LCD Soundsystem

Jennifer Lopez And Marc Anthony Do Disney; Plus Gnarls Barkley, Mary J. Blige, Krist Novoselic, Bjork & More, In For The Record

25 Jan 2008 05:15:00 EST

Gnarls almost done with second LP; Blige responds to steroid allegations; Novoselic donates to Ron Paul campaign.
By MTV News staff

Jennifer Lopez
Photo: Dave Hogan/ Getty Images

Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Whoopi Goldberg and Jessica Biel are among the celebs captured in a new Disney installment of work by esteemed Vanity Fair photographer Annie Leibovitz. In the images, Lopez is portrayed as Jasmine and Anthony as Aladdin in a "Whole New World" scene, while Biel is dressed as Pocahontas, running through a forest. "I was a huge Disney fan growing up as a kid, and Cinderella, Snow White, Pocahontas, Ariel — all those characters were huge for me," Biel said in a statement. The "Disney Dream Portrait Series" will be featured throughout the year at Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida. ...

Gnarls Barkley don't have a release date or name yet for their second album, but it's nearing completion, according to Billboard.com. Danger Mouse is busying himself with other projects in the meantime, including lending production to the Black Keys' Attack & Release; Martina Topley-Bird's The Blue God; and Shortwave Set's new LP, which is tentatively titled Replica Sun Machine. ...

Mary J. Blige recently spoke with MTV Base about the ongoing New York steroid probe in which she was recently named. "I really don't want to clear anything up, because I've been spoken about for so many years — rumors I'm pregnant, I'm a man, I'm this, I'm that, why? At the end of the day, I have nothing to prove to anyone. I am Mary and that's that." A report that surfaced in the Times Union last week claimed Blige was among tens of thousands of people who might have used or received prescribed shipments of steroids and injectable human-growth hormone in recent years, although law-enforcement officials said they don't have any evidence that laws were violated. ...

Krist Novoselic, the former Nirvana bassist who has been politically active in Seattle in recent years, has voiced his support for a 2008 presidential candidate, and it's ... Ron Paul? Novoselic alluded to the Republican long-shot candidate in his Seattle Weekly column earlier this month, saying, "The Internet is already doing this with campaign phenomenon like Howard Dean in 2004, and this year with Ron Paul." The Web site PoliticalBase.com shows that he made a $250 contribution to the candidate in mid-September. ...

Björk has nixed her planned appearance at the Big Day Out on Friday night (January 25) in Sydney, Australia. "Doctors have advised Björk to rest due to swelling of the vocal cords," Ken West and Vivian Lees, who produce and direct the festival, said in a statement posted on the Icelandic singer's Web site. "This is a great disappointment to Björk, who is on her first tour of Australia in 12 years." She is slated to rejoin Big Day Out on Monday for a show in Melbourne, followed by performances February 1 in Adelaide and February 3 in Perth. ...

The Reminder (Feist), Kala (M.I.A.), Neon Bible (the Arcade Fire), Cross (Justice) and Sound of Silver (LCD Soundsystem) have all made the cut as finalists for the Shortlist Music Prize. Also in the running are In Our Bedroom After the War (Stars), Sky Blue Sky (Wilco), Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Spoon), Businessmen and Ghosts (Working for a Nuclear Free City) and Untrue (Burial). The winner will be announced in February. ... Dem Franchize Boyz will bounce back on April 1 with their third effort, Da Point of No Return, which is anchored by the first single, "Talkin' Out Da Side of Ya Neck." Also look for featured appearances by Mannie Fresh on "Mr. Feel Good" and Blaze on "Turn Heads." ...

Marvel Studios is the latest company to reach an agreement with the striking Writers Guild of America, it was announced Friday. "Marvel Studios' signing of an interim agreement with the Writers Guild is more good news for our membership," WGA East President Michael Winship and WGA West President Patric Verrone said in a joint statement. "Marvel is committed to fairly compensating their writers and now they can move forward with their planned production schedule." ... Yes! Will Ferrell has received the James Joyce award in Ireland, where he has been traveling with his dad and brother to trace their family roots, according to The Associated Press. The "Blades of Glory" actor accepted the award — which has been given to Jesse Jackson and others in the past — on Wednesday night and addressed more than 1,000 students at the University College Dublin. "As I perused my leather-bound volumes of 'Ulysses,' 'Finnegans Wake,' 'Dubliners,' 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,' standing in my mahogany library, a lot of feelings ran across my mind. Like: 'Damn, I should have read these books,' " he reportedly said. ...

My Morning Jacket — who sold out their June 20 show at NYC's Radio City Music Hall in just over 20 minutes — have arrived at a title for their new album. Evil Urges, the band's fifth LP, is due June 10. ... Bono hailed Bill Gates on Friday when the Microsoft chairman announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will spend $306 million on environmentally friendly technology and farming techniques to help aid millions of impoverished Africans. "It's a very special moment in time, I think, for Davos, and people here," Bono said in the Swiss city, according to The Associated Press. "This is Bill Gates' last trip to Davos as Microsoft leader, and I think it is an extraordinary thing that this man has not just changed the world once, but has now set aside the next act of his life to change the world again, and I think we should just mark this moment." ...

The summer music-festival scene just got a bit less crowded. Less than two months after announcing their plan to host a three-day camping music festival on a 500-acre farm in Vineland, New Jersey, the forces behind Lollapalooza (C3 Presents) and England's Reading Festival (Festival Republic) have announced that they've pulled the plug on the event. Originally scheduled for August 8-10, the Vineland Festival, which never announced a lineup and had faced considerable opposition from area residents concerned about noise and traffic, will now attempt to launch in 2009. Organizers cited "overall festival traffic in the Northeast"— apparently referring to the just-announced All Points West Festival, which is scheduled for the same weekend in Liberty State Park, New Jersey, and is being coordinated by the people who bring you Coachella every year. Organizers also noted big bands touring the area around the same time as the reason for scrapping the event. ...

Heads up, straight-edge hardcore fans: Ex-Minor Threat drummer Jeff Nelson has thrown up for auction on eBay a bunch of rare and unique items from the band and other hardcore acts. Items include fliers, posters, 7-inches and more. ... Want your name to appear in a Saosin release? The band is launching a contest with mobile marketing company Mozes that will give fans the chance to have their name featured in the credits of the booklet that will accompany their forthcoming "Saosin Live" DVD/CD package. Interested? Text SAOSINDVD to 66937 and join the band's mobile list and follow the prompt. ... UB40 might want to rename themselves "UB39," at least for the time being: The British group, which was huge in the '80s, has lost its frontman. "No words can express how upset I feel today that I have been forced to make this decision," Ali Campbell wrote in a Friday post on his Web site. UB40 said in a statement of their own that they will continue without Campbell, a founding member of the band.

1.24.08

Despite widespread reports that Sean "Diddy" Combs had changed his name to Sean John, his rep clarified the situation to MTV News on Thursday (January 24). "Recent reports of a name change are totally false, he is still Diddy," the rep wrote. "He is currently in 'Sean John' mode as the upcoming Sean John fashion show is scheduled for February 8 in New York." ...

One of Britney Spears' friends was deposed Thursday by Kevin Federline's lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan as he prepares for an April trial involving a request by Spears' ex for primary physical custody of their children. Sam Lufti had previously avoided a notice to appear by Federline's team of lawyers but was eventually served in November. ... Lionsgate said Thursday that it had reached an agreement with striking writers to work on its projects, according to Reuters. "Lionsgate signed an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America today," the entertainment company reportedly said in a statement. "The writers' issue seems on its way to being solved, and Lionsgate felt it was an important time, particularly in view of our TV series, to have our writer partners get back to work. We look forward to a broad industry agreement soon." ...

John McCain is getting support from another Vietnam veteran, albeit a fictional one: Rambo. Sylvester Stallone recently voiced his support for the Arizona senator, who is in a tight race for the Republican presidential nomination, on TV's "Fox and Friends," according to a press release from his campaign. "I like McCain a lot," Stallone said. "A lot. And you know, things may change along the way, but there's something about matching the character with the script. And right now, the script that's being written — and reality — is pretty brutal and pretty hard-edged, like a rough action film. ... You need somebody who's been in that to deal with it." When host Brian Kilmeade informed McCain of the "Rocky Balboa" star's endorsement on Thursday morning (January 24), he reportedly replied, "I'm going to Philadelphia and running up the steps." ...

Bono swung by the Pentagon to talk about Africa and global poverty with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The two reportedly met for 20 minutes and discussed plans to construct a new U.S. military command for Africa. The U2 singer was reportedly in Washington, D.C., to meet with congressional budget committees, and his meeting with Gates was not publicized ahead of time. ... Trey Anastasio spent the weekend in the pokey for violating the conditions of his drug-treatment program last year, The Associated Press reports. The former Phish frontman was punished for an unspecified violation of a court contract that resulted after he pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in April. Anastasio, who lives in Richmond, Vermont, was in a jail in upstate New York for two days. ...

Scarlett Johansson has finally firmed up details surrounding her first music album, a collection of mostly Tom Waits covers. Anywhere I Lay My Head will drop May 20 and feature 10 Waits tribute tracks plus an original cut. The "Nanny Diaries" actress hammered out the effort in Maurice, Louisiana, during a five-week visit at Dockside Studio in spring 2007. She got some assists from Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, Sean Antanaitis from Celebration and TV on the Radio's David Sitek, who produced the LP. ... The 35th annual Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll has named Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem as its top album of 2007. The rest of the top 10 albums in the poll, voted on by hundreds of rock critics, included In Rainbows (Radiohead), Kala (M.I.A.), Back to Black (Amy Winehouse), Neon Bible (Arcade Fire), Graduation (Kanye West), Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Spoon), Raising Sand (Robert Plant and Alison Krauss) and Magic (Bruce Springsteen). Winehouse topped the singles list with her hit "Rehab," followed by "Umbrella" (Rihanna), "All My Friends" (LCD Soundsystem), "1234" (Feist), "D.A.N.C.E." (Justice), "Paper Planes" (M.I.A.), "Stronger" (Kanye West), "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)" (UGK) and "Young Folks" (Peter Bjorn and John). ...

This year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest will take place April 25-27 and May 1-4 and feature sets from the Roots, Raconteurs, Keyshia Cole, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Santana, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Sheryl Crow, Galactic, Ozomatli with Chali 2na, Jimmy Buffett and dozens of other roots, blues, soul, Cajun and jazz artists. ... Motion City Soundtrack, Phantom Planet and the Hush Sound have slipped onto the bill for the Honda Civic Tour, which will be anchored by Panic at the Disco. The cities the trek will hit have also been announced: San Francisco (April 10); San Diego (April 12); Phoenix (April 13); Tulsa, Oklahoma (April 15); Ruston, Louisiana (April 17); Dallas (April 18); Austin, Texas (April 19); Houston (April 20); Clearwater, Florida (April 22); Miami Beach, Florida (April 23); Lake Buena Vista, Florida (April 24); Atlanta (April 26); North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (April 29); Washington, D.C. (April 30); Orono, Maine (May 2); Troy, New York (May 3); Rochester, New York (May 6); New York (May 7); Philadelphia (May 9); Wallingford, Connecticut (May 10); Boston (May 11); Montreal (May 13); Toronto (May 14); Cleveland (May 16); Columbus, Ohio (May 17); Indianapolis (May 18); Detroit (May 20); Chicago (May 23); Milwaukee (May 25); Minneapolis (May 27); St. Louis (May 30); Council Bluffs, Iowa (May 31); Kansas City, Missouri (June 1); Denver (June 3); Salt Lake City (June 4); Vancouver, British Columbia (June 6); Seattle (June 7); Portland, Oregon (June 8); Las Vegas (June 13); and Anaheim, California (June 14). ...

Uncle Murda was shot in the head late Tuesday night but the injury was not serious, according to New York's Daily News. The popular upstart rapper, who was signed to Roc-A-Fella Records by Jay-Z and backed by DJ Green Lantern, suffered a minor head wound after he was grazed by a bullet while sitting in a parked car in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. There is no word on whether the rapper has been released from the hospital. Calls made by MTV News to reps for Uncle Murda were not returned as of press time. ... Danny Glover was convicted for trespassing on Thursday (January 24) in Niagara Falls, Ontario, according to AP. Canadian Niagara Hotels had charged the actor and two other men after they protested at a Sheraton in September 2006. The protest was part of a larger effort to boost salaries and improve working conditions for hotel workers in North America. They will be sentenced February 8. ...

Los Angeles city officials have asked a judge to ban members of the Mob Piru street gang from congregating in a neighborhood of Compton, California, and included on their list of 200 gang members was former Death Row Records boss Marion "Suge" Knight. The Los Angeles Times reports that Knight's name was on the request, which would ban members of the gang from congregating, carrying guns, drinking alcohol in public or staying out past 10 p.m. Knight, who has struggled to get his label back online after a number of legal tangles and prison time, told the paper he thought the injunction was a "publicity stunt" and that it should not have included him. "This is crazy," he said. "I'm a 42-year-old businessman, not a gang member. I don't even live in Compton anymore." A hearing on the matter is slated for Thursday (January 24). ...

Perez Hilton won an $85,000 judgment on Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit brought by celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson. According to AP, a judge ordered Ronson to pay the blogger $85K, plus an additional $2,000 if Hilton (born Mario Lavandeira) requests it, in the suit over a report on Hilton's blog last year. The post repeated a claim from CelebrityBabylon.com that said Ronson planted cocaine found in friend Lindsay Lohan's car during a May car crash involving the actress. "Perez Hilton will take steps to make sure every dime is collected," his lawyer Bryan J. Freedman said. "This should make one careful before filing a lawsuit against him." The judge removed Hilton from the suit in November after the blogger's attorneys argued he was protected by free-speech rights. Ronson's attorney unsuccessfully argued that Hilton's lawyers' fees were excessive and that he should get no more than $13,400 to recover his legal costs. ...

And the hits just keep coming ... just not the ones the music industry is looking for. According to numbers released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, global music sales fell by around 10 percent in 2007, falling at a faster rate than they did in 2006, despite a growth in digital-music sales of around 40 percent. The IFPI said illegal downloading continues to be a major problem, with the ratio of illegally downloaded tracks to legal tracks sold at around 20 to 1. Also included in the report was news that the first-ever global music-download sales chart was topped by Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend," which sold 7.3 million downloads across the world. ...

Gallows, a punk band from England, are the latest act to be banned from playing the House of Blues at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, according to The Onion's A.V. Club. The group was reportedly barred from playing its scheduled show there Tuesday night because Disney objects to the group's lyrical content. Machine Head and Cannibal Corpse suffered similar fates at venues located on Disney property last year.

Related Artists

Diddy Has Not Changed His Name, Despite Reports; Plus Britney Spears, Sylvester Stallone, John McCain & More, In For The Record

24 Jan 2008 08:37:00 EST

Spears' friend deposed by Kevin Federline's lawyer; Sly backing McCain; Bono visits with U.S. defense secretary.
By MTV News staff

Sean "Diddy" Combs
Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

1.23.08

Officers from Scotland Yard have confirmed that they will investigate the video footage of Amy Winehouse apparently smoking drugs from a glass pipe, according to BBC News. "We will assess the footage to ascertain whether any action needs to be taken," a police official said of the disturbing footage, which was reportedly shot recently. ...

Ardent animal activist Pink, along with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is setting her sights on New York carriage horses. The singer has launched a new campaign that urges people to boycott the rides and that supports a recently introduced bill to ban the carriages in the city. "New York should follow the lead of London, Paris, Toronto, Beijing and progressive U.S. cities that have decided horse-drawn carriages and big city traffic don't mix," Pink recently told MTV News in exclusive comments about the campaign. "Manhattan's carriage horses suffer a miserable, solitary life shackled to a carriage and pulling load after heavy load of tourists, many of whom look like they could use the exercise themselves." ... Paris Hilton wants you to walk in her shoes — the heiress will debut her new line of footwear at Macy's in Costa Mesa, California, on February 8 from 3-6 p.m. The Paris Hilton Footwear Collection will also be available at Kitson, Lord & Taylor and other boutiques, with suggested retail prices ranging from around $60 to $200 per pair. ...

"American Idol" got its edge back on Tuesday night, but viewers probably weren't aware that one of the contestants has a criminal history, according to TMZ.com. Singer Perrie Cataldo — who shared some details about his gritty past with the judges on Tuesday — was reportedly arrested in 2006 for carrying a concealed weapon into a bar in Arizona. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon and was slapped with a $568 fine, TMZ says. ... Jermaine Dupri's father, Michael Mauldin, announced Wednesday (January 23) his plans to launch a label based on the popular Scream Tour, which was headed up by T.I. and Ciara last year under the banner "Screamfest '07." The Atlantic Records-distributed Scream Star Entertainment will also feature a revamped Web site, ScreamStar.com, which is set to include video highlights from each Scream tour, featuring the likes of Omarion, Ne-Yo and Bow Wow. Last year's monumental New York stop — which saw Jay-Z, Diddy and Kanye West join T.I. onstage — will also be included in the Scream Tour Anthology that's scheduled to go live on the site later this week. ...

Dr. Jan Adams, the plastic surgeon who operated on Kanye West's mother, Donda West, returned to CNN's "Larry King Live" on Tuesday to discuss the case more than two months after abruptly walking off the set of the show. According to The Associated Press, Adams said the fallout from West's death has impacted his medical practice "horribly ... it's almost destroyed [it]." West, 58, died at a Los Angeles-area hospital on November 10, a day after Adams performed plastic surgery on her, including a tummy tuck, breast reduction and liposuction. A coroner's autopsy report found that West most likely died of heart disease coupled with complications after plastic surgery, though an exact cause of death couldn't be confirmed. "The autopsy said what I expected," Adams told King, though he would not go into detail, citing patient-doctor privilege. ... The wife of Britney Spears' paparazzo pal Adnan Ghalib has reportedly filed for a legal separation from the photographer. People reports that Azlynn Elizabeth Berry cited irreconcilable differences in the papers filed on Friday and is asking for Ghalib to pay spousal support and her attorney's fees. According to documents, the pair were married on December 18, 2003. The couple have no children. Ghalib's photo agency, Finalpixx, has said Ghalib has been separated from his wife for more than a year. ...

Last.fm has some big news: On Wednesday, the site started offering free streams of full-length tracks and full albums. The site also announced that it will pay artists directly for music it streams. Last.fm claims it got the blessing of the four major labels and now has the biggest collection of music that can be played online for free — legally, of course. ... Murs is gathering the masses for the third installment in his underground hip-hop fest, Paid Dues, which will go down March 22 in San Bernardino, California. This year's roster includes Dilated Peoples, Boot Camp Clik, Living Legends, Sage Francis and Jedi Mind Tricks. ... Here's a blast from the past: Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode and Erasure note has ganged up again with Alison Moyet to perform the first shows by their long-dormant electro-pop group Yaz — or Yazoo, as they are known in the States — in 25 years. In Your Room, a box set with three CDs and one DVD, will drop in May. ...

Ex-Beatle Ringo Starr walked off the set of "Live With Regis and Kelly" on Tuesday after being informed he would have to cut in half a performance of the five-minute title track from his new album, Liverpool 8. AP reports that Starr was going to perform the song with friend and former Eurythmics member Dave Stewart. A spokesperson for the show claimed the booking had been made in November and that Starr's reps agreed at that time to the length of the segment. ... Just a week after the Mars Volta release their new album, The Bedlam in Goliath, on Tuesday, guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez will drop a solo album called Calibration. Among the guests on the record are fellow MV members Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Juan Alderete and Thomas Pridgen, as well as Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante and keyboardist Money Mark. The album is due out February 5 on N20 Records.

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The Best Albums Of 2007, In Bigger Than The Sound

12 Dec 2007 08:00:00 EST

Radiohead, Kanye West, Shins, Feist, LCD Soundsystem all made the list.
By James Montgomery

Photo: MTV News

On The Record: The 20 Best Albums Of 2007

This is not a perfect list, because this was not a perfect year. I think the general consensus is that something big happened (or is happening) in 2007, but no one seems to be able to agree on just what that "event of monumental import" was. Maybe it was In Rainbows, the OiNK bust or the defections of several high-profile artists from the major-label stables. Perhaps it was none of those things, and it's all still business as usual, but I sort of doubt it.

There's definitely a movement afoot, though. And these 20 albums were all part of it — some because they changed the flow of the industry, others because they were simply released in 2007. Below, you'll find game-changers, weirdo-folk, not-punk punk albums, expansive-yet-minimalist electro — and absolutely no Neon Bible. And, like I said, you'll probably find some faults with my list (I probably should've included Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Bruce Springsteen's Magic, for starters) but I'd like to think that's also why it's also a pretty good one: After all, there was no clear-cut choice for Album of the Year in 2007, just a whole lot of efforts that could possibly lay claim to the title (or couldn't, depending on who you asked). If we learned anything, it's that practically everyone could agree on positively nothing. And if that's not a pretty accurate assessment of the past 12 months ... well, then I don't know what is.

Also, I'd love to hear your feedback and read your lists, so feel free to e-mail me at BTTS@MTVStaff.com.

20. The Go! Team, Proof of Youth
The sound of the blog bubble bursting, complete with '70s guitars, double-dutch cadences, thunderous drumming, glorious fuzz and a cameo by Chuck D. Unfairly abandoned by pretty much everyone who loved the Go! Team's 2004 debut, Thunder, Lightening, Strike (because it's basically the same record), Proof of Youth stands as an example of the inherent stupidity of today's fast-moving blogosphere, and a cautionary tale to bands like the Black Kids and Vampire Weekend. If only all failures sounded this good.

The Best Of 2007

The Top Albums: MTV News Staffers Pick Their Top 10 Albums

The Biggest Arrests: Paris Hilton, T.I. And More Had An Arrest-Ing 2007

The Hottest Couples: 50 Cent And Ciara And More Smoking-Hot Couples

For the rest of MTV News' year-end top 10s, check out our Best of 2007 page, where you'll find the hottest hip-hop, catchiest singles and more.

19. Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dandelion Gum
Stuff a vocoder in your mouth. Strap a pair of Casio keyboards to your feet. Wander the Mojave Desert for a month. Do the Black Moth Super Rainbow. Gleefully psychedelic, completely nonsensical, unbelievably sunny folk-tronica from the wilds of Pittsburgh. Every bit as WTF as the name implies.

18. Patrick Wolf, The Magic Position
A guy who looks like an extra from "The Legend of Zelda" releases the year's most melodramatic album — 40 minutes of gilded, whimsical, overly indulgent Baroque-pop, full of stabbing violins, synthesizers that pop like fireworks and chiming church bells; becomes even more flamboyant (if that's possible); establishes himself as a sex symbol on both sides of the aisle; has onstage meltdown in NYC; threatens to quit the music industry via a messageboard post; recants his threat days later; then starts a feud with fellow balladeer Mika over "authenticity." And you thought you had a busy year.

17. The Shins, Wincing the Night Away
Not only is this album better than you remember, it's also probably the only thing on this list that the dude in the cubicle next to you owns (well, this or Kanye). Packing away the sunny, strummy indie-pop for darker, nocturnal mood music, the Shins crafted a weird winner that somehow managed to debut at #2 on the Billboard albums chart (despite leaking to the Internet like three months early), and finally get them out from underneath the shadow of that dude from "Scrubs." Hopefully.

16. Kanye West, Graduation
The swagger is nothing new. Neither is the lack of humility. But never have both sides of Kanye co-existed so successfully on one record (maybe Daft Punk helped broker the peace). On Graduation, West reveals the complexities contained within himself, looking back while moving forward, slowing down a step — really, there's nothing on here that grabs you with the immediacy of "Jesus Walks" — to bask in his successes, while still holding his competitors in check and keeping one eye toward the future. A truly accomplished, truly human album that still manages to work in a song based around a Steely Dan sample. And that's much harder to do than it looks.

15. Okkervil River, The Stage Names
World-weary, scruffy rock from the weariest, scruffiest band in Austin, Texas, Stage Names is beautiful, tear-in-yer-beer stuff, but it's also probably the most self-aware album released this decade (either this or Panic! at the Disco's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out) full of too-smart references to the Beach Boys, Marcel Duchamp artwork, Paul Simon and Nena's "99 Luftballons." It's meant to be a concept record of sorts, about the exploration of high art and low art, which sort of explains the tender ballad about the death of porn star Savannah. Sort of.

14. Jens Lekman, Night Falls Over Kortedala
Sumptuous, swirling pop from Sweden's finest troubadour. Sonically, it's all over the map: booming orchestral numbers, sparkly samba, morose Northern soul, all sung in Lekman's sleepy, mahogany-rich baritone. Also, "I took my sister down to the ocean/ But the ocean made me feel stupid" is probably the most emo line of the year. Deep, man ... deep.

13. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
Just last week, I named James Murphy's "All My Friends" as "the best song of 2007," and the album is nearly as good. Building on the, well, dancey-but-not-dance roots he's been laying down for a few years now, Silver is the record in which Murphy puts electroclash (remember that?) to bed for good and establishes himself as a truly important artist: the kind of guy who's not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve (check "All My Friends" or "New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down"), or get funky in really goofy ways, or record a 45-minute exercise track for Nike. And we need guys like that.

12. The National, Boxer
The sound of sepia. Sad like the photos you see pinned to the walls in really old bars. Beautiful like being drunk on a rooftop in Brooklyn, the city twinkling in the distance. Painful like the hangover the following morning. The songs on Boxer are all of those things, often at the same time. A remarkable record.

11. Feist, The Reminder
Sure, there's the song that sold the iPods, but there's also the churning, torch-y "My Moon My Man," the heartbreaking "The Park" and the slinky "Brandy Alexander," to name just a few. Intimately performed, expertly arranged indie balladry, with Leslie Feist's voice weaving through it all: lithe, supple, sexy and undeniably powerful. Probably — OK, undoubtedly — the breakthrough album of 2007.

10. Yeasayer, All Hour Cymbals
What world music would sound like if it was played by a bunch of hipsters from Williamsburg. Hints of African guitars, drone-y Eastern European notes, Celtic rhythms, plus chants, chimes and handclaps, all whirled together into a heady sonic brew. In a thousand years, when they excavate Bedford Avenue, they'll probably discover copies of Cymbals and think we were a much more evolved society. Either that or really big fans of Forest for the Trees.

9. Deerhunter, Cryptograms
If you believe the rumors (and given the generally terrifying WTF-ness of Deerhunter, I do), Cryptograms is really two albums in one: the first half — from "Intro" to "Red Ink" — was recorded in one manic session, on a single reel of tape, with frontman Bradford Cox still battling the lingering effects of walking pneumonia. The second half (starting with "Spring Hall Convert" and ending with "Heatherwood") was recorded in another one-day session, on another reel of tape. That the two halves are so sonically disparate — one murky and atmospheric, the other luminous and relatively straightforward — not only lends credence to those rumors, but also speaks volumes about the ever-evolving talent of the band itself, and makes Cryptograms an experience unlike most you'll hear this decade. And given that Deerhunter are currently on hiatus, that experience might — unfortunately — only be a one-time thing.

8. Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Not as accessible as Good News for People Who Love Bad News, not as good as The Lonesome Crowded West (or The Moon & Antarctica, for that matter), We Were Dead represents Modest Mouse at the great divide: On one side, the past. On the other, the future. So, accordingly, the album borrows equally from both, packed with rambling, shambling guitar exercises and (relatively) straightforward radio rock. There was even a slow number or three. That the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart seemed to be the most amazing thing of all, and it only gave MM the validation they deserved. No matter where Isaac Brock and company decide to go from here, they've already won.

7. Panda Bear, Person Pitch
Like the Animal Collective that begat him, Panda is less about making music and more about stringing together atmosphere, creating pockets of sound as big as entire universes. Here, he collects the wooshes of subway cars, the crunch of gravel under boots, wind, water (and a bunch more), and combines them with some really beautiful vocal harmonies, a little acoustic strumming and the occasional odd "woo-hoo" to create an album that's warm like an old blanket but also chilly like a snowdrift. Bizarrely accessible, sort of spooky, and really all you could ask for from so-called "experimental rock."

6. The Field, From Here We Go Sublime
A masterwork of techno (do people still even use that word?) both minimal and maximal, Sublime — the handiwork of Swedish DJ Axel Willner — recalls cellular division, slowly melting ice caverns and fields of blossoming sunflowers, often in the same song, and often using little more than a bass line, a kick-drum and a looped sample. Devastating in its simplicity and scope, it's more intelligent dance music than Intelligent Dance Music, which may not make sense, only it does. You get me?

5. Tegan and Sara, The Con
An album of beautiful complexity and brutal honestly, The Con covers all manners of love, loss and heartbreak, and does it all with a restraint and a maturity that belies the Quin sisters' age. W-a-a-y more confident and ballsy than any "follow-up to a breakthrough" album should be, yet still self-effacing and full of enough doubts to fill 1,000 diary pages. Expertly helmed by producer Chris Walla, it's a record that unfurls gradually, revealing just a bit more with each listen. For some reason, it reminds me of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, though I can neither explain nor condone that statement.

4. The White Stripes, Icky Thump
To some, it's just another example of Jack White's ever-expanding ego. To others, it's another addition to his "guitar god" résumé. I think I fall somewhere in between. Sure, there's parts of Thump that are a bit much — mainly the bagpipes that drag down the middle of the record — but there's also plenty of great moments, too: the fret-melting majesty of the title track, the delightfully silly vaudeville of "Rag and Bone," and straightforward, floor-pounding rock of "Bone Broke." For the first time, White also drops the whole "magical bluesman" shtick and opens up a bit, and — surprise — he seems just as conflicted and unhappy as you or I. Which only makes him, and the entire album, that much more likeable.

3. Radiohead, In Rainbows
The album that changed everything, only it probably didn't (though it's nice to oversimplify sometimes). When all the smoke surrounding its release strategy cleared, fans were left with an album that either enthralled or mystified ... there really was no in between. For me, it was the former: Radiohead put away the electronics on this one and just decided to play, making beautiful, intricate songs about decidedly human things — failing relationships, infidelity, whatever the hell "15 Step" is about. It's the album that sounds like the next logical step, and while some didn't want to hear Radiohead slip gracefully into their 40s, that's what they got. And I'll take AARP Radiohead over almost any other band on the planet. They may sound old, but, dude, they are old. Except Jonny Greenwood. He's apparently a vampire.

2. Against Me!, New Wave
The massive choruses. The even more massive hooks. The major label. The big-name producer. The boy/girl duet. The protest song that made fun of protest songs. There probably wasn't a more unapologetic record made this year — seriously, New Wave might actually redefine the word "unabashed" — and Against Me! are totally aware of this, and they don't care what you (or the majority of their old fans) think, which is why Against Me! are awesome, and why this album totally rules. Punk rock is probably dead already, but if it isn't, well, this is the album that killed it off forever. Good riddance.

1. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
When all is said and done, the sky is still falling and the rivers continue to run red with BitTorrent. The industry is dead, except that it's probably not. We are living in the future, only no one seems to realize it, because we might just be living in the past. You are part of the problem, and the solution, all at the same time. And none of this really matters. What cuts through the fog and the noise is simplicity. And on the surface, Sky Blue Sky is the most simple record of the year: straightforward like Summer Teeth, sparkling in execution, bravely unflinching in subject. It resonates because it's true and beautiful and seemingly not of this era. But it's also unfathomably complicated: a record about relationships, about being so in love and wanting to make it work so bad, about giving of yourself and taking from someone else about being back to back, in the foxhole — impossible Germany, unlikely Japan — against overwhelming odds, but determined to fight until the bitter end. No one said simplicity was ever easy.

Related Artists

The Best Songs Of 2007, In Bigger Than The Sound

5 Dec 2007 08:00:00 EST

Nine Inch Nails, Lil Mama, LCD Soundsystem, more make our list of the most unavoidably catchy tunes of the year.
By James Montgomery

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, Lil Mama and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy
Photo: Universal/ Jive/ DFA Records

On The Record: The 33 Best Songs Of The Year

OK, so here it is: my "Totally Killer Mixtape of 2007." Had I the technical wherewithal, I would probably make this available to download or stream or something, but I don't, so it basically stands as an eclectic, somewhat WTF-worthy list of the best musical moments of the year.

Yes, I realize that the idea of ranking songs is about as impractical as the idea of ranking albums — which I'll be doing in next week's column, by the way — but it strikes me as a pretty nice summation of the year that was. Sentimental electro, (un)intentionally minimalist hip-hop designed to sell ringtones, overly instrumentalized indie rock designed to sell MP3 players ... it's all here. And if none of it seems to make sense, well, I think that's an accurate assessment of '07 too. (No, the number 33 has no real significance. Chalk it up to me channeling my inner Larry Legend.)

This is a long one, so take a deep breath before you begin. And if you've got major beefs with my list — or if you'd like to submit one of your own — make sure to hit me up at BTTS@MTVStaff.com.

33. The Go! Team, "Grip Like a Vice"
Car-chase guitars, blaring horns, jump-rope party rhymes and cheerleader chants, all filtered through a lo-fi gauze. It sounds like something from the group's Thunder, Lightning, Strike album (which, strangely, people liked a lot more than this year's Proof of Youth — oh, fickle bloggers!), only waterlogged and stomped on a bit.

32. Nine Inch Nails, "The Great Destroyer"
I got a little carried away with predictions about how Year Zero was going to rejuvenate Reznor's career just like American Idiot did Green Day's, and, as it turns out, I was totally wrong. But that doesn't mean that the album isn't still filled with positively knee-buckling moments, and "Destroyer" is the knee-buckling-est of all. And if you don't believe me, just fast-forward to the 1:36 mark on this live performance.

31. Kate Nash, "Foundations"
This is like the Urban Outfitters of breakup songs. You're sure you've heard it somewhere before, and you feel sort of dumb for liking it, but you still can't deny its quality. The metaphor works even more because there is a 95 percent chance that this song is being played in an actual Urban Outfitters store right now.

30. The Shins, "Phantom Limb"
Just another slice of hazy, lazy dream-pop pie from indie rock's reigning Marie Callender's. Sounds like afternoons spent cutting class and drinking your best friend's dad's booze, which, I think, is what the song is about. Bonus fact: The "EHS" mentioned in the song stands for "El Dorado High School," which frontman James Mercer attended when he was growing up in New Mexico.

29. Eve, "Tambourine"
The kind of spazzy, double-time hip-hop that I claim they don't make anymore, except they totally do. This is the best of the 2007 crop, a head-spinning mix of tablas, whistles, whoops, sirens and synth stabs — plus a sample of the Soul Searchers' "Blow Your Whistle" — all courtesy of producer Swizz Beatz. The track is supposed to be included on Eve's oft-delayed Here I Am, which might actually hit stores in time to be considered for album of the year in 2009.

28. Battles, "Atlas"
This is probably what the inside of Britney Spears' head sounds like.

27. Tegan and Sara, "Call It Off"
A beautiful little number that showcases the Quinn sisters' amazing powers of harmonizing and closes out their really great album The Con. Oh, also, this was on that one episode of "Grey's Anatomy" where the bus with all the high school kids on it crashes, and that one outcast kid gets a pencil stuck in his eye, and McDreamy tries really hard to save him but can't, and Izzie relates to him because she was an outcast in high school too. At least, that's what I heard.

26. Snoop Dogg, "Sensual Seduction"
Not only is it probably the best thing Snoop's done in a decade (this or "Drop It Like It's Hot,"), apparently it's also the first single off his upcoming Ego Trippin' album, which either means that, a) Snoop is a visionary; b) Snoop is crazy; or c) Snoop doesn't want to sell records anymore. The accompanying VHS-worthy video only seems to validate all three of those points.

25. Junior Senior, "Itch U Can't Scratch"
Starbursts of synthesizers. Porno bass lines. Crotch-jiggling guitars. Hand claps. Doofy, back-and-forth, pansexual rapping. Mutual back-scratching. A hook that doubles as a call to civic duty. Cowbell. An improbable shout-out to Bigfoot. All in a day's work for Junior Senior, Denmark's premier purveyors of DayGlo dance music. (And yeah, I know it came out in most of Europe in 2005.)

24. Radiohead, "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"
When all the dust settles, perhaps the thing we'll remember most about In Rainbows isn't the way it was released, but that it's the album in which Thom and company actually seemed human again. There are at least two songs about infidelity on it, and this is the best of them: a sexually charged mix of angsty guitars and a twisting, propulsive low end. It sounds like an internal monologue. Should I do this? Shouldn't I? Will I get caught? Do I care?

23. Modest Mouse, "Spitting Venom"
Rambling and long-winded like the Modest Mouse of old, countrified and creepy like the Modest Mouse of recent years — also probably the jump-off point for wherever they decide to go next. Squealing, sloppy and shambling in all the best possible ways. Plus, horns!

22. Notorious B.I.G., "Party and Bullsh--" (Ratatat remix)
Two bearded white guys remix B.I.G.'s solo debut (from the "Who's the Man?" soundtrack, no less), adding all sorts of phased-out guitars, clicky beats and — gasp! — making a better song in the process. Also, there is roughly a 100 percent chance they did not obtain permission to do this. Download it here before it's too late.

21. Dan Deacon, "The Crystal Cat"
I despise Dan's whole "nerdy/spazzy white guy in huge glasses and sweatpants" shtick, but there's no denying the power of his super-blissed electro-pop. Pitch-shifted vocals and caffeinated drums aplenty, plus a video that's guaranteed to give you a seizure.

20. Fall Out Boy, "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"
A scathing — well, at least as scathing as FOB gets — indictment of the message boards that birthed them, plus Patrick Stump continues to lay claim to the title of "Most Underappreciated Frontman in the Business." When all is said and done, he'll still be standing, probably producing R&B hits for Usher's kids. Also, a 2007 karaoke fave.

19. Jay-Z, "Blue Magic"
A prime example of what happens when two of the biggest names in the game cut all the bull and get hungry again. Pharrell takes a break from reminding us he can skateboard long enough to deliver a brilliantly minimal track (little more than some icy synths and a bass drum). Jigga stops worrying about Vince Carter's ankle long enough to spit lines that sound more like a demo than anything else. The whole thing is as raw as steak tartare.

18. Panda Bear, "Comfy in Nautica"
This + this + this = the best Animal Collective song not released by Animal Collective this year.

17. Klaxons, "Golden Skans"
The sound of the future! OK, probably not. But still slinky and spacey and pretty much exactly what I wanted their Myths of the Near Future album to sound like after spending 2006 obsessing over the Xan Valleys EP. Sadly, it didn't. Is New Rave over yet? Did it ever even begin?

16. Lil Mama, "Lip Gloss"
Lil Mama might actually be 29 years old, but even if she is, she still made one of the best teeny-bop songs of the year: a deceptively simple mix of hand claps, kick-drums and sing-song that somehow manages to sound bigger than 85 percent of the stuff you hear on the radio. Also, probably the best song about cosmetics you'll hear this decade.

15. Justice, "D.A.N.C.E."
Intrinsically now. Incredibly indebted to the past. More inescapable than any song that comes before it on the list. Infinitely more annoying than any song after it. Completely and totally disposable, in all the best possible ways. You'll probably hear it on some Le Sound Du Now comp in five years, and you'll stop in your tracks and either think, "Oh. Now I get it," or, "Wow, I can't believe I used to get this."

14. Soulja Boy, "Crank That"
The song that launched a thousand YouTube videos (and one really excellent Travis Barker remix). So minimal that it makes "Lip Gloss" sound positively orchestral. Possibly about something incredibly dirty. Sort of like modern art, because you listen to it and think, "Wow, I could've done this," only you didn't, which is why this song rules.

13. Black Kids, "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You"
I hate this band for reasons that are completely beyond their control (i.e., they didn't ask for the fame their MySpace page brought them), and I realize that isn't fair. Still, there's no way a band this young should be able to make a song this good — a rousing, heart-opening shouter that sounds like the Cure jamming out with the Arcade Fire. Like I said earlier, these guys win.

12. The National, "Fake Empire"
A really sad, really beautiful song that kicks off an album full of them, "Fake Empire" is all somber piano and gently rolling drums and weary horns, with frontman Matt Beringer's smoky baritone mixing into the morose murk. A song about the charm of walking around New York very late at night when you are very, very drunk that, incidentally, sounds very good when you are walking around New York very late at night when you are very, very drunk.

11. Menomena, "Wet and Rusting"
A bunch of pseudo-hippies from the Pacific Northwest make a forward-thinking, sorta-funky song about love and loss, one that also manages to sound positively, well, wet and rusted. Full of creaky noises, xylophone, strummy guitars and the best drum fill you'll hear this year.

10. Deerhunter, "After Class"
I've already anointed these guys as my 2007 Band of the Year, and this is the best song they've ever released (it will be out on a comp from Brooklyn's Rare Book Room Records in February). If you believe the hype, Deerhunter recorded it in one day, which seems somewhat possible, given their prodigious output this year. To me, it sounds like your bedroom when you're waking up from a really bad dream — the kind where you kill someone and have to keep the cops from finding out — and you realize that it was just a dream, and you feel sort of safe and relieved but also still really creeped out because, y'know, you dreamed about murdering someone. Or something like that.

9. M.I.A., "Paper Planes"
Maybe it's the Clash sample, or the play on Wreckx-N-Effect, or the gunshots or the ka-ching of the cash register, but I don't think Ms. Arulpragasam has ever sounded sunnier (even on "Sunshowers") or more personable on a track, even when she's talking about robbing you, forging documents, moving drugs or third-world democracy. A positively vital song, indicative of the shrinking world we inhabit, the culture-mashing power of the Internet and also probably the reason M.I.A. had such a difficult time getting a U.S. visa.

8. Rihanna, "Umbrella"
Arguably the single that defined 2007, and a lush and sleek example of just how great a pop song can be. Despite being released this summer, it's positively icy in its execution: full of synthesizer wooshes and crunching guitars that make you want to reach for a parka. Undoubtedly the best single Rihanna has ever released (and that's saying something), it gave people reason to stretch the word "Umbrella" out to eight or nine syllables and announced Rih Rih's arrival as not just a formidable sex symbol, but also as the great pop threat of the late 2000s.

7. The White Stripes, "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told)"
I've heard people say that it sounds almost exactly like the Band's "The Weight," which is awesome, even if I don't totally hear it. For most of their career, the Stripes have been accused of being serious-faced scholars of garage and blues, but here, it sounds like they're finally having fun. On an album full of fret-bending guitar heroics, Jack White's solo in this song (at the 3:10 mark) is the most, uh, heroic and probably my favorite moment in any song this year.

6. Kanye West, "Stronger"
We've spent nearly all of 2007 hearing about Kanye the egoist (buy his book!) and Kanye the insufferable (stand clear backstage!). But perhaps we should also give it up for Kanye the total genius, the guy who foresaw the emergence of French electro before it happened; the guy who got the rights to sample the best track from the forefathers of French electro, Daft Punk; the guy who got them to appear in his video; and the guy who also cast Cassie in the video just so he could kiss her. A driving, powerful, unadulteratedly over-the-top piece of hip-hop history, as only West could do.

5. Feist, "1234"
A perfectly perfect example of an indie-rock pocket symphony (banjo! strings! horns!), "1234" started picking up steam thanks to the Patrick Daughters-helmed video (and Ms. Feist's sparkly one-piece) and then, ultimately, the ubiquitous iPod Nano ad. When all the dust had cleared, the song remained great, but its import had increased exponentially: Now it stands as perhaps the indie anthem of 2007, and definitely the only song on your iPod that your mom recognizes. Sometimes, all it takes is a little help.

4. The Cribs, "Men's Needs"
A jittery, dance-y, bold rocker by three British brothers, produced by Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos and backed by a video that features a nude hipster chick smashing the band's equipment, vomiting and maiming/decapitating everyone in her path. What's not to love? Oh yeah, there's also the chorus — a guttural, charging shot of adrenaline that sounds like the boys are bigging up Apollo Creed — and the fact that the song is about making fun of trust-fund babies in NYC and London. There is actually nothing not to love.

3. Against Me!, "Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart"
An updated take on the "Grease" song "Summer Nights," only with a lesbian indie rocker playing the part of Sandy and a recently divorced punk rocker playing Danny Zuko. An unapologetic fist-pumper, with a title lifted from a Nelson Algren book and a chorus lifted from what it says on your cell phone when you're roaming. On the major-label debut from a much-derided punk act. Produced by Butch Vig. A New Wave indeed.

2. Ween, "Your Party"
Oh, that saxophone. It's from soft-jazz master David Sanborn, just in case you were wondering. And, oh, those lyrics: mentions of tri-color pastas and cream-puffs and bourbon and games of chance. It's probably the smartest piss-take on all things WASP-y ("We had the best time at your party/ The wife and I thank you very much"), and an ode to partying that's so much better than 1,000 similar odes to partying, because it's probably serious (hence the Sanborn cameo), only it's probably not, because it's a song by Ween. And I've debated that point endlessly, which probably means that "Your Party" is my favorite song of 2007, only I chickened out at the last second and moved it to #2 on my list. I will probably regret this for the rest of my life.

1. LCD Soundsystem, "All My Friends"
The song about me in New York five years ago, drunk and crazy and probably about to die. The song about me in New York now, reserved, happy, safe. And the song about me in five years, when I have left New York and am staring out at a cul-de-sac, wondering what might have been. The past, the present and the future, all in one, and proof that I am exactly like every other white rock critic who has lived — or currently does live — in New York. Which is beautiful and sad and everything I could ask for in a song.

Related Artists

Kanye West, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem Shine On MTV News Staffers' Top Albums Lists

3 Dec 2007 07:55:00 EST

Members of the news team pick their 10 (or 11 or seven) favorite albums of 2007.
By MTV News staff

A selection of this year's top albums
Photo: MTV News

Like most of the media world, we here at MTV News obsess and argue relentlessly over our year-end top 10s. This year, we thought we'd share them! Our staff top 10s will be rolling out all this week, along with several less conventional lists we've come up with, like couples, hot messes, arrests, hip-hop phrases and much more. Enjoy, and share your own top 10s in You Tell Us!

Conor Bezane, segment producer
1. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
2. Bright Eyes, Cassadaga
3. Feist, The Reminder
4. Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
5. Patrick Wolf, The Magic Position
6. Common, Finding Forever
7. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
8. Radiohead, In Rainbows
9. Mark Ronson, Version
10. Kanye West, Graduation

Jim Cantiello, segment producer
1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Some Loud Thunder
2. Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam
3. Deerhunter, Cryptograms/ Fluorescent Grey EP/ blog music
4. Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
5. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
6. Low, Drums and Guns
7. Feist, The Reminder
8. Kelly Clarkson, My December
9. Nine Inch Nails, Year Zero
10. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

Jonathan Goldner, senior producer
1. Bruce Springsteen, Magic
2. The Hives, The Black and White Album
3. Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
4. Kanye West, Graduation
5. Daft Punk, Alive 2007
6. Jay-Z, American Gangster
7. Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad

Sasha Hamrogue, producer/MTV Radio
1. Radiohead, In Rainbows
2. Battles, Mirrored
3. Stars of the Lid, And Their Refinement of the Decline
4. Against Me!, New Wave
5. Tegan and Sara, The Con
6. Feist, The Reminder
7. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
8. Justice, Cross
9. Bat for Lashes, Fur & Gold
10. Los Campesinos!, Sticking Fingers into Sockets

Chris Harris, reporter
1. The Dillinger Escape Plan, Ire Works
2. The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Mongrel
3. White Stripes, Icky Thump
4. Watain, Sworn to the Dark
5. Radiohead, In Rainbows
6. Deathspell Omega, Fas — Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum
7. Chimaira, Resurrection
8. Kanye West, Graduation
9. The Red Chord, Prey for Eyes
10. Opeth, The Roundhouse Tapes

Sohyung Kang, associate producer
1. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
2. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
3. Kanye West, Graduation
4. Radiohead, In Rainbows
5. Bloc Party, A Weekend in the City
6. Talib Kweli, Eardrum
7. The National, Boxer
8. Editors, An End Has a Start
9. Paolo Nutini, These Streets
10. Young Love, Too Young to Fight It

Gil Kaufman, reporter
1. Apples in Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder
2. Band of Horses, Cease to Begin
3. Wussy, Left for Dead
4. Tim Armstrong, A Poet's Life
5. Kanye West, Graduation
6. Kings of Leon, Because of the Times
7. "The Darjeeling Limited" original soundtrack
8. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
9. Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
10. Steve Earle, Washington Square Serenade/ White Stripes, Icky Thump

Andrew Millard, producer
1. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
2. Interpol, Our Love to Admire
3. Kanye West, Graduation
4. The Good, the Bad &, the Queen, self-titled
5. Klaxons, Myths of the Near Future
6. White Stripes, Icky Thump
7. Radiohead, In Rainbows
8. Mark Ronson, Version
9. Arctic Monkeys, Favourite Worst Nightmare
10. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible

Shaheem Reid, hip-hop editor
1. Kanye West, Graduation
2. Jay-Z, American Gangster
3. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
4. Common, Finding Forever
5. 50 Cent, Curtis
6. Timbaland, Timbaland Presents: Shock Value
7. T.I., T.I. vs. T.I.P.
8. Alicia Keys, As I Am
9. Styles P, Super Gangster (Extraordinary Gentleman)/ Ghostface Killah, The Big Doe Rehab
10. Lloyd, Street Love

Andrew Ross Rowe, associate producer
1. Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
2. Steel Train, Trampoline
3. Bowerbirds, Hymns for a Dark Horse
4. Love Like Fire, An Ocean In The Air
5. Say Anything, In Defense of the Genre
6. Kanye West, Graduation
7. Relient K, Five Score and Seven Years Ago
8. Mae, Singularity
9. Small Sins, Small Sins
10. Air, Pocket Symphony

Chris "CJ" Smith, segment producer
1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Some Loud Thunder
2. Deerhunter, Cryptograms/ Fluorescent Grey EP
3. Sunset Rubdown, Random Spirit Lover
4. Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam
5. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
6. Radiohead, In Rainbows
7. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
8. Black Lips, Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo
9. Stars of the Lid, And Their Refinement of the Decline
10. Dan Deacon, Spiderman of the Rings

Lindsey Thomas, editor
1. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
2. 1990s, Cookies
3. Kanye West, Graduation
4. M.I.A., Kala
5. Brother Ali, The Undisputed Truth
6. BrakesBrakesBrakes, Beatific Visions
7. Radiohead, In Rainbows
8. Joan as Police Woman, Real Life
9. Apples in Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder
10. Menomena, Friend and Foe

Megan Warner, production assistant
1. James Morrison, Undiscovered
2. Alicia Keys, As I Am
3. Kanye West, Graduation
4. Chris Brown, Exclusive
5. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, 100 Days, 100 Nights
6. Colbie Caillat, Coco
7. Bruce Springsteen, Magic
8. Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride
9. Feist, The Reminder
10. Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad

For the rest of MTV News' year-end top 10s, check out our Best of 2007 page, where you'll find the hottest hip-hop, catchiest singles and more.

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A Look Back At Lollapalooza 2007

3 Aug 2007 11:07:00 EDT

Watch our chats with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lupe Fiasco and more from last year's festival, plus find out how you can contribute to our 2008 Lolla coverage.

Lupe Fiasco
Photo: MTV News

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Chili Peppers, Arcade Fire Rock Out To Sweltering Fans; Travis Pray For Rain On Coachella Day Two

29 Apr 2007 09:41:00 EDT

Rage's Tom Morello warms up with the Nightwatchman, LCD Soundsystem invoke "Daft Punk."
By Corey Moss

Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis performs at Coachella on Saturday
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

INDIO, California — Perhaps it was a sign that the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Arcade Fire and Hot Chip were sharing the same bill.

Whatever the case, Saturday was certainly one of the most scorching Coachella afternoons ever, with temperatures into the100s for hours on end.

That meant the tented stages provided plenty of shadowy solace, while pre-sunset outdoor acts were playing to their diehards and suffering while doing it. (Let's just say there were multiple hipster rockers quoting Lil Jon's infamous sweat-dripping lyrics.)

Still, Peter Bjorn and John and the Decemberists wore their suits and the Sahara tent was as raving as ever. Favorite shirt spotted while Richie Hawtin spun trance records: Rave Against the Machine.

(Check out photos from the festival.)

Speaking of Sunday's highly-anticipated headliners, fans got a little taste Saturday, as guitarist Tom Morello made his festival debut as the Nightwatchman, a Woody Guthrie-inspired, politically-revved folk singer. While there were certainly a few confused Rage fans, most rallied on (protesting just about everything), especially when perennial Coachella dude Perry Farrell made a surprise appearance.

The Chilis were Saturday's headliner, but like Björk on Friday, they're an act Coachella has already seen in recent years, so the excitement level was a little lackluster. (Rage, too, have played Coachella before, but that's a different story.)

Regardless, Anthony Kiedis and crew rocked it solid, with nonstop hits predominantly from their most recent releases. Also tossed in for good measure were a few instrumental jams and a little Blondie (with John Frusciante on vocals).

At the Outdoor Theatre stage, Jack's Mannequin also pulled a cover out of their bag of tricks — Tom Petty's "American Girl" - although singer Andrew McMahon had already reeled in the audience with his own perfect-for-a-sunny-afternoon pop-rock ditties.

The Coachella Stage hosted a variety a songwriting gurus throughout the day, from the sugary Fountains of Wayne to the sweet Regina Spektor, the gritty Kings of Leon to the polished Travis. (The latter closed with "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" at literally the driest moment of the afternoon, but the words painted a pleasant picture nonetheless.)

The highlight, however, and probably the highlight of the first two days, was the Arcade Fire, whose monster roster, making friends and enemies of instruments they must only play in Montreal, came together to make epic jams.

With a neon-designed stage (inspired by the recently-released Neon Bible), Win Butler led his army of musical misfits through material both new and old, inspiring mass sing-alongs mirroring just the sort of cultish moments the band seems to mock on the new album.

Earlier in the day, back-to-back Fratellis and Hot Chip whipped up quite a party in the Mojave Tent, with !!! and Ozomatli happily carrying on into the early evening.

In the Sahara Tent, LCD Soundsystem scored big with "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" on the same stage that, coincidentally, Daft Punk actually did play almost a year ago to the hour.

There were no robots at Coachella this year, however, but there was a parade of giant balloon animals (the details on the shrimp were impeccable), dudes with pizza-box hats shading the sun and one former cast member of "The O.C." holding her drunken friend from falling over.

The sight of the day, however, had to be the clean fields that stayed that way well into the night. While they are usually littered within a few hours, Coachella launched a new recycling program this year where thirsty (and apparently broke) concertgoers can exchange 10 empty bottles for one new one. Now that's hot.

Check out the first day's report here ("Amy Winehouse Tests Tent Limits, Bjork Previews Weird Timbaland Tracks As Coachella Kicks Off"), and check back on Monday for the final report from Coachella.

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

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Voodoo Music Experience Returning To New Orleans For A Day

12 Oct 2005 08:27:00 EDT

Two-day festival will split time between Memphis and New Orleans.
By Gil Kaufman

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

With most of New Orleans pumped dry and businesses beginning to clean up after Hurricane Katrina, one of the city's musical gems has decided to come back home ... for one day, anyway.

Last month, organizers announced that they would move the seventh-annual Voodoo Music Experience to Memphis' Tom Lee Park (see "Voodoo Music Experience Relocates From New Orleans To Memphis"). Now organizers say that they will split the festival into two parts, with the first night's show (October 29) taking place in New Orleans, and the second (October 30) in Memphis. The concert will be the first full-scale, large entertainment event within city limits since the disastrous hurricane and subsequent flood hit the city on August 29.

According to a message posted on the show's official Web site, the shows will be focused on "Two cities united with a common goal: to celebrate and renew the city of New Orleans. As a sign of support and rebirth as New Orleans begins to rebuild, this observance of music will bring together the diversity of culture that serves as the foundation for both cities."

The invitation-only New Orleans show at Riverview Park will celebrate the efforts of those who've worked on the cleanup and recovery efforts in the city for the past six weeks. Previous ticket holders will be welcomed to the New Orleans show, along with police, firefighters, National Guard, military and others who've worked on restoring the city.

"In the course of the past few weeks, the outpouring of support from not only the music industry, but from people from all walks of life, who want to come together to celebrate New Orleans has been tremendous," festival producer Stephen Rehage said in a statement. "The ability to move forward in two cities — with so much music history — is overwhelming to everyone involved with this year's event. We want to thank all the artists who have shown their support by honoring their commitment to this historic event. We all look forward to making this weekend one to remember."

The festival was originally scheduled to take place over Halloween weekend in New Orleans' City Park. When Katrina hit, organizers moved the entire show to Memphis, but they had a change of heart when community leaders in New Orleans approached them about moving the show back for a day as a tribute to the relief workers. Proceeds from the festival will benefit the New Orleans Restoration Fund as well as Mercy Corps, Habitat for Humanity and other local organizations working to restore the city's famed cultural heritage.

The New Orleans bill will feature Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Digable Planets, the Bravery, New York Dolls, LCD Soundsystem, the Secret Machines, H.I.M., Sevendust, VHS or Beta, the Rebirth Brass Band and more than 20 other acts.

The Memphis show will take place at AutoZone Park and feature Cake, the North Mississippi Allstars, the Decemberists, New York Dolls, Better Than Ezra, VHS or Beta, Sevendust, Cowboy Mouth, H.I.M., World Leader Pretend and the Giraffes.

Memphis will also host a series of free downtown concerts beginning on October 27 and continuing through the weekend; lineups for those shows have not yet been announced. In addition, such New Orleans legends as Dr. John and the Neville Brothers will play special New Orleans-themed concerts on the city's Beale Street.

To find out what you can do to help provide relief to victims of Katrina, head to think MTV's hurricane relief page.

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For The Record: Quick News On 50 Cent, Hanson, NIN, LCD Soundsystem, Randy Jackson & More

20 Apr 2005 05:49:00 EDT

50 Cent ads pulled in U.K., Taylor Hanson now a father of two, 'Batman Begins' preview airing during 'Smallville' finale.
By MTV News staff report

50 Cent (file)
Photo: Interscope

50 Cent's controversial Reebok "I am what I am" ads have been pulled in the U.K., according to BBC News. In response to protests from the group Mothers Against Guns, who previously called for a Reebok boycott, the shoe company discontinued its inflammatory ads that featured 50 counting the number of times he'd been shot. "We are pleased Reebok has shown it is socially responsible — it is the right decision," Michelle Forbes, vice-chairman of Mothers Against Guns, told the BBC. "We know how brave it was for Reebok to do this and we appreciate it." Reebok issued a statement saying, "A small number of the general public found it offensive. Therefore Reebok took the decision to immediately and indefinitely stop broadcasting the 50 Cent spot." ...

A former Neverland security guard testified on Wednesday (April 20) that the security staff was ordered to not allow Michael Jackson's accuser to leave the property, a directive that came around the same time the prosecution alleges that the family was held against their will. However, Brian Barron also told the court that it was policy to not allow children to leave the ranch if they weren't accompanied by their parents, and it seemed like the family wanted to be there. Barron noted that after leaving Neverland as a part-time employee, he was approached by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department to go back to work there and act as an informant, but he refused. ...

Taylor Hanson has a new reason to sing "Penny & Me." The 22-year-old Hanson member and his wife, Natalie, welcomed their second child, a daughter named Penelope, into the world on Tuesday. Their son, Jordan Ezra, was born in October 2002. Baby and mom are both doing fine. ...LCD Soundsystem's next single, "Disco Infiltrator," will be released on May 23, and remixes are being arranged at the moment. Meanwhile, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor has recruited LCD frontman James Murphy (under his DFA production moniker) to remix "The Hand That Feeds," off the upcoming NIN LP With Teeth. On the NIN Web site, Reznor writes that the DFA and their record label are "doing the most interesting production work out there." Drum'n'bass producer Photek has also been tapped to tweak Teeth. ...

Something Corporate singer Andrew McMahon's side project, Jack's Mannequin, will release their debut, Everything in Transit, on July 12. In the meantime, the band is launching a tour April 27 in Berkeley, California, which wraps June 9 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ...Jim Verraros, a finalist from the first season of "American Idol," will release his second album — and first on a major label — on Tuesday. Rollercoaster features a guest appearance from fellow contestant Angela Peel. Meanwhile, Verraros' movie debut, "Eating Out," was released April 8. ... Juliette Lewis' band, Juliette and the Licks, have just finished their debut album, the follow-up to their EP, Like a Bolt of Lightning. You're Speaking My Language includes such tracks as "I Never Got to Tell You What I Wanted To," "Pray for the Band Latoya" and "American Boy Vol. 2," and is due out May 17. ...

Natalie Cole is slated to perform at the 12th annual Race to Erase MS benefit, called Rock and Royalty to Erase MS, taking place Friday in Los Angeles at the Westin Century Plaza Hotel and Spa. Randy Jackson, Drea de Matteo and Jamie-Lynn DiScala will be presenters at the gala, which will include a fashion show by Tommy Hilfiger, while Tony Danza, Tom Arnold and Bill Maher will emcee the live auction. Proceeds go to the Center Without Walls, a research program to find a cure for multiple sclerosis. Last year's event raised more than $2 million. ... Want to see Mötley Crüe but don't want to get off your couch? The band is taking care of that excuse by filming its April 27 show in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the Van Andel Arena for a DVD to come out in the fall. The "Red, White, & Crüe" DVD will be directed by Hamish Hamilton, who's previously shot concerts such as Britney Spears' "Live From Miami" Showtime special. "This will give our fans a chance to see this f---ing incredible show from the safety of their living rooms," Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx said in a statement. ...

The creators of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival are launching a new multistage tour this summer with Trey Anastasio and Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals headlining. Starting on June 16, the Zooma Tour will stop at 28 amphitheaters around the country before wrapping at the end of July. A complete list of dates and the 20-plus rotating acts who will perform will be available soon. ... Jason Mraz will head out with Alanis Morissette for some unplugged performances on her Jagged Little Pill acoustic tour. The outing begins June 7 in Toronto. ... The Hot Snakes, the last band to record a session for BBC DJ John Peel before he died, are releasing those recordings on Tuesday. The EP features all four tracks from the October 11 session. ...

04.19.2005

Jay-Z has teamed up with Swiss watch designer Audemars Piguet to release a limited-edition, upscale watch collection. According to Jay's publicist, only 100 of the watches, which celebrate the MC's 10th year in the music industry, are being made: 50 in stainless steel, 30 in rose gold and 20 in platinum. The timepieces can be found in Audemars Piguet shops; prices range from $24,000 to $100,000. Each watch comes with an iPod with all of Jay's albums already uploaded. ...

Young Buck's Monday court date in Los Angeles in connection with the melee at last fall's Vibe Awards was continued to May 13. The G-Unit rapper has already pleaded not guilty to assault with a deadly weapon. ... Nas is staging a brief college tour to promote his Street's Disciple album. The five-date jaunt will kick off on Saturday at the University of Connecticut's Storrs campus and wrap on May 21 at the University of Chicago. The rapper is planning a larger tour for the summer. ...

After leaving the Queens of the Stone Age tour earlier this month, Mark Lanegan returned to the stage for the last show on this leg of their outing. About half an hour into the band's set at the Music Box at the Fonda in Los Angeles Monday night, Lanegan emerged onstage without a word of explanation and proceeded to sing several songs. The other surprise of the night came during the first encore, when the band came out with ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons. They performed the 1973 ZZ Top song "Precious and Grace" as well as the Lullabies to Paralyze track on which Gibbons appears, "Burn the Witch." ... Along with working with the same producers he used on Schizophrenic, JC Chasez has been spending time in the studio with James Harry (Britney Spears) and David Maurice (Jay-Z) for the follow-up. "I'm concentrated not so much on the production but the songwriting, so it's gonna be an album of great songs," Chasez said. ...

"Rush Hour" star Chris Tucker was arrested Sunday for reckless driving and fleeing when police in Warren County, Georgia, tried to pull him over for going 109 mph on Interstate 20, according to the Smoking Gun Web site. The actor, driving a 2005 Bentley, reportedly did not immediately stop for authorities. ... Michael Jackson's lawyers finished grilling the accuser's mother on Tuesday, finishing up her five days on the stand by calling into question photographs showing the bruises she claimed came from an altercation with JC Penney security guards. Jackson's attorney Thomas Mesereau tried to establish that the abuse could have been at the hands of her husband, and that she conned the department store into paying a $150,000 settlement. In a mug shot taken immediately after the incident, she testified, she doesn't have bruises because they took time to turn dark and she was wearing makeup. Mesereau also tried to establish that the mother spent money raised for her son's cancer costs, asking about a car she looked into buying and asking how she paid for plastic surgery. "I used a credit card," she said. She said the donations were used to make a room sterile for her son at her parents' home during his chemotherapy. Meanwhile, the prosecution is expected to wrap its case by the end of next week. ...

Lovebirds and "One Tree Hill" castmates Chad Michael Murray and Sophia Bush were married over the weekend in Santa Monica, California. The vows were exchanged at the Hotel Casa del Mar overlooking the ocean and in front of almost 200 guests, including Bethany Joy Lenz and Tyler Hilton, according to Bush's publicist. The couple, who met in 2003, were engaged last July when Murray popped the question on the Australian set of his upcoming movie, "House of Wax." ... A New York judge has issued a warrant for Natasha Lyonne's arrest. The "American Pie" and "Slums of Beverly Hills" actress was a no-show Monday morning for a scheduled court appearance, according to Reuters. She was due in court to answer charges filed back in December in the wake of her arrest on criminal-mischief, harassment and trespassing charges. Police were called to the star's apartment building when a neighbor complained she forced her way into their apartment, broke a mirror and then allegedly threatened to sexually assault their dog. ...

Come Wednesday, Ryan Seacrest will be immortalized — sort of. The "American Idol" host is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Merv Griffin and Larry King are slated to speak at the ceremony. ... Ashanti's making two stops on TV for sweeps month. Besides her starring role as Dorothy in "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" (airing May 20 at 8 p.m. on ABC), the singer is also guest-starring as herself on "Las Vegas" as the new girlfriend of Jon Lovitz's colorful billionaire character, Fred Puterbaugh. The episode, called "Magic. Carpet. Fred.," airs May 9 at 9 p.m. on NBC. ...

Since when does P. Diddy skip out on his own party? That was Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman's reaction when the rap boss failed to appear at the Aladdin Resort & Casino on Friday — deemed Diddy Day, no less — for a special press conference. The hip-hop mogul was supposedly going to announce some new business ventures he's been working on, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports, including a new restaurant and a nightclub. Those plans are now reported to be on hold. ... Is Madonna planning on doing a musical? She certainly hints as much in her latest letter to fans in ICON magazine. "I have been back in the studio writing new songs for several different projects," she wrote. "Should I do a musical? Should I record another album?" The singer also mentioned that she's just finished designing the fall line for her English Roses collection and that her upcoming tour documentary is more than what she intended it to be. "It starts out being a film about me and my life on tour and ends up being a story about humanity," she wrote. "I am very excited about it and hope to premiere it at the Cannes Film Festival." ...

Ja Rule's new movie "Back in the Day" is set to premiere on television. Ja plays Reggie Cooper, a young man from the wrong side of the tracks who struggles to avoid the gang life but becomes embroiled in it when his paroled friend (played by Ving Rhames) gets him involved in the murder of a local preacher. The urban drama also stars Pam Grier, Tatyana Ali, Frank Langella and Tia Carrere and will premiere May 13 on BET at 7:30 p.m. ET. The DVD will hit stores May 24. ... Sisqó is planning to spend some time at the beach for his part in the upcoming campy teen comedy "Surf School," a self-described "American Pie"-at-the-beach, which began production last week. The "Thong Song" singer plays rapper Mo, a member of a group of misfits that also includes the school virgin, a goth mute, a sex-crazed loudmouth and a Maryland transplant, who enter a surf contest together. School scenes take place in Laguna Beach, California, while the surf scenes are being shot in Costa Rica. ...

The brothers Gallagher — Noel and Liam — aren't exactly known for their calm demeanors. So they're probably busting furniture over the news that tracks from Oasis' upcoming album, Don't Believe the Truth, have been leaked to the Internet more than six weeks before the record is due in stores. Late Monday night, message boards on several Oasis fan sites began popping with transfers of songs like "The Meaning of Soul," "Let There Be Love" and "Mucky Fingers." No word on how the tracks made their way to the Web, but for fans who still want to buy the album, it's out on May 31. ... On Tuesday night (April 19), the nonprofit organization Dress for Success, which helps low-income women find clothes for joining the workforce, will host a star-studded gala at the Marriott Marquis in New York. Lorraine Bracco will host the event, where revelers can expect to see Star Jones Reynolds, Ashanti, Wyclef Jean and Harry Belafonte, who will be honored. ...

Billy Idol is joining the Warped Tour for a few select dates. The punk idol will perform at the July 6, 7, 10, 16, 17, 20 and 24 shows. "I'm risking it all over again in the clinch, in the trenches, showing people the energy of Generation X, the rock of 'Rebel Yell,' " he said in a statement. Also on the Warped lineup are the Offspring, My Chemical Romance, Transplants, Thrice, Fall Out Boy and Dropkick Murphys. ...

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LCD Soundsystem Frontman Reminisces About Britney, Braces For Tour

14 Apr 2005 08:20:00 EDT

James Murphy, also half of hot production duo the DFA, stays focused on his own career.
By Rodrigo Perez, with additional reporting by James Montgomery

LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy
Photo: MTV News

AUSTIN, Texas — James Murphy was given an impossible task: To produce a hit for Britney Spears in less than three hours.

"[Britney] came over, and the idea was that I would write lyrics with her. We were really open-minded, because who knows what she's like as a person?" the LCD Soundsystem frontman and DFA producer said of his failed collaboration with the pop princess.

"Maybe she was really starving to do something else, and we could play her records [to introduce her to some new ideas], but that's not how that world works," he said amid downtime during the recent South by Southwest festival (see "Queens Of The Stone Age Are Kings Of SXSW 2005"). "[The record company] sends her to work with like 30 or 40 producers to see who is going to generate a hit, and that isn't interesting to me."

Britney was there because the DFA — the production duo founded by Murphy and his British partner in crime, Tim Goldsworthy — are one of the trendiest record-making teams of the last five years. At the beginning of this decade, the pair was producing dance-rock records and remixes for the indie acts like Radio 4 and Le Tigre, but a song they produced for the Rapture, "House of Jealous Lovers," became a bona fide underground hit in 2002 (see "The Rapture's Dirty Disco Teaches The Underground To Dance").

Soon, the duo's beats became the sound du jour, and mainstream pop stars like Spears, Janet Jackson and even Lindsay Lohan started calling.

"Janet Jackson seemed very friendly, but she could have been calling because, at the time, the Rapture were being [chased by major labels]. Everything's very political," Murphy said, sounding generally surprised that any superstar's motive for wooing the production team could be genuine.

Even Duran Duran came by. At the time, Murphy was rehearsing for his early LCD Soundsystem shows, and Goldsworthy had to meet them solo. However, he did encounter the '80s dance-pop legends, although it wasn't planned: "It was really surreal," Murphy recalled. "We were practicing, and the door crept open, and we jokingly yelled, 'Close the door!' thinking it was someone that worked in the studio. The door kind of slammed shut, so I walked outside — and the entire original lineup of Duran Duran was standing, sort of stunned, in the hallway."

Despite all the demand, Murphy knew that the DFA's moment in the sun wouldn't last. "We knew how silly and temporary [the hype] was," he said. "That [moment] was gonna disappear — either with a terrible backlash or just withering away."

Soon enough, the Batphone stopped ringing. Meanwhile, the levelheaded Murphy took it all in stride and began concentrating on the Soundsystem.

One of his first underground hits was "Losing My Edge," a cheeky and self-effacing satire of music geeks wryly lamenting that the kids are taking over. ("I'm losing my edge — to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered '80s.") It's a subject that is clearly close to Murphy's heart. "It's pretty humiliating to find yourself saying things you swore you would never say, like, 'These new kids, man, they don't get it!' " he laughed. "So I wrote a song about how humiliating it is to be me and, hilariously, it did all right." (The song is available on both LCD's self-titled album and DFA Compilation #1.)

Released earlier this year, the LCD LP continues in a similar vein, merging Murphy's dance and rock influences along with a sardonic self-awareness and some tongue-in-cheek titles. The first single, "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House," is a perfect merger of the two styles.

Still, Murphy's not having anything to do with labeling his sound.

"Categories have nothing to do with quality," he said. "I always get this: 'Are you guys, like, punk-rock guys making dance music, or dance guys working with guitars?'

"What the hell does that even mean?"

LCD Soundsystem's North American tour dates, according to the group's publicist: