2 Chainz – “No Lie” feat. Drake

This already feels like the summer of 2 Chainz, given the amount of features we’ve heard from this Georgia-born rapper. As if guest appearances on songs by Nicki Minaj (“Beez In The Trap”), Justin Bieber (“Boyfriend” Remix), Kreayshawn (“Breakfast”), and Kanye West (“Mercy”) weren’t enough, he’s also taken the lead on the trap anthem of the summer. The first single from his debut for Def Jam, “No Lie” is a gargantuan hip-hop beat, with rapid-fire hi-hats, booming bass, and a smooth-as-silk hook from Drake. I’m a sucker for a fearlessly melodic rap song, and 2 Chainz and Drake strike the perfect balance between ferocious and fun on 2 Chainz’ first official single. Summer of 2 Chainz, I think I like you.

Icona Pop – “I Love It”

Stylish Swedish duo Icona Pop seem destined for mainstream success with their Charli XCX-penned dance-pop juggernaut “I Love It.” The pounding synth line is as infectious as anything I’ve heard this year, and the shout-along lyrics are recklessly fun, capable of inspiring both bedroom and dive bar dance parties. Sweden is known for its thriving dance music scene, and once Icona Pop release their debut in the fall, I think they’ll be a staple of the electro-pop canon home to artists such as The Knife and ABBA.

Carly Rae Jepsen – “Curiosity”

The undeniable overnight success of “Call Me Maybe” is a blessing and a curse for Carly Rae Jepsen. On one hand, in the span of a couple of months, she’s forged a unique bond with Justin Bieber, appeared on Ellen, and performed for an audience of millions at the Billboard Music Awards. On the other hand, there’s an unbelievable amount of pressure on Jepsen to deliver another contagious pop monster of a hit, and dodge that dreaded one-hit-wonder label. “Curiosity” is certainly no “Call Me Maybe,” but it’s a decent argument in favour of Jepsen’s sustainability at the top of the charts. Jepsen co-wrote the track with Juno-nominated producer Ryan Stewart, who is also responsible for the Victoria Duffield smash “Shut Up and Dance.” This song is an obvious choice for a “Call Me Maybe” follow-up, with vulnerable lyrics, and strong hooks repeating over a bouncy dance-pop arrangement. Carly Rae Jepsen has positioned herself as the electro-pop Taylor Swift, and it’s looking like “Call Me Maybe” was no fluke.

R. Kelly – “Feelin’ Single”

The reigning King of R&B is back with “Feelin’ Single,” an anthem for the newly unattached, taken from his album Write Me Back. A groovy amalgamation of disco, Motown, and contemporary R&B, “Feelin’ Single” is a swirling, danceable missive for the rebound, engineered to annihilate dance floors worldwide. Kells is liberal with the vocal ad-libs, and that’s nothing new, but unlike a lot of his recent material, this song shouldn’t be appreciated as a comedic novelty. “Feelin’ Single” is a legitimately fantastic pop song, and sounds like a toe-tapping, finger-snapping instant classic.

Adam Lambert – “Shady” feat. Sam Sparro and Nile Rodgers

This month, Adam Lambert became the first openly gay musician to have a number one record on the Billboard 200, and while this is a major achievement, the focus of Trespassing’s success should be based on music, and not sexuality. Trespassing is a collection of electro-pop triumphs and confessional ballads that showcase Lambert’s soaring vocals, with personnel comprised of pop music’s premiere hitmakers, such as Dr. Luke, Pharrell, Bruno Mars, Bonnie McKee, and Benny Blanco. The dark and sleazy “Shady” just might be the finest offering on Trespassing; at times sounding (and I can’t believe I’m writing this) somewhat like a combination of the dark synth-scapes of Trent Reznor and the funky new-wave instincts of Prince. It’s a strange, but satisfying musical stew, with three-part harmony and funky guitar work all over it. Adam Lambert isn’t the first Idol-alumni to conquer the charts (see: Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson), but he’s definitely the most unlikely artist to find acceptance there. And, it’s well-deserved.

Surprises, disappointments and tracks/albums to watch for next month

Surprise of the month: B.o.B.’s new record Strange Clouds hasn’t performed nearly as well as his debut record. While 2010′s The Adventures of Bobby Ray debuted at #1 on the charts, Strange Clouds peaked at #5. The inclusion of guest stars like Taylor Swift, Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne can’t make up for the absence of a Bruno Mars-assisted single.

Disappointments: Justin Bieber has yet to deliver a single that packs the same punch as previous hits like “Baby” and “Somebody To Love.” The acousti-rap oddity “Boyfriend” and the Jackson 5-esque follow up single “Die In Your Arms” are lackluster when you compare them to most of Biebs’ back catalogue. Give us a reason to belieb, Justin.

Out in June: New albums with singles from Usher, Maroon 5, and Justin Bieber will dominate the radio this summer.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse have been promoting their upcoming album with a slew of stock-footage accompanied music videos, but today they went and outdid themselves with Americana: A Day At the Gallery, a 40-minute film directed by Young under his Bernard Shakey pseudonym.

In the film, which is shot partly in the style of old silent shorts, Young takes up the role of a young author who goes to an art gallery to find paintings. When he does, the viewer is treated to the stock music clips we’ve already seen, starting with “Oh Susannah.”

It’s a remarkably clever way to tease the upcoming album, so you should head to Neil Young’s website now to watch it. Americana is out on June 5th.

A 28-year-old, Beyoncé-covering street performer named Kanye West has avoided jail time after she—yes, she—was found guilty of throwing an amplifier through a Times Square Office Depot window last September.

Confused yet? West, born Linda Resa, tells the New York Post that sheadopted the name after meeting Yeezy at a 2005 talent show, adding that he’s apparently okay with her using his name so long as she “acts like a lady.” Speaking of acting like a lady, Prefix reports that she’s got Kanye’s name tattooed on her arms, chest and ass.

As for why she took West’s name instead of Beyoncé’s, she said “I don’t want to sleep with Beyonce.”

For her part in the window smashing, West will have to serve 100 hours of community service in her native Chicago. She didn’t have much to say on why she threw the amp through the window, mentioning only that she has “an anger problem a little bit.”

“Lots” was released with little to no context late last night, but before long the details we’d all hoped for emerged: it’s a song off Deacon’s Domino debut, America, which is out on August 28th.

Consequence of Sound points out that this is Deacon’s first song in three years. Listen below to see if it was worth the wait.

America track list:
01. Guilford Avenue Bridge
02. True Thrush
03. Lots
04. Prettyboy
05. Crash Jam
06. USA I: Is a Monster
07. USA II: The Great American Desert
08. USA III: Rail
09. USA IV: Manifest

We are truly living in a post-hologram world. Case in point — Usher has recruited digital backup dancers for an upcoming concert to be performed at the Hammersmith Apollo in London and streamed live to the internet on Usher’s VEVO page.

As part of the American Express Unstaged series, the performance will feature digital backup dancers that have been created by the viewers themselves. Users will be able to create their own avatar, and watch it perform alongside Usher. This virtual backup dancing technology is being developed by Moment Factory, a Montreal-based production company responsible for Madonna’s Super Bowl half-time show, Arcade Fire’s 2011 Coachella performance, as well as other high-profile audio-visual happenings.

In an interview with the NY Times, the webcast’s director Hamish Hamilton said that Moment Factory are “feverishly beavering away, trying to put flesh on the bones of this fantastic idea that they said they possibly could do and we all jumped on. They foolishly, in a meeting, said, ‘Yeah, we can do this.’ At which point we went, ‘All right — do it. We’ll see you in two weeks in London.’”

You can watch the American Express Unstaged concert featuring Usher and his crew of crowd-sourced virtual backup dancers on June 11th at 4:00 EST on Usher’s VEVO page.

[via NY Times]

Periphery have a sense of playfulness about their polyrhythmic brand of progressive metal, which might explain the subtitle and track listing for their upcoming album and follow-up their 2010 self-titled debut. Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal is set for release on July 3rd through Sumerian Records, and will feature guest solos from Guthrie Govan (Asia), John Petrucci (Dream Theater) and Wes Hauch (The Faceless).

As for the album’s full title, the band had the following to say on Facebook:

“The album is officially called Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal. We decided to keep the cover title free, but in the booklet that is the official name. The forces that be felt that it would be iffy marketing it as that, so press releases and such won’t reflect that, so please do us a favor and make sure whenever you refer to the album to refer to it as: Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal. Every time you don’t a shitty 80′s action movie sequel is forgotten about forever…”

Watch a teaser trailer for the album above, which features a taste of album opener “Muramasa.”

Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal track listing

1) Muramasa
2) Have a Blast – Guthrie Govan guest solo
3) Facepalm Mute
4) Ji
5) Scarlet
6) Luck as a Constant
7) Ragnarok
8) The Gods Must Be Crazy!
9) MAKE TOTAL DESTROY
10) Erised – John Petrucci guest solo
11) Epoch
12) Froggin’ Bullfish
13) Mile Zero – Wes Hauch guest solo
14) Masamune

Each month, tons of new music from many taste-spanning genres is released into a fast-consuming, unforgiving market; it can be tough to get a handle on what’s new before it’s on to the next. In an attempt to highlight the standout releases, at the end of each month, AUX staff re-cap the month in Punk, Metal, Indie/Pop/Rock, Hip Hop, Electronic, and Pop with the top five releases in each.

Consider it your cheat sheet for year-end lists. Here’s our best of May:

Top 5 Punk Releases

Top 5 Metal Releases

Top 5 Indie/Rock/Pop Releases

Top 5 Hip Hop Releases

Top 5 Electronic Releases

Top 5 Pop Releases

Relapse Records is one of the more prestigious metal labels around, and today they took a giant leap into the future by putting their entire catalogue online on Bandcamp.

While alumnists like Mastodon, Neurosis, Atheist and more have albums featured with only one track to stream, releases from current label artists like Baroness, Dying Fetus, Pig Destroyer and oh so many more are available to be streamed in full, completely free.

And because of Bandcamp’s audiophile friendly platform, fans who feel so inclined can immediately buy albums in any number of formats, including lossless FLAC files, for ten bucks (or less). Thanks to MetalSucks for the heads up on this.

Each month, tons of new music from many taste-spanning genres is released into a fast-consuming, unforgiving market; it can be tough to get a handle on what’s new before it’s on to the next. In an attempt to highlight the standout releases, at the end of each month, AUX staff re-cap the month in Punk, Metal, Indie/Rock/Pop, Hip Hop, Electronic, and Pop with the top five releases in each. Consider it your cheat sheet for year-end lists.

Top 5 Indie/Rock/Pop Releases: May Edition

PS I Love You – Death Dreams

PS I Love You singer/guitarist/songwriter Paul Saulnier had dreams of his own death while touring debut album Meet Me At The Muster Station, and while the follow up doesn’t overtly sound as though it was musically influenced by that darkness, there is a little more vulnerability overall. Lyrics take a perpetual backseat to this band’s noise, though, and it’s a gleeful, huge, satisfying noise. Rock music for people more satisfied by pop music. (Paper Bag)

Cookie Duster – When Flying Was Easy

Cookie Duster began back in 1997 as a side project for Broken Social Scene (though then hHead)’s Brendan Canning and Change of Heart’s Bernard Maiezza, and it sounds every bit that collaboration. It’s guitar-y and synthy and spacey, and with the addition of vocalist Jeen O’Brien for much of the vocals, it sounds, frankly, very Broken Social Scene-y. Sir Ian Blurton, the Superfriendz’ Matt Murphy, the Hylozoists’ Paul Aucoin, and Change of Heart’s Rob Higgins all contribute to this sophomore release too, giving it an even broader BSS lean. Maybe it’s the familiarity of the music that makes it sit so easily, but the power pop euphoria of songs like “Two Feet Stand Up” give it an appeal all its own. (Maple)

Cold Specks – I Predict A Graceful Expulsion

Through a series of circumstantial events, Toronto’s Al Spx garnered a healthy amount of buzz in the British music press as Cold Specks before Canada took notice. The British music press is not typically to be trusted, but they were right on this one; the young singer/songwriter has released a debut that doesn’t sound like much else coming out of Canada at the moment. She’s jokingly referred to herself as “doom soul,” the former addressing the dark and sometimes fatalistic nature of the songs she wrote during harder, younger times, and the latter aptly describing her rich, resonant voice. It’s sparse and stormy and hits a lot of right spots. (Arts&Crafts)

Beach House – Bloom

Beach House have surprisingly endured to transform from a dreamy indie pop band into a dreamy indie pop band with serious chops. Everything they’ve done since their 2006 debut has been loved more deeply than the last, and while there hasn’t been any radical reinvention from the band, they’ve gradually refined—all of that applies to the aptly titled Bloom, an album that is immediate, and on which there’s much more going on than you can pick out in the first couple of listens. (Sub Pop)

Apollo Ghosts – Landmark

The follow up to Apollo Ghosts’ Polaris Music Prize long-listed concept album Mount Benson opens with a track named “What Are Your Influences?”, a song surely named for all the questions their eclectic, off-kilter guitar pop elicited throughout its run. Landmark covers a lot of the same adventurous ground, sounding rougher around the edges and seemingly taking some influence from labelmate Shotgun Jimmie (this is Apollo Ghosts’ first release on You’ve Changed Records), both wrapped up in nostalgia and neither taking themselves seriously. Goldmine. (You’ve Changed)

Surprises, disappointments and albums to watch for next month

Surprise of the month: That Cold Specks’ British Music Press Hype was legit. That like never happens. But more so, that Holly McNarland self-made and self-released a lovely new gem of a disc, Run Body Run. Just digging into this one. AUX did a feature interview with her on End Hits this week—have a listen!

Disappointment of the month: Best Coast’s The Only Place. It’s not even that I was a fan of the first one so much as the Jon Brion production was wooing me. It’s yet to make an impact. Also disappointed that Japandroids’ sophomore jam Celebration Rock got the punk stamp. I WANTED IT FOR MY LIST. (Honourary inclusion.)

Out in June: Tis a typically dry album release season, but the Beach Boys and Patti Smith and Metric have new stuff. Also FIONA APPLE.

Each month, tons of new music from many taste-spanning genres is released into a fast-consuming, unforgiving market; it can be tough to get a handle on what’s new before it’s on to the next. In an attempt to highlight the standout releases, at the end of each month, AUX staff re-cap the month in Punk, Metal, Indie/Pop/Rock, Hip Hop, Electronic, and Pop with the top five releases in each. Consider it your cheat sheet for year-end lists.

Top 5 Electronic: May Edition

Simian Mobile Disco – Unpatterns

The third studio album from Simian Mobile Disco has been lauded as a major improvement over their ill-received guest-vocal-packed album from 2009, Temporary Pleasure. Unpatterns continues in line with their most recent body-throbbing tech-house project Delicacies, where it’s clear they’re veteran producers who can tap a dancefloor. But on Unpatterns they take it down a notch and experiment with a few other styles – from deep house to techno-bass – doing what they seem to do best, which is use melody and vocal hooks to make tracks memorable. (Wichita) [LISTEN]

Jean Piché – Heliograms (re-release)

History of computer music 101: In 1982, Quebec native Jean Piché created “one of the first albums to feature music produced almost entirely with digital synthesizers,” according to ambient label Digitalis. The label has re-mastered and released the electroacoustic composer’s LP Heliograms, recorded in the late 70s but not distributed due to the original label going bankrupt. Electronic music has warped considerably over the past 30 years, yet “Heliograms” – made with a first-of-its-kind Sampson Box synthesizer and computer software used to create exact tuning of harmonics – sounds just as fresh today. Piché is still a composer, video artist and professor at the University of Montreal. (Digitalis)

Squarepusher – Ufabulum

We expect Tom Jenkinson, now over ten albums into the game, to push the limits of drum and bass and IDM, but he can also push the limits of our patience, what with his completely ADD jazz-tronica. Ufabulum will please old fans with his usual glitchy breakbeat assault, but he adds a new-found dubstep-like vibe on “Dark Steering,” smooths out on “Stadium Ice,” and goes prog-funky enough on “303 Scopem Hard” to remind you of Primus. Squarepusher is the jam band of electronica, and as such, will likely only suit the hardcore experimental fans. (Warp) [LISTEN]

Dave Aju – Heirlooms
	Marc Barrite, a.k.a. Dave Aju, leaves a touching tribute to his late father Joe Barrite, using the San Francisco jazz trumpeter’s archived work and instruments in his sophomore house-funk album, Heirlooms. The samples are pretty subtle though – for the most part you’ll hear Barrite’s own voice adding a deep insights to entrancing minimal house, funk and downtempo tracks. (Circus Company) [LISTEN]

Last Step – Sleep

Last Step is the techno alias of mysterious Winnipeg producer Aaron Funk, who usually releases frenetic breakcore as Venetian Snares. Much calmer as Last Step, Funk playfully interweaves minimal and acid techno. He claims to have composed “Sleep” while approaching a napping state, and to be honest, it does sound like he wasn’t fully “all there”, most tracks using reverb and out-of-tune synths to create a dream/nightmare-like atmosphere. You might find this kind of off-key free forming refreshing in this day and age of overly-structured EDM. (Planet Mu) [LISTEN]

Mix of the Month, Surprises, and albums to watch out for next month

Mix of the month: Swedish duo Roll the Dice celebrate this year’s MUTEK electronic festival in Montreal (May 30 – June 2) with an all-Canadian set. The mix full of oddities includes Peaches, Plastikman, Tim Hecker and even industrial godfathers Skinny Puppy. [LISTEN]

Surprise of the month: Detroit’s Moodymann – known for his sexed-up funk house – pairs up with Hamilton Ont.’s Junior Boys – known for their self-reflective electro-pop. The resulting EP, I Guess You Never Been Lonely is aptly described as “irie and eerie” by FACT magazine. [LISTEN]

Out in June: Montreal’s D’Eon, a keyboard aficionado and friend of Grimes, releases his first full-length, called LP, on June 5.