The Cribs - Men's Needs (CSS Mix)

Project Jenny Project Jan Preps Collaboration EP

The as-yet-untitled short player will feature:

Pela
Mixel Pixel
So Percussion
Fujiya & Miyagi

Visit PJPJ at the duo's official site.

MP3: PJPJ & So Percussion - You Said

Annie Duets With Sam Sparro On Transmission

Enjoy 'Black & Gold' alongside 'Heartbeat' below. View upcoming SS gigs here.


MP3: Sam Sparro - Black & Gold

Rock The Bells Festival @ Jones Beach (8/3)

This weekend we sent intrepid reporter Jed Garfunkel out to the wilds of Long Island to review the Rock The Bells Festival for us. Here's what he had to say:

Busta Rhymes joined A Tribe Called Quest and Jay-Z joined Nas at the Rock The Bells Festival at Jones Beach last night. The show was more like a big family reunion than your typical hip hop show. Other special guests included Pharoah Monch, Talib Kweli, Slick Rick, Biz Markie, Keith Murray and EPMD. At the end of the night I heard people over and over again exclaiming in disbelief that "everyone was here".

In fact, the festival brought something for everyone: a fan of Jazzy Hip Hop, New York Hip Hop, 90's Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop or just Hip Hop Culture. Sure there was the fair share of "yo, check out my next album dropping on the tip of the year" and "I am the greatest rapper ever, respect me". But something about the abundance of special guests, or the air thick with heavenly smoke lent itself to an over riding theme of "One Love".

Highlights from the day included Spank Rock with Amanda Blank, and obviously De La Soul, Mos Def, Pharcyde, Method Man and Redman, Ghostface and Raekwon. De La Soul played way early to a mostly empty venue, but they did bring out Black Sheep and Biz Markie and sampled "Just A Friend" at the end of their set.

Mos Def was joined by Talib Kweli for the second half of his set. This was one of the few sets not ruined by sound problems. Jones Beach was just not built to balance heavy bass. Even Nas sounded terrible, he had a full band backing him up and most of the set it was all drowned out. Method Man & Redman finally brought the crowd into a frenzy. The energy level jumped and after that point never really fell off. Slick Rick came out for the end of "Ladi Dadi". Keith Murray and EPMD also joined them, but it was all about Method Man, Redman the heavy clouds of blunt smoke and chants for the forthcoming "How High 2", which should be in theaters (or straight to DVD?) next summer.

After a half hour soundcheck which ended with the crowd booing to get started, Nas opened with "Hip Hop Is Dead" and proceeded through a greatest hits set spiced up with songs from his current number one album. Unfortunately at times it seemed he couldn't be bothered to remember all the lyrics and he even left epic lyrics from "If I Ruled The World" to be filled in by the audience. Late in the set Nas introduced Jay-Z by saying, "it's a tough world for a black man, hell, it's tough for any human being - bitch gotta catch a breath". To which Jay-Z burst onto the stage to do a duet of "Black Republicans". All in all I was very disappointed in Nas. His live band took away from the set and his trouble with lyrics kinda irritated me and took away from how awesome he spent half the set claiming to be.

Not to be outshined, A Tribe Called Quest brought all the hits and Busta Rhymes to show how it's done. The crowd went nuts for "Bonita Applebaum", "Check The Rhyme", "Electric Relaxation", "Oh My God", and on and on. It was their first NYC show in 11 years, since breaking up in 1998... and according to the rumors, Q-Tip has said it will be their last. Looking forward, Tribe's set also featured Q-Tip and his solo catalogue with a lot of lyrical assistance from Mos Def. But it was when Phife and Ali Shaheed Muhammad hit their mic's that the whole day really came together. I felt like the entire venue was experiencing true hip hop from its roots to its most modern expression. It seemed like everyone there, white, black, Philippino, Hispanic, entertainer and audience member was singing and dancing and experiencing that one love theme. By the time Busta Rhymes came out for "Scenario" and "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See", I was completely losing my shit. That's what a show should be. Well done, Tribe. Enjoy some photos from the event below.

Marianne Faithfull Duets With Antony On New LP

The pair will collaborate on 'Ooh Baby Baby'.

The track was originally recorded by Smokey Robinson.

Learn more about the album here.

MP3: Marianne Faithfull - Song For Nico

Brian Eno & David Byrne Team Up For New LP

Official statement is as follows: *David Byrne & Brian Eno have paired up for their first record together as co-writers since the highly influential and critically acclaimed 1981 release My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. Due out August 18, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is the culmination of a year’s worth of writing, recording and travel between New York & London. The album will be self released and made available as a stream and digital download for purchase exclusively through www.everythingthathappens.com.* Classic Talking Heads MP3 at bottom.

MP3: Talking Heads - Psycho Killer

The Tings Tings Eager To Work With Dizzee Rascal

TTT frontwoman, Katie White, explains: *We saw Dizzee Rascal at Glastonbury and he told us that he was planning to do a cover of our song for Radio 1's Live Lounge. He was like 'You know, we should work together.' We would actually love to do that as he's great. It would be good to do something new and just see what turns out. We make quite different music from each other but I think it would be interesting!* Read more over at NME. MP3 at bottom.

Enjoy my Q&A with The Ting Tings here.

MP3: The Ting Tings - Great DJ

The Subways Duet With Jamie Lidell

Watch their joint performance in Nokia's Green Room below. JL MP3 at bottom.


MP3: Jamie Lidell - Little Bit Of Feel Good (Mochipet Mix)