Personally, our favorite from this trend are these crazy, raveadelic examples of ear candy from legendary DJ Stretch Armstrong. However, style only goes so far: they are headphones, so they better sound good – at least as good as the music from the artist who put his or her name on ‘em! To that end, the high end of Dr. Dre’s “Beats” series are incredible to listen to– per the man who reinvented hip-hop production, the bass is superfat. But while the Lady Gaga buds look, like her, freakishly chic, audio-wise they haven’t gotten the best reviews. So even if you’re a fan, make sure you test out artist-branded headphones before you buy: it’s always a good idea to determine if they are, in fact, as good sonically as the performers are musically, or if the name on the label is just phoning it in…

I always thought that the Dirty Projectors’ “Stillness Is The Move” sounded like Destiny’s Child on some indie-rock druggage, and well, my dreams have been answered by the gods. Actual Beyoncé relative and Boards of Canada fan Solange Knowles has gone and taken “Stillness Is The Move” to its future R&B essence, brought to us by the all-knowing indie oracle pitchfork.com. And it is astonishing to hear those Knowles pipes get bizzy on David Longstreth’s syncopated, strange melodies; as well, she builds it on the infectious guitar sample that Dr. Dre bit for “XXplosive” – as if it wasn’t funky enough. This is like the perfect summer jam to get us through the winter. Now if we can only get Solange on the dubstep bandwagon…