Ghosftace Killah and Novel have recorded a song dedicated to Rihanna and "my women out there getting beat up" and put it on the Internet. At first, with discussions of getting "sexed just right," I was worried that it was gonna be one of those awkward "thanks, but no thanks" dedications. But as it s...

Disclosures up front: I proposed to my future ex-wife at a Cheap Trick show, so I guess you could call me a fan. I think that Bun E. Carlos is a great drummer, undersung because he's not flashy in a band with a lot of flash. This is particularly true given that the band came of age in an era where d...

I first heard "Lips," by the British act Micachu and the Shapes, on the fine blog MBV last month, and in the weeks since its 80-second length has kicked around my head over and over. It's a jagged little slice of Brit-punk, with Micachu chanting over some instruments that sound like they're barely p...

I'm a simple man. I just want a band with synthesizer and girls yelling that sounds like McLusky. Is that so wrong? There are various comparisons you can make in the case of Fight Like Apes—their Wikipedia page throws in Devo, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and a bunch of ones that baffle me&mdash...

Last month, I wrote about R & B Kings 2009, a mixtape from Big Mike and DJ Neptune that featured new tracks from Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, and Bobby Valentino; over the weekend, a sequel to the mix leaked. This edition also has brand-new tracks by Ri-Ri, Justin, and Bobby, as well as premiere trac...

I'm on some kind of Springsteen kick today, so I figured I'd keep the train rolling and talk about Jason Anderson. In a world where The Hold Steady are pretty huge and The Gaslight Anthem are up-and-comers, it seems unfair to me that the former Wolf Colonel/Mount Eerie/Yume Bitsu member is overlooke...

Lily Allen's cover of the Clash track "Straight To Hell" appears on the latest charity comp for the outfit War Child, Heroes , and gets part of its pedigree from Mick Jones' appearance on backing vocals, as well as the factoid that Allen is actually the godchild of the late Joe Strummer. (Something ...

A friend asked me this morning, "Hey, do you know when we're actually going to hear new music by Neko Case?" And as if on cue, l found out this afternoon that the country-punk crooner had just put a track from her forthcoming album Middle Cyclone on MySpace. So cosmic! "People Got A Lotta Nerve" is ...

You can usually count on country music blog The 9513 to be a solid source for news within the genre, so it's not surprising that their top 50 songs of '08 list is full of solid picks from No. 1 on down. Plus, there's music by the adorable Joey + Rory scattered throughout, which should appeal to all ...

So I'm late to this party, apparently (the album came out all the way back when people in the States were complaining about the heat, not the cold), but Sybris' "Oh Man!"—which I heard for the first time on this weekend's installment of the late-night music show Fearless Music—may be mak...