Atoms for Peace: Amok Release Date: February 25 Back in 2006, Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke did what lead singers do, he wrote a solo record and called it The Eraser. True to his own words on a Radiohead fan site (“I don’t wanna hear the word solo”), Yorke went out and formed a supergroup to translate the electronic-leaning album for live performances. Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Beck’s drummer Joey Waronker and Brazilian percussionist Mauro Reosco... [Read more]

5. M.I.A. at the Superbowl Some of us had a good year, some of us had a bad year, and some of us got upstaged at the Super Bowl when M.I.A. flipped the bird in the middle of our set. Madonna falls solidly into that last category. In the endless string of calculations that Madge’s career has become, her secret cadre of Kabbalah oracles couldn’t possibly have predicted that M.I.A. of all people would take the opportunity to make a statement on the world’s largest stage. Except, there she is in ... [Read more]

(or A Superbowl/Grammy Post-Mortem on How Nicki Minaj Managed to Sidestep America’s Parochial Sensibilities to Grab the Freak Baton from Madonna) In the midst of Madonna’s Super Bowl Halftime performance which at different times honored the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the pagan deity Baphomet, football, America, gospel and of course L-U-V Madonna herself, Nicki Minaj stood off to the side shaking her ass and her pom-poms, doing “The Bump” with Madonna when appropriate and generally following the... [Read more]