President Obama has been doing an amazing job at hiding his smoking habit from Robert Gibbs, reports the press secretary.

Gucci Mane picks his nose with inimitable style, and T.I. delivers another “melodious, swinging” verse to add to the list of strong performances that are not on his new album No Mercy. But this track — produced by Beat Billionaire and anchored by that great old-cop-show bassoon blast — belongs to Dro. Best known for his preppy wardrobe and the words he chooses to describe its many colors, he gets a nice snarl in his voice here, and holds his own with the kings of his city, Atlanta.

News finally comes to the east coast from the small port town of San Francisco. “Samantha,” a local woman therein, has been infected with a strange new disease, it seems! Though she is just 19, she apparently has a case of the hybristophilia, and so she is on the cover of the weekly newspaper that the townsfolk enjoy. (The quaintest thing about the article? Even the main relationship that documents this woman’s condition (with JonBenét Ramsey murder false-confessor John Mark Karr!) is only alleged. Why this lass could also be a fabulist as well!) That’s only one of, say, several dozen weird things going on here. Here is part of a more synthetic take on the sudden bolt of limelight on this young creature: “The piece is so symphonically campy (‘a young woman in black descends a winding staircase…her dark, wavy hair bounces atop her small frame’), it’s like Mia Farrow phone-ordering bathroom fixtures. Samantha is currently getting killed by commenters, most of whom are still missing the point: that this chick, while a nutter, is no crazier than every other hypertense sexual black hole 19-year-old selling stuff on Etsy and chain-smoking outside Matador. They’re just trying to get scummy hipsters to notice them, that’s all.”

“When Tokyo Hooters finally launched at the end of October, an entirely male line of customers waited outside for hours before the 5 p.m. opening. As they filed inside one by one (after a ribbon cutting presided over by Miss Hooters International, LeAngela Davis), we lined up and cheered them to their tables. The inaugural customers weren’t backslapping, beer-guzzling foreigners, or even raucous office workers out for a laugh. They were exceedingly polite young men, some of whom blushed at the big welcome. Many had an endearingly nerdy familiarity with the restaurant. ‘We’ve been waiting,’ a spectacled Japanese man told me in English, then unrolled a signed Hooters T-shirt he’d taken around the world and asked if I’d add my autograph.”
 — Awl pal Paige Ferrari goes all George Plimpton to report on the opening of Tokyo’s first Hooters restaurant.

by Maura Johnston and Miles Klee

Against Me!: White Crosses
 — Ed D’Oliviera

Arcade Fire: The Suburbs
 — Kate Richardson

Arcade Fire: The Suburbs
 — Margaret Wappler

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffitti: Before Today
 — Randall Roberts

Arp: The Soft Wave
 — Scott Tennent

Band of Horses: Infinite Arms
 — Kevin Amorim

Baths: Cerulean
 — Reed Fischer

Beach House: Teen Dream
 — David Marchese

Big Boi: Sir Lucious Left Foot … The Son Of Chico Dusty
 — Frannie Kelley

Big Boi: Sir Lucious Left Foot … The Son Of Chico Dusty
 — Nate Patrin

Bob Seger: Never Mind the Bullets Here’s Early Bob Seger
 — Chuck Eddy

Brian McBride: The Effective Disconnect (Music Composed for the Documentary “Vanishing of the Bees”)
 — Miles Klee

The Budos Band: III
 — Sasha Frere-Jones

The Bug: Infected EP
 — Michaelangelo Matos

Butch Walker & The Black Widows: I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart
 — Al Shipley

The Cheniers: Trouble! (7”)
 — Matt Ealer

Ciara: Basic Instinct
 — Alex Macpherson

Citay: Dream Get Together
 — Mike Lupica

Curren$y: Pilot Talk
 — Rafi Kam

Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest
 — Marc Hogan

Deftones: Diamond Eyes
 — Chris Steffen

Destroyer: Streethawk — A Seduction
 — Ryan Catbird

Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part 2
 — Seth Colter Walls

Flaming Tusk: Old, Blackened Century
 — Brad Nelson

Freddie Gibbs: Str8 Killa EP
 — John Gotty

The Fresh & Onlys: Play It Strange
 — Aaron Leitko

Frog Eyes: Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph
 — Matt LeMay

Grinderman: Grinderman 2
 — Evie Nagy

Harvey Milk: A Small Turn of Human Kindness
 — Christopher R. Weingarten

Hot Chip: One Night Stand
 — David Raposa

Insane Clown Posse: Bang! Pow! Boom! (Nuclear Edition)
 — Camille Dodero

Jack Rose: Luck in the Valley
 — Bill Meyer

James Blake: (“My iTunes playlist of James Blake’s 2010 collected works”)
 — Scott Plagenhoef

Jamey Johnson: The Guitar Song
 — J. Freedom du Lac

Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid
 — Jeanne Fury

Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid
 — Todd Martens

Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid
 — Ann Powers

Jim O’Rourke: All Kinds of People
 — Brandon Soderberg

Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me
 — Tyler Coates

Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me
 — Douglas Wolk

John Grant: Queen of Denmark
 — Dorian Lynskey

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Charles Aaron

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Antiquiet

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Zach Baron

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — John Brodeur

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Dave Bry

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Zoe Chace

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Caryn Ganz

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Dan Gibson

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — J. Edward Keyes

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Amy Phillips

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Chris Richards

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Simon Vozick-Levinson

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 — Jonah Weiner

Kate Nash: My Best Friend Is You
 — Alexandra Corhan

Kelis: Flesh Tone
 — Jessica Hopper

Kelis: Flesh Tone
 — David Moore

Kylesa: Spiral Shadow
 — Gillian Reagan

LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
 — David Malitz

The Library Is On Fire: Magic Windows, Magic Nights
 — John Sellers

Lil B: 6 Kiss
 — Andrew Noz

Lindstrøm & Christabelle: Real Life Is No Cool
 — Kate Silver

Lower Dens: Twin Hand Movement
 — Richard Baluyut

Lower Dens: Twin Hand Movement
 — Wye Oak

Marnie Stern: Marnie Stern
 — Maura Johnston

Mount Carmel: Mount Carmel
 — Aaron Lefkove

Ólafur Arnalds: …And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness
 — Sean Carruthers

Owen Pallett: Heartland
 — Otis Hart

Owen Pallett: Heartland
 — Laura Leebove

The Radio Dept.: Clinging to a Scheme
 — David Greenwald

Rangda: False Flag
 — Marc Masters

Rasputina: Sister Kinderhook
 — Rohin Guha

Robyn: Body Talk
 — Erica Futterman

Robyn: Body Talk
 — Jacob Ganz

Robyn: Body Talk
 — Doree Shafrir

Robyn: Body Talk
 — Edith Zimmerman

School of Seven Bells: Disconnect From Desire
 — Ned Raggett

Screaming Females: Castle Talk
 — Julia Factorial

Skream: Outside the Box
 — Rich Juzwiak

Sleigh Bells: Treats
 — Jess Harvell

Sleigh Bells: Treats
 — Matthew Perpetua

Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz
 — Jim Cantiello

Superchunk: Majesty Shredding
 — Jon Solomon

These New Puritans: Hidden
 — Colleen Nika

Titus Andronicus: The Monitor
 — Amanda Petrusich

Titus Andronicus: The Monitor
 — Patrick Rapa

Tracey Thorn: Love and its Opposite
 — Chris Molanphy

Triptykon: Eparistera Daimones
 — Kory Grow

Two Door Cinema Club: Tourist History
 — Dustin “Fletcher” Matthews

Vampire Weekend: Contra
 — Keith Harris

Vampire Weekend: Contra
 — Pitchfork Reviews Reviews

Vampire Weekend: Contra
 — Lindsey Thomas

Various Artists: Stroke: Songs For Chris Knox
 — Todd Pruzan

Violens: Amoral
 — Michaela Drapes

Warpaint: The Fool
 — Rob Harvilla

Just how profitable are electronic books profitable for publishers? Who knows?

Did you know that today is the United Nations’ International Anti-Corruption Day? I didn’t. (I wonder whose palm got greased at MeadWestvaco Corporation to leave that fact off my desk calendar.) Six out of ten of the 91,500 people polled in 86 countries by the Berlin-based non-governmental agency Transparency International (who make a nice-looking graph, below) say that they believe the world has gotten more corrupt over the past three years. One out of every four say they have paid a bribe to a service provider in the past year. So, let’s see, that’s [beep-boop-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep] 22,875 people. Today is a day that we take note of the fact that the world is a very corrupt place. Here’s that graph.

“It wasn’t loud. It was just expressing frustration from a very frustrated Member.”
 — Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) characterizes the remarks of a fellow Democratic lawmaker who said “Fuck the president” during a caucus meeting concerning the tax compromise.

by Abe Sauer

On Monday, I offered some obvious questions about how Sarah Palin’s claims about her hunting experience did not appear to be reinforced by her actual hunting during the latest episode of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” There’s a picture and passage from her latest book, “America by Heart,” that only raises more questions.

This photo is accompanied by a caption:

“My Dad and I visit with our buddies, the Wallis family, at their locally owned sporting goods store, Chimo Guns. The guys at this Wasilla establishment gave me good advice on firepower before my fall caribou hunt in September 2010. And it worked! I filled half the freezer with wild game a few weeks after this visit.”

Those who watched the episode will remember Palin’s dad picking out the “varmint gun” for “my daughter Sarah Palin.” So exactly what advice did the Wallis family at Chimo Guns give Palin that “worked?”

Abe Sauer understands blockbuster holiday retailing.

“Do you think there could still be anything today for kids, teenagers growing up today that would have [the same impact as rock and roll at its beginning]?
There will be, but we won’t like it. And that’s just as it should be.”
 — If you have fifteen minutes you could do worse than watch this interview with Lemmy from Motörhead. If you can actually make out what he’s saying it’s all rather enjoyable.