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  1. Obsessively blogging about pop music, pop videos, pop stars, and pop culture from inside the MTV headquarters in Times Square. We also have a slight Jonas Brothers problem. And a little fixation with Tokio Hotel.

    Contact us as buzzworthy@mtv.com and follow us on Twitter at @MTVBuzzworthy.

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You might think the boys in Vampire Weekend would be a little stressed about following up their critically-lauded, self-titled debut. But you'd never know it from watching singer/guitarist Ezra Koenig and bassist Chris Baio glide through this episode of "The 5."

Here, half of Vampire Weekend talks about some things that are true. For example, Chris Baio is the cousin of Scott Baio, who you may know from famous '80s sitcom Charles In Charge, or from the infamous '00s reality show Scott Baio Is 45 And Single.

In the not-true department, while you gotta love the amusing anecdote about playing the very same festival that saw Oasis call it quits, I would like to see some evidence documenting Ezra Koenig's ability to heal hundreds of teenage fans left bereft at the announcement of the Gallagher brothers' break-up.

Koenig and Baio also talk about the meaning (or multiple meanings) behind the name of their new album, Contra, as well as the joys of being a wedding band. Contra is due out January 12th, 2010. Stay tuned for the "Cousins" MTV video premiere on Thursday, November 19.

Theft -- the name of multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Matt McCartie's musical project -- is perhaps an homage to the epic rock echoings of his Brit-rock influences.

After kicking around in bands for a while, McCartie decided to go it alone, building his own recording studio and recording all the parts for Theft's songs. Not that you'd know it listening to songs like, "Fireworks Explode" and "Never Be The Same," which could easily be mistaken for the British sounds of Coldplay's lilting heart, The Verve's epic sweep, and Oasis' raw edge.

Even if you're new to Theft you might've heard McCartie's music already. His song, "Breathing Underwater" is the theme song to the late DJ AM's new MTV show, Gone Too Far, which examines the devastating effects of drug addiction and offering hope to those willing to accept the opportunity to change their lives. His the Theft song, "Fireworks Explode," became the theme song to season 1 of It's On With Alexa Chung.

You can check out music at Theft's MySpace, follow him on Twitter @theft, and download "Breathing Underwater" here.

+ Sad news at this hour: DJ AM was found dead in his NYC apartment this afternoon, apparently of a drug overdose. From everything we've heard, he was a really nice guy all around and will be sorely missed. (MTV News)

+ Country music darling Carrie Underwood reminded us all why we like her so much, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of instruments to her high school alma mater. (People)

+ Pop star Miley Cyrus performed her new single "Party In The U.S.A." to a max-capacity crowd at the TODAY show in NYC this morning, holdin' on to those high notes for dear life (but managing to let go of the stripper pole this time around). (E! Online)

+ Weezer's Rivers Cuomo admitted to Rolling Stone this week that their debut single "Undone - The Sweater Song" was a complete rip-off (intentionally or otherwise) of a Metallica song. (Rolling Stone)

+ For those of us longing for the old Mariah Carey and wondering why she's been peddling s%*# for the last few years, lady is BACK with her new cover of Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is." (Neon Limelight)

+ What do you do if you're Lindsay Lohan and a store who loaned you two million dollars worth of jewelry comes a'knockin' for it? You say your safe was STOLEN, of course. HEY! It's a recession!! Gotta be frugal! (The Superficial)

+ Noel Gallagher quit Oasis last night? Via his blog? (NME)

Your idea of summer music is less booty jams and bikinis and more sitting in your AC-ed, shag-carpeted bedroom making mixes on your iMac? There's an "MTV Unplugged" for that.

After Adele reindoctrinated the heritage MTV live performance series, Silversun Pickups brought the fuzzy, foggy, hazy sound of Silverlake summer heat to "MTV Unplugged," for you stay-indoors-and-listen-to-indie-rock types.

Watch their six-song "MTV Unplugged" set, including "Well Thought Out Twinkles," "Panic Switch," "Lazy Eye," "Catch and Release," "Kissing Families" and "Getting Old Is Growing Old," off Carnavas and their 2009 album, Swoon.

+ After the jump, watch Silversun Pickup talk Bjork and Oasis...

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As you may recall, Tuesday's Buzz Bites included this item: Gavin Rossdale, who continues to be inexplicably, unmanageably studly, has just released a solo video that uses the oldest trick in the book to up his man-babe factor. It stars his and Gwen Stefani’s 2-year-old son Kingston. Well, that wasn't quite true.

It turns out, first of all, that Gavin Rossdale's studliness needs no upping. The ex-Bush beefcake is topless for half of the video in question, and he's in better shape than most sculptures. Secondly, Kingston is hardly a star, but he does flash his smushy, sweet little celebaby face at the 2:23 mark.

Now, on to the business at hand: Gavin Rossdale's "Forever May You Run" video is awesome on a variety of levels. For one thing, It includes excessive running, and dude kiiinda runs like Steven Seagal. No offense Gavin. You look great.

Next, Gavin's new video incorporates themes from all of your favorite movies. It opens with an angry Jerry Maguire-ish corporate walk-out, fades into a Forrest Gump running montage, which gives way to a dangerous Lord Of The Rings mountain scenario and culminates in a Hillside Singers-style '70s Coke commercial (which is sort of like a movie).

The song itself is classic Brit-rock. Soft sentimental verses lead into anthemic choruses, which in turn erupt into thumping minor-chord bridges with off-kilter tempos and searing, reverbed guitar solos. Think Snow Patrol + Oasis / U2, only topless, ripped, and sprinting through a busy intersection. Got it? Good. Now watch.


It's all true. You saw it in the header. We are just obsessed with Band Of Skulls over here. Here's why: the Southampton U.K. rockers sound kinda like Blondie having a threesome with Flea and Tony Kiedis (no offense, Chad Smith and John Frusciante) in a White Stripes mosh pit. Whoa. Gross! Sorry! But no, for real, it sounds exactly like that, minus weird kissing noises.

Also heavily present in this snarling Brit rock snakepit is the steel-gargling spirit of Jimi Hendrix, adding a witchy wobble to the sunburnt Jack White guitar crunch. Or wait, do we owe that witchiness to Ms. Emma Richardson, whose throaty vocals make it easy to forget that she's holding the whole ramshackle rock show together on bass? In other words, holy s*** does she wail.

Can we also blame Emma for the album title, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey? Going only by the sound of her voice, I wouldn't be surprised if she was all four. Either way, that title tells me unequivocally that Band Of Skulls are some freewheeling badass joker punks. Right? These freaks are definitely in on Pete Doherty's mission to revive the careless f***-all attitude that Brit-rock lost when Oasis got "better than The Beatles." Listen. Get infected. Band Of Skulls.


Look, we love Radiohead as much as the guy in the dorm room next to you, and, like every other sentient being on this planet, we'll be in line for those Radiohead collectors editions of Pablo Honey, The Bends, and OK Computer out March 24, and all of the new/old Radiohead vinyl out April 21. But Radiohead's prolific musical genius aside, dudes are beefin' harder than McDonald's!

Apparently, for these indie rock gods, the answer to the age-old question "Can't we all just get along?" is "Bloody hell, no!" Who knew these twee Brits had so many issues to work through!?

Therefore, here are the top 5 folks Radiohead basically hates.

5. Miley Cyrus: Apparently Miley was hoping to get just a few short mins of Radiohead's (i.e. her FAVE BAND's) time at the Grammys this year. Radiohead's response: "Uh... we don't really do that." HEISMANED!

4. Kanye West: Is also none too pleased with Thom Yorke Ltd. Apparently Kanye was also looking to get a little Grammy facetime with Radiohead. Unfortunately, 'Ye didn't get the Miley memo and felt snubbed (I know! Shocking, right?) when Radiohead basically ignored him. But Kanye SO got them back!!! When they performed he "sat the f*** down." OOH! BURN!

3. The Hold Steady: Tad Kubler, guitarist for Brooklyn rock darlings The Hold Steady, said some not-so-nice things about Thom Yorke, and guess what? BOOM! Tad ends up in the hospital with a busted pancreas. You do the math.

2. The Pixies: Thom claims this one was total "rubbish," but he was kind of caught freaking out that Radiohead was performing after the Pixies at Bonnaroo back in '06. Thom says that what he REALLY meant was that the Pixies should be headlining above them. Right... Ok. Zzzz.

1. Oasis: Oasis' Liam Gallagher has, by far, proven himself to be Yorke's most worthy opponent. These two have a love/hate relationship that goes way back, and these guys are not afraid to get down-and-dirty personal. In fact Gallagher said of Radiohead fans: "they are boring... and ugly." Funny! I've always thought the same thing of the Gallagher brothers!

Our advice: Just accept that Radiohead does not want to be friends with you. If you do see Radiohead at a party and attempt to chat them up, let's just assume the night's gonna end in shattered glass and a broken nose. Hey wait a second... That sounds like the makings of an EXCELLENT Radiohead song! In that case, knives out!

Hey! After Cute Is What We Aim For, Meg & Dia, Breathe Carolina, Every Avenue and Anarbor hit the stage at NYC's Fillmore / Irving Plaza tonight, all of the Take Action Tour bands will be running a jeans drive and doing an acoustic performance tomorrow at the DoSomething.org offices (address below)!!!

First off, I gotta tip my hat to DoSomething.org for having one of the most straightforward URLs on the internet. None of this "AOL" ambiguity. Do something. Dot org.

Also, while my hat is off, I tip my toupee to Hopeless Records. The non-profit Sub City subsidiary (!) signs bands only on the condition that they fulfill certain pro-social commitments throughout their recording and touring process. In their nine years of existence, Hopeless has raised more than 1.5 million dollars for more than 50 charities. That's $1,500,000.

Finally, I tip my dandruff to the bands on the Take Action Tour, who are clearly in it for more than free Ed Hardy t-shirts. Super cool of them to show up and get people excited about a good cause. People like me. That's right. You heard it here first. I'm excited about jeans. Here's them deets.

Take Action Tour Jeans Drive
THURS FEB 19, 4-6 PM
24-32 Union Square East | 4th Floor
New York, NY 10003

RUN! Bring jeans! Or at least wear cute underwear! More tour dates after the jump!

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There's no way you'd ever guess that Audrye Sessions are from California. Their lilting melodies, ever-swelling sound, their delicate pronunciations... even their clothes, haircuts and hometown (Livermore??) scream Brit-rock. And man do they scream it well! Like Muse covering U2 or The Verve with The Arcade Fire's berserk rhythm section.

Speaking of covers, much of the internet-addicted world got their first taste of Audrye Sessions when their weepy take on Elliott Smith's "Waltz #2" made the blog rounds. The band, which consists of Ryan Karazija (Vox, Guitar), Alicia Marie Campbell (Bass), Michael Knox (Guitar) and James Leste (Drums), has made short work of the offline world too, playing San Francisco's Noise Pop Festival, taking major strides at SXSW, touring with Margot & The Nuclear So & So's and quietly becoming one of Oakland's biggest deals. To add to the growing buzz, Audrye Sessions are in the process of translating their addictive vintage sound into their first full-length album. If you're a fan of Snow Patrol, Coldplay, Radiohead or Oasis, definitely give Audrye Sessions a whirl. Here's their video for "Turn Me Off."

Beatles babies Sean Lennon, Julian Lennon and Stella McCartney are already household names. Now Dhani Harrison is taking a shot at joining their ranks. Beatles guru/guitarist George Harrison's 30-year-old son made his musical debut when he polished off Brainwashed, an album his father left behind when he died.

Now Dhani's fronting his own band, thenewno2, with drummer Oliver Hecks. The voice that drives the emotional duo's Oasis-esque ballads will be immediately familiar to Beatles fans, but it's a whole new dreamy, space-rock ballgame from there on out. thenewno2's debut album, You Are Here was released in August 2008, but it's still play-on-repeat-worthy.

Get a heaping sample of thenewno2's bold, sonic experimentations on MySpace, and keep an eye out for more from Dhani Harrison.