When the White Stripes do something, they do it fully, as was clear from the Los Angeles premiere of the Detroit-bred duo’s epically brilliant new concert documentary, Under The Great White Northern Lights, at the Egyptian Theater on Monday, March 9th.

A video from the great Northwest, a meeting of big heads, and one seriously long lick.

We loved The Hurt Locker, and felt it deserved all the Oscars it raked in. It was edgy, it was tough, it was accomplished, it was indie: bravo, Hurt Locker, and bravo, Kathryn Bigelow! However, while The Hurt Locker did make Bigelow the first woman to take home a directing Academy Award, it’s not her greatest cinematic work. No, that would have to go to her late-’80s music video for New Order’s “Touched By The Hand Of God”!

Erykah Badu searches for more solitude in her new single “Window Seat.” Her fifth studio album “New Amerykah Part II: Return of the Ankh” is scheduled to be released at the end of this month on March 30th. If this track is any indication that Badu has polished off her old avatar, get ready for an emotional LP.

The XX have been omnipresent since the release of their debut album in 2009, topping year end lists for the haunting, unique sounds on their instant-classic, self-titled debut LP. But the profile of the U.K. indie trio has been skyrocketing, and in the most unexpected places.
First, Apolo Ohno’s recent AT&T Olympic commercial used the XX’s [...]

Quadron has us convinced that somethings in the Scandavian water, that consistently produces catchy soul rhythms. We are in the rapture of Quadron, an emerging Danish band made up of two kindred spirits – Robin and Coco.

They were the scourge of the ‘80s, and eventually disappeared as a music format. But cassette tapes are back as the latest hipster accessory.

Listening to “He Was Worse Than The Needle He Gave You,” It’s hard to believe The Delta Mirror was a hip-hop group once: the gossamer shoegaze atmospheres and haunted indie vocals of frontman Craig Gordon seem far away from any boom bap. But then the beat kicks in, and you realize that Delta Mirror know how to make a supple electronic groove. More importantly, they know how to write a crucial, affecting song amid all the synth swells and cathedral reverb.

Radio 1 super personality Zane Lowe has declared Tinie Tempah’s new single “Pass Out” as the hottest record right now in the world. It’s a certified banger! The track compiles various Brit sounds including grime, dub, and drum & bass – all wrapped up in an explosive pop tune.

As announced on Anthem magazine’s website last week, Vampire Weekend dropped a new single and video from the album Contra, “Giving Up the Gun.” While the band has been steadily crossing over (#1 on the charts), the band still hangs on to their more alternative roots. In the video, helmed by The Malloys (N.E.R.D., White Stripes, Silversun Pickups, etc.)…

“This is the first and last mash up we’ll ever make,” the fantastic New York neo-disco-post-electro-with-vocals-whatever duo relayed about their dreaded mash up combining Holy Ghost’s earlier single “I Will Come Back” with “Yearning,” a new release from DFA act Black Van. They claim they broke the no-mash-up rule to celebrate Chinese New Year, but we’ll take the musical dividends no matter what.

She was handed the Critic’s Choice prize at the Brit Awards by Courtney Love, but don’t hold that against Ellie Goulding. Goulding has proven to be one of our fave elastic-voiced electro-folk-pop artistes in the past year; now that she’s chosen our fave nu remixer, Penguin Prison, to do the business to her single “Starry Eyes”…

“Mellow but uplifting” is how tastemaker DJ Rob Da Bank introduced Gui Boratto’s remix of the new Massive Attack track “Paradise Circus” on a recent radio show, and that’s a pretty good way to put it. Brazilian DJ/producer Boratto is the most maximal of the minimal techno generation, filling his insistent grooves with stirring emotion and (gasp!) something resembling pop hooks; therefore he’s a perfect choice to remix a track off Heligoland, the latest album from the trip-hop titans.

Super skilled hip hop producer Jnerio Jarel has been in and around our personal cipher for sometime now, and his abstract stylings and alter egos consistently amazes us. Today’s amazement comes in the form of a remix of Bjork’s “My Juvenile” featuring the cherub vocals of Antony Hegarty.

Via Twitter, Mad Decent majordomo/superstar DJ Diplo kinda slammed the new video for Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” as a rip-off of his homey M.I.A’s “Boyz” clip (comparing the two, he does kinda have a point, but decide for yourself). Then, adding humor to injury, the dance-music merry prankster tweeted a download link to his new, irreverent remix of “Rude Boy” just a few hours later. It’s just amazing what that there Interweb can do!

J. Dilla is an LA institution, even though he heralded from Detroit (rock city). His fans might know him from early Tribe Called Quest, or even his contribution to neo-soul, but his champions who still tout his name and speak on the anniversary of his birth/death really seem to remembered when his skills bloomed. His last days were largely spent in Los Angeles …

As if that Major Lazer album wasn’t hot enough, Diplo and Switch’s dancehall destruction project have released a salvo from an upcoming ep that’s better than anything they’ve released yet. “Sound of Siren” features a memorable hook from the first lady of Diplo’s woofer-wrecking crew, M.I.A, a raucous flow from Jamaican chat master…

Flying Lotus (aka Steven Ellison) is one of the most original electronic music artists working today. As a result, FlyLo’s upcoming full-length Cosmogramma is being hailed by those that have heard it as a paradigm-shifting opus (FlyLo himself calls it a “space opera”) that will change electronic music forever.

It seems like just last week that a new viral sensation was born: Die Antwoord. A couple totally mysterious, compelling YouTube videos appeared and Die Antwoord was, to quote the group’s MC Ninja from their “Zef Side” track, “all up in the Interweb, worldwide!” Three days ago, no less a tastemaker than Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber declared on his twitter that Die Antwoord “just made 2010 official.”

José James just might be the male Sade. Like her, this soulful crooner uses his smokily seductive voice to effortlessly fold himself into the listener’s consciousness. But while this young, New York-based singer starts with jazzy soul as his root force—his haunting vocals recall everyone from Billie Holiday and Chet Baker to Bill Withers—he’s smart enough to know that his smoothness will stand out best when placed against edgier textures.