After nearly ripping the Internet apart, “Lana Del Rey” will make her grand U.S. debut tonight at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. Del Rey is the stage name of one Lizzy Grant, who, all the way back in 2008, arrived in the city from Lake Placid to try to make it as a singer-songwriter. Her hair was platinum blonde then, and her music, earnest and surf-inflected, was heavy on the organ. Though she did stick around long enough to do an interview with the Huffington Post, Grant ditched her persona (and her hair color) and emerged, this summer, as the current Interscope Records-signed entity known as Lana Del Rey. If you haven’t heard of her yet, I'm informed there’s a very good chance you will soon: according to The Hollywood Reporter, her “striking Lauren Bacall-like looks, perfectly-plumped lips and enchanting, hushed singing style” have made her “among the most buzzed about artists to emerge in recent months.” READ MORE

“It was a tree, and there was one leaf left on the tree, and I wondered: ‘Wow, if you can make it through winter, you may be here until next year. Wouldn’t that be great, if you were just the only guy that hung on?’ I guess you could say everything’s a metaphor for everything else, but sometimes it’s just what it is. It’s just what it’s about—about a tree.” READ MORE

Here is a new video for a new Sade song. Well, pretty new. The song came out last month, one of four previously unreleased tracks on The Ultimate Collection. One of the others was a remix of "Moon and the Sky," featuring a verse rapped by Jay-Z. That one was kind of underwhelming to me. I think I'd be more interested in hearing Raekwon rap on a Sade song. There's a new video from him today, too. With Nas, for a song they did for Rae's recent Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang album. READ MORE

The emotional rollercoaster of upcoming Kate Bush albums has been really hard on me! First it was like, oh holy cats, after six years, there's a new surprise Kate Bush album! And then it was revealed that first, there was a reissue album, with no "new" material on it, just recastings of older material, and there's vague talk of an album of new material, with no release date. But then that "covers" album started to sound very cool! (Plus she got permission from the James Joyce estate for the original lyrics to "The Sensual World"?!) And but then the tracklisting came out and then... there were only going to be songs from "The Sensual World" and "The Red Shoes," which, hmm, eh. But that's good that nothing ever be changed about "The Dreaming," right? And then, then the first track was released (technically on sale tomorrow), a new version of "Deeper Understanding," which, oooh, fascinating! (Stick around for at least a minute, and yes, that's a no-video YouTube hack release, hence the weird embed below.) Anyway I'm already exhausted over all this. READ MORE

Mississippi's Big K.R.I.T. is fast becoming one of my very favorite young rappers. And the cover of his new album, "ReturnOf4Eva" (go on, download that!), painted by San Francisco artist Eric Bailey, is fast becoming one of my very favorite things to look at.

The Decemberists' new album, The King Is Dead, takes the band in a new direction: tamer, more pastoral lyrics and a pared-down, bluegrass-tinged sensibility (with guest vocals from the always-excellent Gillian Welch). Critics have taken note, and the reviews have been mostly positive—people seem relieved by the band's turn away from the melodramatic subject matter and overwrought musical stylings that have characterized their last couple albums. But the most notable difference from the band’s older music—and one I've yet to see a critic mention—is that there's not a single rape or abduction to be found on the entire album. READ MORE

Like everything wasn't weird enough already, now director David Lynch is releasing electronic music.