Since I had no economic imperative to do so and am talented at time-management, I decided against committing to the 3+ hour telecast of last night's Grammy Awards—going instead with breaking news absorption through Twitter, along with watching a few relevant performances (Janelle Monae and Arcade Fire) via our janky, insta-uploaded-to-YouTube commons.

But that doesn't mean I didn't walk through the New York City subway system these last few weeks. "MUSICisLIFEisMUSIC," went the Recording Academy's halfway inspiring but also inescapably vapid manner of posterboard tautology. That toothache you can't get looked at without dental insurance? Oh, well, that's life—which is to say, music! So be sure to enter your [...]

So Prince is releasing a new CD, 20Ten, inside the pages of the July 22 issue of Rolling Stone … in Germany only. According to your McChrystal-dooming domestic RS website, the album will also be a cover-mount bonus in England's Daily Mirror, Scotland's Daily Record and Belgium's Het Nieuwsblad. (Yes. Prince is playing some dates in Europe this summer.) Forget the fact that the last few Prince self-leaks have been pretty bad–a new disc from the dude is always cause for internet fun. But guess what–the best review of the forthcoming record has already been written.

Here's a video for a new remix of Janelle Monae's "Tightrope." In it, we don't get to watch her dance quite as wonderfully as she did in the original, but even when we can't see her feet, she moves like they're gliding on vaseline. And whether she's singing or rhyming or just looking at the camera, she absolutely erases anyone else on screen. That's bad news, in this case, for rappers B.o.B. and Lupe Fiasco, who pale in her presence. Meanwhile, Monae's mentor Big Boi has released another video for a song from his upcoming, so-far-so-totally-great solo album Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Return of Chico Dusty.

This week is a ridiculously good one for new albums that you can acquire via legal means — LCD Soundsystem's pain-suffused This Is Happening, Tracey Thorn's brilliantly meditative Love And Its Opposite, and Janelle Monáe's next-level debut The ArchAndroid all landed in stores yesterday. Last night, Monáe made her network-TV debut on Late Show With David Letterman with this raucous performance of her tightly wound new single Tightrope. Be sure to watch her amazing footwork at the 2:51 mark! (And don't mind the cameo by "Sean" at the end.)

21. Justin Bieber feat. Ludacris, "Baby"

20. The Vaselines, "I Hate The '80s"

19. Fantasia, "Bittersweet"

18. Wye Oak, "Emmylou"

Seth Colter Walls: Maura, has it been a good first third of 2010, music-wise? What were the highlights? And what depressed the shit out of you? Maura Johnston: 2010 has actually been a great year for music. So far! And there's more to come!! Seth: Really? Because I've felt slightly… underwhelmed. (Though I'm glad you are confirming that the rest of calendar year 2010 is still to come.) Maura: Well, I know the whole existence of the future has been a cause for worry recently. But I am optimistic!