Score one for the album form. Pink Floyd just won a case against EMI guaranteeing their albums can never be broken up. Translation: If you want to put “Money” on your next mixtape, you’ll have to pick up the whole album. No singles, no solo mp3 sales, and no compromises.

It’s good news for anyone who’s worried about the long-player surviving into the internet age. (iTunes LP certainly wasn’t doing anyone any favors.) We suggest breaking out your copy of Animals in celebration—and don’t feel bad about skipping the filler.

At the risk of coming off as music bloggers, we’re pretty excited about all this Black Keys business.

Blakroc’s been getting quite a lot of play around these parts, but they’re due for a triumphant return to form. Better yet, the duo trekked down to Alabama’s Muscle Shoals to record it, which might be one of our favorite places in America.

Tragically, we’ll have to wait until May for anything more than speculation. But we’ll think of this as a summer preview.

File this one under “sign of the times.” The music landscape is pretty fractured, but nowadays a good—make that great— rock album is enough to bring together Rza, an off-stage Jonas brother and, for some reason, Jake Gyllenhaal. Bravo, gentlemen. And extra points for the Lennon shirt.

We’re always up for tales of rock ‘n’ roll debauchery, so we’re more than a little excited for The Runaways. So much so, that we’re going to pretend we’ve never heard of this Twilight business.

Even if it’s not a masterpiece of film (and the jury’s still out), we’ll be happy if it means getting the band’s catalog back into the world’s DJ crates. If you haven’t bothered, you might be in for quite a surprise. This one, for instance, is a hell of an album, and the beautiful-girl-gone-badass look doesn’t hurt one bit. Their sound is more Cheap Trick than Ramones—under other circumstances, we might even describe it as cock rock—which should make it the perfect soundtrack for tales of booze, drugs and music-industry shenanigans.

At least until someone gets around to filming the Blondie story.

It’s a new year, and while Carson Daly is beginning to bear an eerie resemblance to Dick Clark, it’s not all the same. If you happened to be huddled around a television Thursday night—quaint, we know—you may have been interrupted by the terrifying new Jay-Z video, “On to the Next One.” It’s a new year, all right…

Making a play for Kanye’s “Mad Bomber of Rap” crown, Hov piles up quick cuts, soundstage lighting circa ’96, and a genuinely unnerving amount of corpse makeup for a black-and-white spectacle of post-Gaga pop music. Trent Reznor might have something to say about its self-proclaimed freshness, but it’s certainly a long way from “Heart of the City,” and even farther from “Auld Lang Syne.” 2010 is in for some pretty wild dance parties.

See the video»

The music issue of the Oxford American is a pretty reliable source for forgotten gems from the early days of rock ‘n’ roll—not coincidentally, they tend to be southern—and the latest issue digs up a gem from one of our favorite forgotten corners: rockabilly.

The gentleman in question is Larry Donn, a would-be Jerry Lee Lewis figure who cut a few good singles and a few more great ones, but got lost among the cultural upheavals of the 60s, and is resurfacing these days as a cultural curio on the European circuit. Thanks to the magic of mp3s, his early stuff is trickling back into circulation, but the original 45s are among the more valuable rockabilly vinyls on the market. For now, we’ll stick with the digital version.

Hear Donn’s first track»

Trivia and geekery have flourished on the internet since the DARPA days, but one species of obsessive may be finally getting his flash-enabled due: the cratedigger.

WhoSampled (hat tip) is a site specializing in tracing rap samples to their original sources. So if you type in “D’Evils,” and you get pointed back to the Allen Toussaint song where the piano riff began life. And if you were wondering exactly how many producers had taken cuts from Isaac Hayes, this would be the best place to find out.

It’s trivia, and not obviously useful, but we wouldn’t be surprised if a few 90s rap fans were accidentally converted to the gospel of 70s soul.

Following in the footsteps of Radiohead’s USB box set earlier this year, the Fab Four’s catalog is being digitally repackaging into a handy USB drive, concealed in this plastic apple along with a few mini-documentaries, rare photos from the archive and digitally enhanced liner notes.

It’ll set you back nearly $300—thanks to the usual New Medium price hike—but it’s handier than carrying around a dozen jewel cases. Still, we might hold out for the Stones’ tongue drive.

Old Hollywood had its share of great directors, but genuine iconoclasts are in surprisingly short supply. So when one like Samuel Fuller pops up in the archive, we tend to take notice.

From the 50s on, he was a reliable source for brutally effective flicks delivered in the most direct style possible. He became a French new wave favorite a little later, but he’s only now getting his due as one of the great macho filmmakers Hollywood ever produced.

A collection of some of his lesser known works hit shelves yesterday with a gem called Underworld U.S.A. bundled up inside. The movie’s a standard issue mob revenge story—as in, “My name is Tolly Devlin. You killed my father. Prepare to die”—with Cliff “Uncle Ben” Robertson in the icy central role. It’s high-grade pulp, make no mistake, but it’s got the kind of paranoid edge that makes good pulp into great film. And if you’re looking for a lost gem to fill out your DVD collection, it’s hard to find a better one.

Michael Jackson’s posthumous single, “This Is It,” debuted online Monday, but after a little legal wrangling, it looks like it’s going to be a grand comeback for more than just Jackson. In what has to be the unlikely pop culture development of the new millennium, jinglemeister Paul Anka will be taking home half the royalties, thanks to a co-writing credit.

Apparently “This is It” was originally planned for Anka’s 1983 album, but Jackson slipped away with the demo tapes after they were recorded. We’re not surprised he ran off…but we’re a little surprised Anka got him in the studio at all. Jackson was still riding a shockingly long string of #1 singles and Anka was certainly no McCartney.

With due respect to the man who wrote “My Way,” it looks like Jacko held him in higher esteem than just about anyone in Los Angeles—and we have no idea why. If you’re so moved, you can dig through Anka’s back catalogue to try to figure it out, but we prefer to chalk it up to creative eccentricity.

Hear the two geniuses at work»

If you need a bit of piano pop and existentially troubling cinematography to tide you through the weekend, the new video from Au Revoir Simone is premiering here at noon on Sunday, and the man behind the camera is none other than David Lynch.

Which means it’s guaranteed to make you smarter.

We’re always on the lookout for late summer grooves, and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James just turned us onto one of the best ones we’ve heard in quite some time. In BlackBook’s summer roadtrip roundup, he recommends scoring a southern drive with a single song played over and over: William DeVaughn’s “Be Thankful For What You’ve Got.” And after keeping it on repeat for a solid 20 minutes, we’d have to agree.

The only problem? They forgot to provide a playable version. Luckily, we’re happy to oblige. Sunroof not included»

She & Him may have a lot to answer for.

On the heels of her widely tolerated Anywhere I Lay My Head, Scarlett Johansson is prepping an album with soft-rock crooner Pete Yorn. The album was recorded before Ms. Deschanel ever connected with M. Ward, but the pair decided to keep it under wraps until the time was right. But now that ScarJo’s making preliminary rounds for Iron Man 2, the iron is most definitely hot, and the magazine circuit is willing to oblige. Sadly, the only leaked tracks have been conveniently muted, but curious parties can still check out the promo trailer. Fair warning: it’s a tease»

As you may have noticed, John Hughes is in the midst of his very own posthumous cultural moment, which means gushing remembrances, critical reconsiderations and, best of all, dance remixes. Luckily, his fans have good taste.

Eclectic Method—the same folks who brought you the Tarantino mixtape—have turned their attention to the auteur of 80s angst, and the result is five minutes of iconic clips chopped and pulverized into a danceable nostalgia salad. It focusses mostly on The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (yes, including “Twist and Shout”), but that leaves them with enough whistles, screams and off-key clarinet for a full-scale multimedia symphony.

Watch it after the jump»

Unfortunately, we were stuck a time zone away from the madness that is Lollapalooza, but our Windy City correspondent Chris LaMorte was able to keep us up to date with a few snaps and a few dispatches.

Our favorite t-shirt came from this gentleman, whose shirt details some of the more memorable eyeglasses of the past few decades. (For the record, we’re most partial to Mr. Fellini.)

As for the bands, here’s a quick roundup a few of the more memorable acts»

Full albums have had a rough time lately for lots of reasons—unlike mixtapes, they cannot convey how you really feel—but the shift to mp3s and iPods certainly hasn’t helped. Luckily for Pink Floyd fans, Apple’s getting ready to throw them a bone.

Jobs & Co’s upcoming tablet computer is being hailed as a potential savior for the album format because of its easy display of ancillary materials like virtual booklets, liner notes, and pictures of Brian Eno. All that extra swag will supposedly convince the youth to listen to long-players the way God intended, but we’re not so sure. Last time around, the industry didn’t have rap skits to deal with.

We’ve gushed about this before, but we thought you might be due for a reminder. Starting today, the entire televised output of The State will be available on DVD, just in time for Bastille Day.

It’s a very conceptual breed of comedy, but the familiar faces (if not names) and cred factor should make it worth picking up even if you aren’t a comedy nerd. And the appeal of $240 worth of pudding is pretty much universal.

After the jump, The Bearded Men of Space Station 11!!!»

For anyone who was worried (500) Days of Summer was going to be a soufflé of hipster melancholy…here’s a Smiths cover! For the soundtrack of the upcoming flick, Zooey & M. turn in a retro version of the maudlin Mancunian waltz, about what you’d expect given their track record. And based on what we’ve seen of the film, we’d guess it captures the mood almost exactly.

The trailer for The Beatles: Rock Band just debuted at E3, and it’s one of the more outright spectacular game trailers we’ve ever seen. Anyone interested has heard all the songs a few dozen times, and the Rock Band routine is hardly news, but the back half of the trailer suggests a level of tripped-out visuals that’s more in line with the Cirque du Soliel.

Which makes a certain amount of sense.

Watch the trailer»

There’s no shortage of campy Japanese imports these days, but the pioneers still have a bit of kick in them. For instance, our old friend Mr. Racer…

Speed Racer has finally made it to Hulu (via Autoblog), with 51 of the 52 American episodes just uploaded to the increasingly monolithic network video site. It’s every bit as over-the-top as you remember it, even if recent years (and a certain Wachowski Brothers film) have made the sensory overload a bit more manageable.

Now the question is, how soon can they get the Hanna-Barbera catalog up there?

Sing along with us»

Bootlegging aside, the computer screen isn’t the ideal place to watch most movies. Television, on the other hand, may be just about perfect.

Twin Peaks, for instance, has been posted on CBS.com since February without much fanfare, but it’s by far the best reason to visit the site. The show is still in the running for the best thing David Lynch has ever made, and it’s a direct ancestor of heavily plotted series from The X-Files to Lost. In short, it’s worth a couple dozen hours of your time, and by putting it on their site, CBS is reminding us they had the good sense to put it on the air in the first place.

Although we shudder to think about what Mr. Lynch thinks of it all.

It looks like John Varvatos will be getting a bit more rock cred in the form of his very own radio show, kicking off this evening with a live show from the New York Dolls’ record release party in his Bowery shop.

Of course, we’ll have to wait to see what his picks are like, but indications so far are that the show will focus on Detroit bands and fellow travelers, which makes us pretty damn excited. From Smokey Robinson to Juan Atkins, the city’s done more for American music than anywhere else we could name—we’re looking at you, Memphis—so it’s nice to have someone on the airwaves spreading the gospel. Even if we get the feeling he’ll be sticking to the earlier end of the spectrum.

Old tech is usually left to the limbo of the semi-vintage market—VHS tapes for a quarter, anyone?—but the nice thing about limbo is that there’s usually a way out.

Case in point: Best Buy may be getting back into the vinyl game. The vinyl resurgence isn’t news, but no one expected it to get this far into the mainstream. Of course, that’s what happens when the only positive parts of the music industry’s balance sheet are digital downloads and 33s. Best Buy has to justify shelf space just like anyone else, and they certainly can’t fill it with mp3s.

Does this mean they’ll be stocking turntables too?

The Pixies reunion is finally bearing fruit…at least in reissue form.

Their four and a half albums are being brought together for a compilation titled Minotaur with new packaging, artwork, and a bonus live set circa 1991. The real surprise is that they’re skipping the usually obligatory remastering, so the sound will be every bit as crisp (or murky) as it always was. Naturally, there’s a set of Limited and Deluxe editions tagging along, but as far as we’re concerned, a new set of platters is all you need.

Who knows, they might even find a reason to tour.

It looks like the 90s comedy troupe The State is finally getting the DVD treatment. Of course, it’s been a long time coming, especially given the original series cult status and the long, long string of projects State members have done in the years since the show was canceled—including (deep breath) Reno 911, Wet Hot American Summer, Stella, Wainy Days, The Baxter, The Ten, Role Models, and the unrecognized masterpiece Herbie Fully Loaded.

See the DVD trailer, and a few of the better sketches»

The deep end of the hi-fi pool can be hard to manage, but it’s worth a dip or two—especially if you’ve ever wanted to hear every last backup singer in Pretzel Logic.

The Gizmodo kids have spent all week detailing the particulars of the stereo kingdom—including an economic breakdown of six-figure speakers that should come in handy for anyone considering a stereo that costs more than their car—but our favorite post is this gem taking you inside the ear of a bonafide audiophile, with the help of a $350,000 stereo setup.

The real surprise is exactly which music gets play on such a system. Naturally, the Buzzcocks don’t do terribly well, but the 70s seem to have been a pretty fertile decade for audiophile fodder. Gizmodo’s particular trip down the rabbit hole featured an Eno-assisted David Bowie (“Heroes”), a post-Eno Roxy Music (“Avalon”) and a remarkably lush sidetrip into the world of French techno (Air’s Talkie Walkie).

All rich, nuanced sonic landscapes…but was a little Daft Punk too much to ask for? We’d say journalistic integrity demands nothing less.

As new media gurus will line up to tell you, there’s a sea change going on and some industries will weather it better than others. The big surprise: public radio’s actually looking pretty good.

Jersey City’s WFMU—known to some as Yo La Tengo’s favorite radio station—just launched a project called the Free Music Archive, imagined as a curated source for the best free music on the internet. Of course, anyone with a server and a few industry connections can start stockpiling files, but when it’s a station that’s spent the past 50 years digging up some of the most interesting obscuro cuts on record, they have a lot more going for them than just technology.

We admit it. We’re impressed»

The reissue game is one of the few tricks the music industry has left, so it’s only natural that the Beatles would eventually get the treatment. Their complete catalog is being remastered and repackaged to be sold alongside The Beatles: Rock Band starting on September 9th. Naturally, the packaging is immaculate…but we can’t help but worry about what’s inside.

The case against remastering»

We’d cooled off lately on our effusive love for Kanye, but it turns out all we needed was a good reminder.

Kanye’s performance Wednesday night was enough to win back our interest. The song wasn’t bad, but the chambray shirt, and effortless use of the trucker tux won us over. It also didn’t hurt that he was rocking RRL jeans, which might be our favorite denim product ever.

Of course, he’s made a few good videos in the time since too, but the crucial thing has always been public performance. And, like nobody else in music, Mr. West understands how to dress the part.

Cue the video»

It’s been a while since the last Mad Men episode, so we’re looking for we’d almost forgotten how much we like Jon Hamm. Luckily, he reminded us.

This Funny or Die clip showcases Mr. Draper’s comedy chops, taking on the role of a bailout-seeking Lex Luthor. Naturally, it requires him to trade his usual pomade-heavy coiffure for a bald wig, and the suit isn’t up to his usual standard, but we’re ready to be pitched just about anything at this point.

And as bailout seekers go, we still like him more than John Thain.

See the video»

Vinyl obsessives tend to be pretty retro-minded, but going back to our lumberjack ancestors may be pushing it. Then again, maybe not.

Audiowood (via NotCot) specializes in turntables made from raw slices of wood. You don’t see much bark outside of ski lodges, but given that you probably had to dig up most of your records from inclement conditions, it’s only fitting that your player get a little rustic.

So far they’re all one-of-a-kind…but let us know if you see them in any DJ booths.

See more Audiowoods»

Much as we enjoy Oscar predictions and year end lists, the real judge of all art is history, and it’s often hard to predict which films will emerge as enduring works of art. But it looks like Step Brothers is one of those films.

David Edelstein, best known New York Magazine’s film critic, just placed the universally reviled Will Ferrell vehicle on his top 10 list for 2008. In other words, its place in the annals of history is secure.

As for why Edelstein saw the light, apparently this scene had something to do with it»

Dita Von Teese is following in the illustrious footsteps of Zooey Deschanel and Scarlett Johansson, and recording her own album, ominously titled “Manson, Pasties and Milky Skin.”

Of course, Ms. Von Teese came up through the burlesque circuit, so we imagine she knows her way around a tune…and can inspire any number of Brill Building types if her inspiration runs dry. We doubt she’ll have any trouble putting it together.

But with a title like that, we’re mostly looking forward to the videos.

After an afternoon of high fashion runway shows, the world of style can seem a bit insular…but it’s nothing compared to the world of modeling.

The web TV channel Modelinia just launched proclaiming itself as a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of models, but looks more like something you’d stumble onto at 3 a.m. on Bravo. Features range from fearlessly unironic advice from older models, a makeover segment called “high heeled boot camp,” and a frighteningly complete “model matrix” for tracking your favorites. The highlight is Heidi Klum’s Spiked Heel, in which she battles the forces of evil and unabashedly embraces camp—the money quote: “it looks like mayhem is the hottest look this season”—but the rest of the ladies here have yet to learn to stop taking themselves seriously.

The slogan says it all: “Because models don’t get enough attention.”

The Fleet Foxes have started branching out into video and so far, the results are pretty good.

Their second video just landed on the internets, and like Radiohead before them, they’re taking the animated route, using the glass pane technique to create a four minutes of dancing papercraft. It’s definitely not what you’re used to seeing on TV (even by the standards of symbolic music video epics) but it’s only as strange as the music is, and in more or less the same way.

See the video here»

Perfume ads have been teetering on the brink of self-parody since the famous black-and-white spots of the mid-80s, but things may have reached a new level. This still is from an ad for a new perfume called Greed, which does not exist. Or, more specifically, it’s from an ad for an ad for Greed, directed by Roman Polanski and starring Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams, which will be hitting the internet next week.

Perhaps more explanation is required»

Radiohead have taken a crowd-friendly approach since In Rainbows hit filesharing networks in March, but while they made big news with the pay-what-you-want release and opening a few songs up to remixers, their video ambitions very nearly slipped under our radar.

Apparently the band partnered with aniBoom for a large-scale, crowd-sourced music video contest. The plan was to name a single grand prize winner and give them a hard-won $10,000 for their troubles, but the outpouring was strong enough that the band ended up bumping the number of winners up to four.

See the grand prize winners»

Obscurity doesn’t mean much these days, and the internet is giving even the rarest cultural ephemera a place at the table.

The fine folks at Men.Style just tipped us off to AMC’s internet-rerelease of the British serial The Prisoner, quite possibly the best television the UK has ever produced.

Previously only available through the occasional PBS marathon, The Prisoner took the Cold War paranoia of the late 60s to psychedelic extremes. It takes place entirely in an isolated compound called The Village—a cross between a prison camp, an Italian villa, and a very bad trip. The following seventeen episodes aren’t all golden, but at its best the show revitalized tired spy tropes like the interrogation with an existential streak more interested in the nature of individuality than the usual guns and gadgets. Needless to say, TV hasn’t seen anything like it since.

Of course, AMC is being generous to prepare audiences for its remake of the series…but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt so far.

See the first episode here»

The britmag Monocle has been churning through media pretty quickly, but they’ve finally gotten around to radio. Well, podcasts to be specific, but there’s definitely a BBC/NPR sheen to the latest product.

The first week’s topics include Norwegian finance and the philosophy of happiness, but it’s all more or less what you’d expect from an issue of Monocle, audio or otherwise. Of course, they’re coming a little late to the party, and we can’t help but feel like the public-radio ambition (right down to the piano jazz!) is inspired by a bit of friendly competition between Monocle’s Tyler Brûlé and Wired’s Kurt Andersen, currently working on NPR’s Radiolab.

Hear the first broadcast here.

Year-end lists are rarely as definitive as they claim, but they’re pretty good at calling winners and losers for the year. And while our post-Talking Heads pals didn’t do as well as we hoped in hipster bible Pitchfork’s Top 50 of the Year, we can’t dispute their #1 pick.

This year, it went to the Bruegel-loving harmonizers Fleet Foxes, a well-timed throwback to David Crosby’s California. Of course, it’s not 1966 anymore and they’re representing Seattle, not Southen California, which makes the mood a bit more pastoral and a lot less poppy. And unlike most other songwriters making their way through the blogosphere, the Foxes’ Robin Pecknold has serious music theory chops, so there are a few key changes mixed into the usual folkiness and the harmonies can get downright baroque.

Of course, all that nature means a lot of flannel and a lot of beard. So they should fit right in when they pass through Portland…

See the Foxes in action»

Market capitalism has had a rough few months, and everyone seems to be piling on. It lost the bankers to corporate bailouts and now it may lose its most vocal and culturally important spokesmen: the rappers.

The new single from the production team N.A.S.A. manages to lure Chuck D out of obscurity for an impressive verse, and that’s a MOTH you’re hearing on the chorus, but the song—titled “Money”—doesn’t seem to think too highly of the stuff. In fact, it’s downright skeptical. Maybe it’s Shepard Fairey’s video, but the paper chase comes out looking pretty unseemly. And if we can’t believe in material wealth, what’s left to rap about?

Whatever happened to putting five carats in your baby girl’s ear?

See the video»

The music industry is looking pretty Paleolithic these days, and it may be up to artists to save themselves. And not everybody’s Radiohead.

Wilco’s been pretty savvy so far, though, and they’ve got some ideas that should be useful to bands and industry folks alike. From the beginning, they’ve cultivated a healthy web presence, posting bootlegs on their website and rewarding fans with the occasional download-only EP.

Now, they’re trying their hand at new technology. They’ve resurrected the seldom-heard 2003 More Like the Moon EP as a PlayApp, a program that bundles all the songs, a mini-player, and a few liner notes and pictures in one manageable package. They also appeased design-minded fans with a scattering of agrarian-themed posters. If only Axl were this generous…

Download the PlayApp and see a few more posters here»

Music criticism usually lands somewhere between snark and self-indulgence—neither one of which is that compelling—but every once in a while, the stars align and someone writes something so great it justifies the whole enterprise. And hopefully, it has a few jokes about Axl Rose’s corn rows.

The long-delayed Gun and Roses album Chinese Democracy is currently making the review circuit, and fate brought it into the pale hands of one Chuck Klosterman, an occasional Esquire essayist and all-around metal savant. In other words, it’s a dinosaur rock critic reviewing a dinosaur rock album, and they’re both giving it all they’ve got.

It might be the best record review we’ve ever read. You get the feeling that Klosterman spent a solid week listening to the album on repeat and drinking enough coffee to kill a horse. In his own words, “I’ve thought about this record more than I’ve thought about China, and maybe as much as I’ve thought about the principles of democracy.”

Don’t worry, Chuck. It shows.

We spoil the review by pull-quoting all the best lines»

Sketch comedy has been kicking around since the vaudeville days, but it may have found its perfect medium in YouTube. From Dick in a Box to Wainy Days, viral video lets sketches cut out filler and find as large an audience as they need, giving us a peek at some great material that would be unairable on network TV and would probably have been booed out of the music halls a hundred years ago.

Monty Python was too early for the boom times, but they’re catching up with their very own YouTube channel, loaded with excellent rips of a handful of classic sketches…and a few well-placed suggestions as to where you might find their DVDs. So far there’s only twenty sketches up, taken equally from long-running BBC series and their four films, but we expect more as time goes on.

Mostly, it’s refreshing to know that they’re just as good as we remembered. The ADD-absurdism of Andy Samberg and The State started here, and it still hasn’t been topped.

See our favorites after the jump»

MTV just launched the web-video branch of its empire, with its whole archive available to stream and embed for bored office workers and link-happy bloggers everywhere. They’re still ironing out the kinks—meaning half the videos will simply refuse to load—and it has the same problems MTV has always had (too mainstream, too much R&B, nothing by the Buzzcocks) but it’s worth spending a few minutes digging the archives.

At least, if you have a set of headphones handy…

A few of the highlights, according to Kempt»

Saturday night’s Hamm-hosted SNL wasn’t quite the ad-man frenzy we were hoping for, but they did manage to sneak in this handy Mad Men-inspired guide to picking up department store heiresses, models, beatnik illustrators, and the empowered wives of diminutive comedians. And yes, the suits have a lot to do with it.

Try it at your own risk.

See the video here»

Our favorite ex-Conde Nast intern got a bit of video today, thanks to an ESPN profile exploring Mr. Avery’s sensitive side. Sporting a buzzed Mohawk and a self-effacing mumble, Avery spouted bon mots such as “It’s probably my desire for dress up that brings me back to the whole women’s clothing thing,” and “I certainly admire a nice purse.”

Naturally, the interview briefly touched on Avery’s constantly questioned heterosexuality, but we couldn’t help but be embarrassed by the whole thing. Can’t a man admire a purple sequined purse without everyone getting ideas?

See the video here»

Speaking of American classics, another one is coming up on its 50th anniversary. We’re talking about Kind of Blue, Miles Davis’ masterwork and the odds-on favorite for the greatest jazz album of all time. The album saw Davis working with arguably the best band of his career—including Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderly, and John Coltrane, for a start—exploring modal sketches to work out a new kind of downbeat jazz.

We’ve gushed about Miles Davis before, but fifty years down the line, it’s interesting to consider the album as a document of 1959. It was a bestseller on release, even though it cut against the grain of Eisenhower-era culture. The world of the gray flannel suit wasn’t available to Davis and his bandmates, and the new freedoms they were opening up were entirely musical, but they still looked more attractive than life in Connecticut. As mainstream America got less and less happy with the suburban dream, this was the sound of the underground.

Although we love a good Blackberry now and then, our heart belongs to the iPhone for one simple reason: the programs.

We got an extra boost today, when our favorite tech-savvy producer weighed in. The last time we checked in he was putting out an album with his old Talking Heads chum David Byrne, but this time around he’s taking the experimental route. He’s put together a music program called Bloom for the iPhone that creates music based on the user’s touch. (Those are the high-tech controls on the left; each bubble plays its own sound.) It’s an example of Eno’s pet project of generative music, but all you really need to know is that it’s a musical toy that could only exist on a touchscreen phone, and it’ll only set you back four dollars.

Just the thing to keep you occupied until Google gets its act together.

If Bob’s leftovers aren’t current enough for you, maybe you’d prefer a tune that’s a little more Bond-themed. Jack White and Alicia Keys’ theme for Quantum of Solace has been kicking around file-sharing sites for a while, but it’s finally gotten a proper video and we’re now ready to profess our undying love.

Hear the song and get our take on it»

After four solid decades outrunning his public persona, Bob Dylan has settled into a comfortable self-chronicling period, both with increasingly generous live shows and a seemingly never-ending Bootleg Series. Lucky for us, he’s feeling generous with that too: He’s letting NPR stream the latest release for free from their website before the record drops next Tuesday.

It’s called Tell Tale Signs, and covers outtakes from his most recent creative burst, from Oh Mercy to Modern Times, or 1989 to present. It’s not the best of the series—that honor goes to either the 1964 or 1975 live recordings—but the piano demo of “Dignity” and the bluesier version of “Mississippi” are both worth the price of admission. And it’s always nice to hear from an old friend.

Terrence Howard, occasional MOTH and reliably excellent actor, is venturing onto the treacherous ground of actor-singers. Howard opened up to the Times, describing his career path as a struggling singer-songwriter. He lists his influences as Don McLean, Jim Croce, and Barry Manilow: a triptych of soft-rock sensitive types. But if what we’re seeing so far is any indication, he may need a more robust icon by the time the album hits stores.

The actor-musician crossover is rarely a good idea—except in the case of Ms. Deschanel, of course—and we have our doubts. Apparently Vulture shares them, since they’re preemptively calling the album “something special.” Only, not in a good way.

One way or another, he’s about to get more seething internet ink than he’ll know what to do with.

After the jump, get a peek at Howard’s live show»

After a half-dozen pay-what-you-like internet releases, it hardly qualifies as news anymore. But when the album comes from two 70s vets, each with a long, legendary track record, it gets a little closer to newsworthiness.

The duo is David Byrne (occasional MOTH) and Brian Eno (an ambient pioneer and, most recently, the producer of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida), and the new album, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, is a career highlight for each.

More importantly, the album has been put up Radiohead-style as an offering to the internet and the nascent New Record Industry. Unlike the others, this one’s offered as an embedded stream and we’ve posted it below, meaning it won’t be taking up space on your hard drive, but you can click through any time you want to hear it.

Stream the album and read our take on it»

The world of songwriters can get pretty craggy, especially around the hazy, irony-crusted period known as the seventies. There are mystic troubadors, the emoters and all manner of guitar-addled gurus, but the best of the crop have always been the cynics. From Costello to Zevon, they were the ones who saw the decade from a fashionable remove, always staying one step ahead of critics and, for the most part, the listening public.

Randy Newman, the grand old curmudgeon of the cynics, has taken a break from his film work to put out his first album in nearly a decade. Of course, it’s fairly standard late-career business—impeccably professional but lacking some of his earlier bite—but that shouldn’t stop you from taking another stroll through Newman’s gallery of sycophants, sloths, and generally bad people. For newcomers, we’d recommend a different starting point, but if you already know the man, it’s nice to see him get comfortable.

TV on DVD has always been a mixed blessing—we’re looking at you, 24—but when it comes to foreign shows, DVD can be the difference between a pop culture touchstone and a pop culture footnote. For instance…

Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s seminal BBC sitcom Spaced is finally getting DVD treatment after a long stay in legal limbo. Pegg’s better known for his recent pop culture-saturated movies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but his lovingly referential style started here. And the show’s list of fans is impressive, with Quentin Tarantino, Patton Oswald, Diablo Cody and Matt Stone (of South Park) all stopping by to provide a commentary track.

As for how they saw it so early…they must have British friends with VCRs.

It looks like Pittsburgh’s finest loop digger is back again.

After making a smash two summers back with his first album Night Ripper, Girl Talk has released another semi-legal collection of pasted-together hooks and old school beats. And for this one, titled Feed the Animals, he’s decided to pull a Radiohead, making it available online for whatever his fans want to pay.

More on Feed the Animals»

The New York Times clued us into the recent sale of Soul Train from its founder, the wise and esteemed Don Cornelius, to MadVision Entertainment a fresh-faced upstart.

While this must have netted the Don a pretty penny, we’re more interested in what it means for the show’s archives, a time capsule of some of the best funk and soul of the 70s, along with some of the worst jumpsuits. From the Jackson 5 (above) to Stevie Wonder and Sly & the Family Stone, we can’t think of another 70s television artifact that deserves DVD canonization more.

As always, Kempt wishes you love, peace, and soul.

We’ve been fans of the Daytrotter folks for some time, and in return, they’ve been steadily working through our favorite bands.

This time, they’ve tracked down indie stalwarts Spoon for a stripped-down set recorded in Daytrotter HQ in central Iowa. The songs are culled from Spoon’s decade-plus career (including one cut from the eleven-year-old Soft Effects EP), along with a Paul Simon cover that manages to fit right in. Of course, Simon is the musical inspiration du jour, so it’s interesting to hear what the old guard makes of him. Apparently, it sounds a lot like Spoon.

Daytrotter Sessions

After making their name with a hell of an album a few years back, The Walkmen have gotten a lot more low-key. They started out as O.C.-bound prepsters, but they always seemed more comfortable with drunken walks home than coke-fueled house parties.

So it’s fitting that they’d turn in an EP of Leonard Cohen covers from a ramshackle studio in the middle of Iowa.

Hear the Walkmen’s take on the distinguished Mr. Cohen»

From Hard Day’s Night to Top of the Pops (R.I.P.), the Brits have always had a knack for filming music. Their latest good idea is the Black Cab Sessions, a web video series filmed from the back of a London cab.

The pay for the gig is the price of a cab ride, flagged down on the day of the shoot. The cabbie introduces the band, or often enough, just the frontman. (The cabs aren’t big, after all.) The songs are all recorded in one take, usually on the way from the hotel to the venue, so the sessions have an immediacy and intimacy that’s increasingly rare in music. The camera periodically pans across the street for a little incidental London scenery, just so you don’t forget where you are.

More on the Black Cab Sessions»

The word “effortless” gets tossed around a lot, but when you’re putting out a TV show from your basement, you’ve probably earned it. Producer/mastermind Nigel Godrich (the genius behind Radiohead’s OK Computer) has been doing just that for most of 2007, and after a year of limbo they’re finally making it to the small screen.

Godrich started putting episodes on his website more than a year ago »

Back before they turned into the geriatric juggernaut that seems to be on a never-ending world tour, the Rolling Stones were the coolest rock band in the universe. In 1969, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the gang crisscrossed the country in support of their album Beggar’s Banquet, culminating in the infamous free concert at Altamont in Northern California where Hell’s Angels killed a member of the audience.

Photographer Ethan Russell was with them every step of the way »

When it’s this wintry outside, the best thing to do is grab your girl and a bottle of the good stuff and just stay home for once with some great tunes. Thankfully three of the most stylish men in music—two living and one, alas, dead—have obliged with a trio of need-to-hear new box sets: Elvis Costello (pictured), Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and Nick Drake, who overdosed in 1974.

Continue reading Box-Ing Day

Michael Caine is one of the most stylish men in cinema, so it figures that he has good taste in music. The English actor, who’s won two Oscars and was knighted by the Queen in 2000, recently issued a saccharine compilation CD in the UK of his favorite mellow tunes, called Cained; the disc, which contains everything from Nina Simone to Doctor Rockit, is now available on Amazon as an import.

Apparently the project came about after Caine mentioned to his fellow Commander of the British Empire Sir Elton John that he frequently makes mixed tapes for friends like Sir Sean Connery, Sir Roger Moore and Baron Lloyd-Weber. With the penchant the design cabal has for seizing on anything this coolly quirky, you can count on Cained providing the soundtrack to more than one event during that men’s fashion week everyone’s babbling about.

Stylish Swedish garage punks The Hives have traded in their Vegas lounge act look and are channeling Thom Browne for their latest effort, The Black and White Album. We call it a marked improvement, especially as they’ve eschewed Browne’s signature high-water trouserings. The crested boating blazers and striped school ties worn to good effect on the album cover and in the video for the first single, “Tick Tick Boom” are straight out of Browne’s much-ballyhooed Black Fleece collection for Brooks Brothers. And though he’s hardly the first designer to employ such motifs…