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oh my gosh - if you’re around my age (32) you simply must have some level of affection for boy george and culture club - i still remember listening to karma chameleon when i was kid and thinking to myself that lead singer boy george was way cool - next month he’s doing a small club tour here in the states and i bought my tickets awhile ago - i’ll be seeing him play at the el rey theatre on july 15th - the night after i catch coldplay on the first night of their US tour (i am in love with chris martin - and contrary to recent reports the band’s new album viva la vida does not suck) the middle of july is going to be super hot! i just love going to concerts - tomorrow morning i’ll be picking up janet jackson tickets for when she comes to los angeles in september!



the pictures below are from tonight’s opening of the RS lounge club over in london where boy george lent his DJ skills (i just bought a kick-ass technics turntable - finally i can play my vinyl) he actually looks fairly decent (he was never a cute guy - interesting - oh yes - cute….no) he’s had a bunch of super messy incidents over the years but somehow he still manages to pull himself together (as a bonus i’ve included the video for do you really want to hurt me? one of the band’s best songs and he better sing it live in july) popbytes over & out for now…xxoo

PHOTOS | WENN

When we ran Aimee Mann’s video for “Freeway,” we mentioned she was to be admired for not hitting the “hammy guy and girl” as they did various dances and etc., behind her while she tried to perform the song. In the Bobcat Goldthwait-directed (!) video for aforementioned Magnolia-core anthem “31 Today” there’s a similar setup and Mann shows even more restraint. So far she’s leaving the outbursts of profanity to the title of her new album, @#%&! Smilers. Also, that’s not Frank Zappa with her in the picture. It’s Morgan Murphy, a comedian friend of Mann’s. She played the Hanukkah Fairy at the Christmas Shows. Here she throws Aimee a very special birthday party.

Herein lies the first listen of the new High Places record. Yesterday we received the “Vision’s The First / Namer” 7″, out now on sturdy UK label, Upset The Rhythm (you maybe remember it most for the super, dare I say, classic No Age “Get Hurt” 12″). Today, Chris at Upset let us know the A-Side “Vision’s The First…” is going to be on HP’s forthcoming self-titled Thrill Jockey debut (out at the end of September), and that the album’s cover is a photo of Mary’s nephew. As far as this 7″, Side B, “Namer,” is a subtle, dreamy, hushed, but swiveling dance track about leaving home (”In those eighteen years and nine months I’ve been living here / I always knew there’d come a day when I’d be leaving here”), taxonomy, and an old dog (”Namer of Names”), that finds Mary and Rob exploring gorgeous new sonic terrain. Complimenting it well, the more upbeat “Vision’s The First…” is a sunny, spiraling, gamelan-tinged song we first heard at our SXSW party. It shows up here in a more crystalline, multi-layered form.

The new album Micah P Hinson And The Red Empire Orchestra, by gravelly Texas songwriter Micah P. Hinson and his Red Empire Orchestra, is out 6/14 on Full Time Hobby. The first single, “When We Embraced,” showed up 6/2, but another track — in our opinion, the album’s standout — showed up for the first time in today’s Drop. We asked Hinson what inspired the song and, more specifically, “Who are the ghosts chattering down the hallway?” Hinson responded indirectly, but his honesty offers straightforward insight into the track. You can read his response and listen here. Also, if you’re curious about the single “When We Embraced,” it’s at his freshly minted MySpace.

On top of the gift of a free Hinson track, this week’s Drop offers a chance to win a jam-packed 1993-2003 Radiohead flash drive, the 7-CD Radiohead box set, and Radiohead: The Best Of in multiple formats.

André Allen Anjos’s Remix Artist Collective came on our radar last spring with some inspired Bloc Party and Tokyo Police Club remixes. We’ve kept an ear on the 23-year-old Portuguese artist ever since, and late last year cooked up with André the idea of compiling previously unreleased remixes to celebrate RAC’s first year. Today we bring you that mix, titled Stereogum Presents… RAC Vol. 1, as a free 9-track MP3 download and embeddable flash player. Here’s the tracklist:

1. Bloc Party - Helicopter (Intro)
2. Bloc Party - Hunting For Witches (RAC Mix) (extended)
3. Au Revoir Simone - Sad Song (RAC Mix)
4. Tokyo Police Club - Nature Of The Experiment (RAC Mix)
5. Ra Ra Riot - Manner To Act (RAC Mix)
6. Robbers On High Street - Across Your Knee (RAC Mix)
7. You Say Party! We Say Die! - Like I Give A Care (RAC Mix)
8. Femme Generation - Orlando Boom (RAC Mix)
9. Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (RAC Mix)

Two of those have appeared online before, but they’ve been extended and changed. The rest are new to you. André’s remixes are not meant for clubs, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dance to them.

Legendary Scottish crew Primal Scream are about to release their ninth studio album, Beautiful Future. It includes tracks produced by Peter, Björn & John’s Björn Yttling and bigwig Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Babyshambles, Kate Nash, the Futureheads, etc.) and collaborations with Lovefoxx of CSS, Josh Homme, and Linda Thompson. You can stream the Scream’s swarming, enjoyably retro single, “Can’t Go Back,” at the band’s MySpace. If you’re anxious to load new PS onto your iPod, though, you can download another new track, “Urban Guerrilla,” simply by passing over your email address at this special site. If you do, or if you just stopped to read the above headline, you’ll notice it’s Bobby & Co. doing a pretty faithful take on Hawkwind’s song of the same name, though the band doesn’t mention that anywhere, as far as I can tell. It’s also unclear if the cover will be on the new record. If you trust Wikipedia, the answer is no, but check out this fan video for the track, please.

Beautiful Future is out 7/21 via B-unique.

CTV is reporting that Canadian Idol season 5 runner up, Jaydee Bixby, will soon be releasing his debut album! Recorded in Vancouver, BC, his album “Cowboys and Cadillacs” stays true to Jaydee’s country vibe. The first single to be released is called “Old Fashioned Girls“, which you can listen to in the photo montage below.
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It’s really hot, but I decided to go without the air conditioner because if I sit just right I can get a slight breeze through the back window and it seems less stale and chemical than Freon. Crazy, maybe, and I’m not sure how long I’ll last, but it also feels like the right conditions for doing a post on The Green Owl Comp: A Benefit For The Energy Action Coalition. As the Green Owl label site tells us:

100% of the profits made from the album will be given to support the Energy Action Coalition. The money donated from this compilation will support the people on the ground in the EAC while raising environmental awareness in our community.

The collection’s a CD/DVD with previously unreleased tracks and videos (or different versions of previously released songs) by Feist, of Montreal, Bloc Party, Deerhoof, School Of Seven Bells, Pete Yorn, Muse, Asobi Seksu, Dragons Of Zynth, A Place To Bury Strangers, etc. Another of the participants is Stereogum favorite Juliana Hatfield, who offers up “Back To Freedom,” a track recorded during the sessions for her upcoming tenth solo album How To Walk Away.

American Idol season 5 contestant, Kellie Pickler, and country superstar, Taylor Swift, are teaming up on Kellie’s new album with a song called “Best Days Of Your Life“. The song is geared toward getting back at an ex who wronged them.
Kellie says, “You have to be careful when you date a songwriter. We always […]