
(Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman) It's getting to the point where you can make a top ten celebrities who have passed away this year but I will stick with the more standard top songs of the year. Some of my favorites still came out in 2006 ( Young Folks, Yeah Yeah, all of the Hold Steady) so it was a bit tricky especially with my conscious decision to not include Soulja Boy . It holds a special place on a separate list of most amazingly bizarre songs/dance moves [...]

Instead of searching my iTunes library for words like 'Halloween', 'Ghost', 'Spooky' and 'Pumpkin' and posting the songs for HypeMachiners, here's a re-recommendation to download Party Time 2000's Halloween Mixtape. Click here to download the mixtape. Track List: 1. Intro (RATATAT + MARTY G) 2. MSTRKRFT - Paris 3. Simian Mobile Disco - I Got This Down 4. Phil Collins + Vitalic = In the Repair Machines Tonight 5. Le Tigre - I'm So Excited 6. t.A.t.U. - Y Shosla S [...]

Terius Nash aka " The-Dream " and Tricky Stewart co-wrote Umbrella and supposedly put it on hold for Britney Spears. Spears passed on the song, instead opting for Me Against The Music , and during a session with Rihanna , the Bahama Mama snatched it up and made it the mega-hit of the Summer. According to The-Dream, Umbrella was written in just twelve minutes. [...]
HOLY CRAP, people. How did I miss this for months and months? Why didn't you tell me? It's a good thing I went to the mall yesterday. Lil Mama - Lip Gloss ( itunes )
Funky Friday has been AWOL for two weeks now. Today I rectify that with a bumper selection of beats and bass and grooviness, a nice little mixtape that goes from hip hop to '70s prog, with stops at techno, post-punk, acid and the '80s. Prepare to get down... Midnight Juggernauts - Shadows Calvin Harris - Merrymaking At My Place Lil Mama - Lipgloss The Knife - Pass This On (M.A.N.D.Y. Remix)
Just because I don't write about hip-hop doesn't mean I don't listen to it. Normally I don't write about because I have no idea what I'm talking about, and I'm the first to admit it. These are just some releases I like lately. My taste in hip-hop and rap usually runs closer to Immortal Technique, the Coup, and Del the Funky Homosapien than the music I'm posting here, though. Example - You Can't Rap [download or die] I found about about Mike Skinner (aka Example) from Joshua over at [...]
It's that time of the season again. No, not that. Jesus, get your head outta the gutter. And no, it's not "baseball all star season" either. I'm talking about the time of the season where I round up recent requests and then post the songs that you, the readers, have requested. I call it "request season time". Here we go...

Image: Mina Magee On Tuesday Chicago was Minnesota: Land of 10,000 Lakes. A late afternoon cloudburst (4 inches in 45 minutes) and our capricious sewers flipped the off switch and hit the picket line; viaducts turned into churning gray sludge pools and generally smooth east-west arteries were sudden stroke victims. I made it by diverted "express" bus as far north as Lake Shore Drive and Addison, then walked the rest of the three miles home. Which wouldn't have been dire if I'd been [...]
Lil Mama, will we remember you in six months? I don't know but your "Lip Gloss" is everywhere we turn these days. Summer jam of '07... and totally irresistible to every single bedroom producer. Some favorite remixes... Lil Mama - "Lip Gloss" (Kid Fresh & Haterboy ReFix) (mp3 via Kid Fresh ) Lil Mama - "No Music" (STARKEY REFIX) (mp3 via Different Kitchen ) Lil Mama - "Lip Gloss" [...]

I'm sorry, but it's that time of year, and I just don't feel like writing; so here's the story of Shitt Hottt, an awesome band that found it's way onto my iPod recently. From their myspace page: Once upon a time, there were three princesses - Michelle, Andrea and Ryan. They'd been talking about forming a band together. Andrea would play the drums, Michelle would play the guitar, and Ryan would play the bass. One night, after an enchanted Kickball tournament, a fourth princess appeared - Sarah. She announced that [...]

I think one of the most significant progressions in my ways of listening to music over the years is that I've come to realize that chart positions and sales figures don't matter that much. They just indicate what is on high rotation at the moment, which is not necessarily all good. If I think a song is crap, its topping the chart doesn't change a thing. Of all of the hip-hop/rap/r&b stuff that currently reigns the single/album charts, most of which I'd never listen to again, or be bothered. That's not to say I'm ignorant of the genre, because there [...]
So, apparently I've vastly misjudged Lil' Mama ... Now, granted-the first song to trickle from the pre-pubescent wonder, the too-fucking-catchy "Lip Gloss", was, while a total confection, a bit…uh…lightweight. To hold her to any sort of lyrical mic-rockin' standard is a bit too "my daughter's nine and entering into swim suit competitions" for my taste (she's like 14), but it's undeniable that the girl's a triple-threat on the come-up: she can sing, she can rap, and she can dance (check the "Lip Gloss" vid for some jaw-dropping cuteness). [...]

Brooklyn's Lil Mama may only be 17, but she could sure as hell give most of her older peers a run for their money. The only track we've heard from her so far, the minimalistic 'Lip Gloss', features only handclaps and drums as a backbeat, relying almost entirely on Lil Mama's rapping to carry the beat. Not many rappers could pull something like that off, but Lil Mama does it without breaking a sweat. 'Lip Gloss' won't win any awards for lyrical depth, but that's just about the worst thing you can say about. Keep your eye on this girl. [...]
totally sleepin' on stuff this week... more Lil Mama jams, but still no word on an LP/EP Lil Mama :: No Music [MP3] Jay -Z + Lil Mama :: Show Me What You Got Remix [MP3] AND some friends from milwaukee are getting ridiculous inter-props, with tons of write ups, so clock the Glamour. ...
You're sitting there, looking over the obnoxious amount of Patrick Wolf coverage we've given over the past week or so, the Presets remixes and something about the Klaxons and thinking "I have about had it with Shaun, Trixie, Hacks and whoever else they rustle up trying to attempt to convince me that such-and-such song is sooooo good." See-I know what you're thinking. And,yeah, me too. Honestly, intellectualizing pop music gets really, really tired. (that Timbaland record exhausted me.) So here. Some refreshment from your regular attempt-at-intell. "Ooh we're Resonator we know soooo much". [...]
A stunning work of art from a talented new voice in video, photography and film... Aereogramme "Conscious Life" dir. by Tobias Feltus written by Ruth Moore Music videos and silent film seem to be dialectically opposed forms of cinema. MTV started in the 1980s while single reel films where on the rise in the 18 [...]
Her name has been floating around for a few weeks now (so this is likely old news), but if you haven't yet checked out Lil Mama, do it. Her lead single, Lip gloss, has stellar production, the lyrics are ok, and a strong hook. Keep an eye on this ...