• Justice—"New Lands"

A summary of the rules of the futuresport played in Justice's video for "New Lands":

Play begins when batter hits the neutron ball fired at him by the cannon-pitcher. A successful hit finds its way into the possession of the roller-lacrosse attackman, who skates around the banked circumference track while avoiding the opposing team's motocross defensemen and safeties armed with warhammers. The attackman passes the ball to the wide receiver, who runs downfield toward the end zone. A touchdown is worth 12 points, except when it's worth 8 points.

This list of the 10 best music videos of 2012 are in no particular order, but they [...]

151. “French Movie Theme” 150. “Annie-Dog” 149. “Pastachio Medley” 148. “The Boy” 147. “Bugg Superstar 146. “Spaced” 145. “Pulseczar” 144. “A Night Like This” 143. “Take Me Down” 142. “Shame” 141. “Glass and the Ghost Children” 140. “Medellia of the Gray Skies” 139. “Rotten Apples” 138. “La Dolly Vita” 137. “Meladori Magpie” 136. “The Bells” 135. “17” 134. “Tonite Reprise” 133. “Blank” 132. “Pennies”

Andrew W.K. is (maybe) a party rocker and motivational speaker. He is also, by his own unreliable admission, an actor who plays "Andrew W.K.," which is a creation of a shadowy group of entertainment industry lawyers and mind-control experts. He may or may not be "Steev Mike" or "Dave Grohl." Also, he/it is mostly known for a single ridiculous orc-lite 2001 punk-pop anthem called "Party Hard" and a live-action show about exploding things, with children, on the Cartoon Network. (Late-night masochists will also know him from frequent appearances on the alternate-universe Fox News program "Red Eye.")

Whether he's a self-created troll or something entirely more [...]

Beloved national counterculture tabloid Arthur was a victim of the Great Recession when it published its last issue four years ago, but it has been reborn as a reader-supported broadsheet that will be out in time for holiday stocking stuffers. Jay Babcock is back as editor, Portland's Floating World Comics is the publisher, and Arthur regulars will be back on the masthead, including Thurston Moore and Dave Reeves ("Defend Brooklyn!"). Pre-order it for just $5, and help America's cultural recovery.

Chris Christie's sudden respect for Barack Obama has enraged conservatives and the Romney campaign, but it makes sense when you remember that Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen more than anything, and a disaster just hit New Jersey, and Springsteen will obviously do a benefit. But Springsteen, who is such a Famous Democrat that he actually campaigns with Obama, refuses to have anything to do with Christie. What might change Bruce's feelings for the Republican governor of New Jersey? What might make The Boss finally give a little love back to his biggest (!) fan, Chris Christie?

This should do it:

Springsteen To Perform At Sandy Benefit [...]

23. You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard.

22. The moon like a spotlight on the lake.

21. Today was a fairytale.

20. I need you like a heartbeat.

19. Spinning like a girl in a brand-new dress.

18. You're just another picture to burn.

17. You call me up again just to break me like a promise.

16. Untouchable, like a distant diamond sky.

This week, Merge releases Mark Eitzel's haunted and haunting Don't Be A Stranger, his first solo album since 2009's Klamath (Decor Records). Producer Sheldon Gomberg assembled a collection of crack studio players, including a full string section and Attractions drummer Pete Thomas, to record the album, whose more straightforward songs sprang from Eitzel's recent experience co-writing a musical, 2010's Marine Parade, with friend Simon Stephens. Longtime fans of the former lead singer of American Music Club, who cherish the grim, soaring beauty of his lyrics, where people are lonely, bad liquor is a refuge, "Lazarus wasn't grateful for his second wind," and "the applause grows louder the lower [...]

It's that time of the year again when new indie renditions of syrupy holiday songs are shared by music snobs who wouldn't touch Harry Connick's Auld Lang Syne with Michael Bublé's Mele Kalikimaka. There are definitely some strong releases to be discovered including Sufjan Stevens' latest holiday collection, Silver and Gold, though, admittedly, you’ll feel so twee listening to it you’ll hallucinate rainbow-colored snowmen. Still, do we really need to hear Arcade Fire cover "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" or Neon Vulva's chillwave take on "Sleigh Ride?" Regrettably, most of the alternative holiday songs shared around this time of the year rival the traditional schlock in corniness.

Few musicians move so fluidly between genres as drummer and producer Karriem Riggins. As a jazz sideman, Riggins has played with jazz artists like Diana Krall, Milt Jackson and Oscar Peterson while simultaneously contributing beats and productions to records by Common, J Dilla, the Roots, Erykah Badu and others. 2012 has been a particularly fruitful year for Riggins. It began with his appearance on Paul McCartney’s most recent record, Kisses on the Bottom, in which the former Beatle covered and channeled the prewar pop songwriters that he listened to as a child. And in October, Riggins released his first solo LP, a kaleidoscopic instrumental hip-hop album called Alone Together, on [...]

I AM SO HAPPY THAT I LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO SEE MUSIC AND MUSIC VIDEOS TURN INTO THIS. "Soda" is from the Boody and Le1f mixtape "Liquid" and yes you can GET THAT. This is everything that I ever wanted anything to be.

"Over the last few decades, popular songs have switched from major to minor keys: In the 1960s, 85 percent of the songs were written in a major key, compared with only about 40 percent of them now. Broadly speaking, the sound has shifted from bright and happy to something more complicated." —Researchers E. Glenn Schellenberg and Christian von Scheve studied songs from the past fifty years of Billboard's Hot 100 charts and have determined that we're growing ever more miserable as a society. (Or not. I could easily believe that an affinity for sad songs indicates a happier state of mind. And I think comparative analysis of something as [...]