MGMT: You go for the lush, electronic-but-organic instrumentation and bouncy beats, but you stay for the insanely catchy melodies.

Jams like "Kids" and "Electric Feel" have a timeless quality to them; they're just examples of rock solid songwriting. And it's this basic, elemental quality that comes across in this version of MGMT's mega-jam, "Kids," by British band The Kooks. It reminds a lot of the version "Electric Feel" cover that Katy Perry did a while back; with voice, guitar and a little bit of keys for embellishment.

+  Listen to The Kooks' cover of MGMT's "Kids" here (as well as their covers of Peter, Bjorn and John and Gnarls Barkley), and check out the MGMT's "Kids" video, for the sake of comparison, below.

Does Kanye West's "Heartless" emit "cover me!" pheromones? There's Idol winner Kris Allen's acoustic version that, shall we say?, sealed his victory; there's the Lady GaGa live concert cover, along with Ace Hood's "Ruthless" take on the number... The "Heartless" melody and lyrics must strike fellow musicians as somewhat of a non-fit in the dreary, AutoTuned oeuvre that was 808s and Heartbreak, begging for modification. Or else everyone just can't get enough of that effing song.

I'll be the first to say, "Heartless" lends itself to several genres; and The Fray's latest cover -- as an aching, earnest pop-rock ballad -- takes on a solid life of its own. The Fray first covered "Heartless" at Live Lounge,  which begat other fantastic covers, such as Leona Lewis' cover of  Snow Patrol's "Run" (get out the tissues and download that now), but has since released a proper single and music video.

As you might expect, the music video is an extremely bleak and lonely affair: a lovesick schoolboy doodles in his math notebook, and a forsaken, bleeding heart trudges in a defeated journey to nowhere, which instantly recalls Gnarls Barkley's video for "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" as well as Spoon's "Everything Hits At Once" video.

I didn't quite expect this song to work with kids as subjects, but the solitary, cerebral aspect of doodling is somehow painfully sad here - and the video becomes lovely, if a bit disturbing, when doodles morph into elaborate and nightmarish theme-park monsters...

+ Watch Kanye's version of "Heartless" after the jump! And by the way, Kanye approves. Phew.

Read more...

The 2009 MTV VMA nominees are OUT! And sorry, Britney fans, but Lady Gaga and Beyonce are the big earners so far with NINE NOMINATIONS EACH for "Single Ladies (Put A Ring on It)," "Poker Face," and "Paparazzi" leaving Britney in the dust with a "paltry" seven nominations for "Womanizer."

Also, WTG, Drake! What up, dude. Hope that knee heals. He's up on the leaderboard with his first-ever nomination for Best New Artist!

Check out the 2009 VMAs categories below, and go vote!

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Beyoncé: "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Lady Gaga: "Poker Face"
Eminem: "We Made You"
Kanye West: "Love Lockdown"
Britney Spears: "Womanizer"

BEST NEW ARTIST
3OH!3
Lady Gaga
Kid Cudi
Drake
Asher Roth

BEST MALE VIDEO
Eminem: "We Made You"
Kanye West: "Love Lockdown"
Jay-Z: "D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune)"
T.I. featuring Rihanna: "Live Your Life"
Ne-Yo: "Miss Independent"

BEST FEMALE VIDEO
Beyoncé: "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Lady Gaga: "Poker Face"
Taylor Swift: "You Belong With Me"
Kelly Clarkson" "My Life Would Suck Without You"
Katy Perry: "Hot 'N Cold"
Pink: "So What"

BEST HIP-HOP VIDEO
Eminem: "We Made You"
Kanye West: "Love Lockdown"
Flo Rida: "Right Round"
Asher Roth: "I Love College"
Jay-Z: "D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune)"

BEST POP VIDEO
Beyoncé: "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Britney Spears: "Womanizer"
Cobra Starship featuring Leighton Meester: "Good Girls Go Bad"
Lady Gaga: "Poker Face"
Wisin y Yandel: "Abusadora"

BEST ROCK VIDEO
Coldplay: "Viva La Vida"
Kings Of Leon: "Use Somebody"
Green Day: "21 Guns"
Fall Out Boy: "I Don't Care"
Paramore: "Decode"

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Beyoncé: "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Britney Spears: "Circus"
Ciara featuring Justin Timberlake: "Love Sex Magic"
AR Rahman & Pussy Cat Dolls featuring Nicole Scherzinger: "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)"
Kristina DeBarge: "Goodbye"

BEST DIRECTION
Beyoncé: "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Lady Gaga: "Paparazzi"
Green Day: "21 Guns"
Cobra Starship featuring Leighton Meester: "Good Girls Go Bad"
Britney Spears: "Circus"

BEST EDITING
Beyoncé: "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Britney Spears: "Circus"
Miley Cyrus: "7 Things"
Coldplay: "Viva La Vida"
Lady Gaga: "Paparazzi"

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
Beyoncé: "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Gnarls Barkley: "Who’s Gonna Save My Soul"
Lady Gaga: "Paparazzi"
Eminem: "We Made You"
Kanye West ft Mr. Hudson: "Paranoid"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Beyoncé: "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Coldplay: "Viva La Vida"
Green Day: "21 Guns"
Britney Spears: "Circus"
Lady Gaga: "Paparazzi"

BEST ART DIRECTION
Beyoncé: "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Britney Spears: "Circus"
Lady Gaga: "Paparazzi"
Gnarls Barkley: "Who’s Gonna Save My Soul"
Coldplay: "Viva La Vida"

BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO
Death Cab For Cutie: "Grapevine Fires"
Gnarls Barkley: "Who’s Gonna Save My Soul"
Anjulie: "Boom"
Cold War Kids: "I've Seen Enough"
Chairlift: "Evident Utensil"
Bat For Lashes: "Daniel
Major Lazer: "Hold The Line"
Passion Pit: "The Reeling"
Matt & Kim: "Lessons Learned"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: "Heads Will Roll"

BEST VIDEO (THAT SHOULD HAVE WON A MOONMAN)
U2: "Where The Streets Have No Name"
Dr Dre: "Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang"
Beastie Boys: "Sabotage"
Bjork: "Human Behavior"
Radiohead: "Karma Police"
George Michael: "Freedom"
Foo Fighters: "Everlong"
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers: "Into The Great Wide Open"
OK Go: "Here It Goes Again"
David Lee Roth: "California Girls"

You're probably too young to remember this, but in 1971, the "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)/ I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" ad campaign blurred the line between advertising, propaganda, and pop music, and made the entire globosphere DESPERATE for an icy-cold soda. (I'm not old enough to remember it PER SE, and GOD KNOWS if I were old enough to remember it, I'd be running off to my weekly Botox appointment later today.)

Anyway, the songvertisement, also known as Coca-Cola's "Hilltop" commercial, sold over 1 million copies in a year, was donated to the Library of Congress in Washington DC in 2000, and was selected by British TV channel ITV as the greatest TV ad ever made.

Fast foward to now, and "Open Happiness" -- a collaborative Coca-Cola spot recorded by Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo Green, Panic! At the Disco's Brendon Urie, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, Janelle Monae, and Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes -- could be this generation's "pop" music (excuse the pun) for the offspring of "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" set.

Will "Open Happiness" have the same monumental impact of its predecessor? We're about to find out.

Watch a 30-second sneak peek of the "Open Happiness" video, directed by Alan Ferguson, starring Cee-Lo Green, Brendon Urie, Patrick Stump, Janelle Monae, and Travis McCoy, and stay tuned for the full-length video, coming soon.

+ Watch the 1971 "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony) commercial after the jump!

Read more...

Madcon's blazing runaway funk single "Beggin" is so good it's about to make American rap stars of two Norwegian dudes. How often does that happen? Tshawe Baqwa and Yosef Wolde-Mariam have been churning out funk-soul hip-hop since 1992, owning European charts with sultry, half-rapped / half-sung party anthems like "Liar" and "Back On The Road."

After establishing themselves as Norwegian celebrities with their own music-related TV show, Tshawe went on to win Norway's Dancing With The Stars! And "Beggin" was already topping Norwegian charts almost two years ago. But it's taken until now for anything to break big overseas on a mainstream level.

With a jazzy sound somewhere between The Roots and Gnarls Barkley, it's no surprise Madcon's getting some major American attention. In fact, I can't believe it didn't happen sooner.  Shame on us.

Watch "Beggin" below, and find out what we've been missing all these years!

At this point, the conflict in Darfur and the resulting humanitarian crisis are more than six years old. It is common knowledge in conscientious circles, that hundreds of thousands have died and millions have been displaced by the horrors -- and I do mean horrors -- of the Sudanese army's systematic decimation of the region's native people. But, after six years of activism, it is easy for our outrage to cool off and devolve into uneasy acceptance. Well, Waxploitation -- the L.A. management company that handles Gnarls Barkley, Black Moth Super Rainbow and Danger Mouse -- just ain't havin' that.

On the verge of releasing his second Causes record to raise money for relief in Darfur, Waxploitation founder Jeff Antebi had this to say about the project:

"It's easy for fatigue to set in when a crisis goes on for a number of years, but no one has given up hope that things can change for the better in Darfur. There are untold numbers of people committed to changing the outcome. It takes humanitarian assistance, tenacity and political will."

And, of course, it takes money. A whole lotta spending money. And, while 15 indie gems clearly aren't going to fund a revolution, Causes 2 does provide everyday people like us with an easy means of contributing to the betterment of the world.

The compilation -- whose profits go entirely to Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam America -- includes rare tracks, remixes and live cuts from Devendra Banhart, Diplo, My Morning Jacket, RJD2, LCD Soundsystem, Gnarls Barkley, The Decemberists, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and many others.

The compilation doesn't hit shelves until May 5, but you can listen to Causes 2 right now, for free, only on The Leak. Get hooked here, then shell out $9.99 for the good of humanity in May.

+ If you pre-order Causes 2 now, Waxploitation will throw in Causes 1 -- including tracks from Animal Collective, Bright Eyes and The Shins -- for only $6.99!

Rumors are swirling that persona non grata Chris Brown has a maybe-girlfriend, and it's either his former girlfriend Erica Jackson OR Girlicious "star" Natalie Mejia.

Recently, Chris Brown's been spotted out and about with both Natalie Mejia and Erica Jackson, which begs not one but TWO questions...

1.) If either Erica or Natalie Mejia (or, GOD FORBID, BOTH!) are dating Chris Brown, have they been living in a media-free vacuum since February 2009, WHEN CHRIS BROWN (ummm... "allllllegggedddddllly") beat the crap out of Rihanna?

2.) WHY GOD, WHY!? WHY WOULD ANYONE DATE CHRIS BROWN? If you need publicity THAT badly, walk into a 7-11 naked, or go shoe shopping somewhere fancy in L.A. and call Perez, or make an amateur p0rn video with Ray J or something, but seriously, if you really are dating Chris Brown, take Gnarls Barkley's unintentional advice and RUN!

First of all, if you don't know who The Lonely Island is, I truly feel bad for you. Go watch "Nintendo Cartoon Hour" right this second. It's one of the biggest and best LOLs on the Internet, new or old, and it's actually worth the 2:55 minutes of your valuable Internet-memeing time. When you're done with that, you then need to listen to The Lonely Island's new comedy/ R&B booty jam album Incredibad.

But back to the four of you who don't know who The Lonely Island is, even though you probably do. They're Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone (you've seen him in Gnarls Barkley's "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" video), and they're the comedy writer/performer/ beat-makers behind some of your favorite segments on Saturday Night Live, including, but not limited to "Lazy Sunday" (AKA, the FUNNIEST VIRAL VIDEO EVER... until they created "D--k In A Box" (it won an Emmy!). Remember "Natalie's Rap," featuring a potty-mouthed Natalie Portman dropping rhymes about doing lines and dumping deuces in shoes? They did that too. And, chances are you've also feasted on the fruits of  "J--z In My Pants" and "I'm On A Boat."

Chances are also that you knew all of that and that you already own Incredibad, The Lonely Island's musical debut, which features all of the aforementioned songs as well as an amazing gem about Santana (Carlos, not Juelz) champagne, and cameos by Norah Jones, Jack Black, E-40, T-Pain (more on him in a bit), and unofficial fourth Lonely Islander, Justin Timberlake.

Some more Lonely Island background for those of you just now emerging from your voluntary coma: You've seen Andy Samberg on Saturday Night Live and in Hot Rod, but Akiva Schaeffer and Jorma Taccone write for SNL too, and they're pretty much living the normal guy-BFF dream, since they met in junior high days, spent bro time listening to incredibly bad/ great R&B jams and dreaming of the day Santana would finally make an adult beverage. Eventually they started making comedy videos (again, seriously, watch "Nintendo Cartoon Hour") under the name The Lonely Island. After a few aborted attempts at their own comedy series (thanks FOX... er... and MTV...), they eventually caught the eye of Lorne Michaels, who brought them aboard the SNL mothership, which is how they winded up on a boat... with T-Pain. Who's actually Jewish, it turns out. (Welcome to the tribe, Faheem!)

Recently, Andy, Akiva, and Jorma stopped by Fort Buzzworthy to share four more things you didn't know about Incredibad (five, really, but I already up and spoiled one).

After the jump, hear more secrets of Incredibad straight from the mouths of The Lonely Island in this exclusive MTV Buzzworthy video.

Read more...

No matter what Katy Perry does for the rest of her life, she'll be hard-pressed to escape her rep as the girl-kissing, cherry Chapstick-abusing, slightly lesbian-leaning pop star.

However, she's also quite the style icon amongst fashion bloggers, and her name is even popping up on eBay as a style search term.

Her looks are undeniably unforgettable -- peel-away banana boob, anyone? So if you wanna bust out like Katy, here are the top 5 style steps you need to take, prontos!

5. Wear Short Skirts...VERY Short: Finish this sentence: Lady GaGa is to leotards what Katy Perry is to_____ Here's a hint: It's SHORT SKIRTS. Like, old-school Cher micro minis. They are CRUCIAL.

4. Smiley Faces: Apparently smiley faces aren't just for your Facebook chats or Twitter status updates or Gnarls Barkley anymore. Attach them to as many articles of clothing as you can, pls! : ) ;P

3. Get Inspired By Other Celebs & Eras: Like Michael Jackson! Or Carmen Miranda! Or '80s glam!

2. Pants = Tight: As the Beastie Boys once put it, "Her pants were tight and that's okay!" So with their blessing and Katy Perry's endorsement, make sure your pants are as tight as possible and/or leather. Both? You're golden!

1. Baby Pink! Katy Perry loves her some pink. Espeshers pink dresses. In fact, if you don't like pink, none of this is going to work at all. Embrace it.

NOTE: We do not, however, under any circumstances, condone the Zebra pantsuit... please proceed with caution. Good luck!

Obviously Gnarls Barkley aren't the kinda dudes who just phone in a video of, say, kicking it in overly bright overalls and five o'clock shadows on the beach, Color Me Badd style. And since they've already scratched Rorschach tests ("Crazy"), cable access dance shows ("Run"), portals into alternate dimensions ("Going On"), insect metamorphosis ("Gone Daddy Gone") and heartbreak ("Who's Gonna Save My Soul") off their list of possible video themes, they had to think big for their latest single, "Mystery Man."

Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo Green took the project to Walter Robot (Modest Mouse, Cute Is What We Aim For), the fake director who's actually artist-writer team Bill Barminski and Christopher Louie. In their hands, the video went straight off the deep end of dazzling art project insanity (does that make you crazy?). Watch the folk-arty animation wizardry of Walter Robot in Gnarls' newest one, "Mystery Men."