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Going solo from your band is kind of like switching from a democracy to a dictatorship. After years of putting things to a vote, you finally get to make all your own decisions.

But for Patrick Stump, recording his first solo material in the wake of Fall Out Boy's indefinite hiatus, it's hard being king. So when he recorded two versions of his new song, "Spotlight," the singer/multi-instrumentalist asked his fans to vote on which one they liked more.

Counting myself as a fan, I thought it only fair that I get to weigh in as well. "Spotlight" in both incarnations--"Spotlight (New Regrets)" and "Spotlight (Oh Nostalgia)" -- is a driving electro-pop tune. I might be making too much of a leap here, but the "(New Regrets)" could be a nod to New Order and their classic tune "Regret." It certainly would make sense in terms of the sound.

"...(New Regrets)" is the more lush version of the track, complete with hand claps and layers of backing vocals. "...(Oh Nostalgia)," on the other hand, is a slightly more muted and a bit melancholy.

My personal taste is for "...(Oh Nostalgia)." But this is a democracy after all! Head over to Patrick Stump's site to hear both versions of "Spotlight," and make your voice heard by voting.

Tags Fall Out Boy, New-Order, Patrick-Stump, Song You Need To Know

A couple of weeks ago we hollered and crowed about The Swellers, a searing pop-punk act on tour with Paramore. Well, here's another example of Hayley & The Gang's good taste: Paper Route.

Hailing from Paramore's home turf of Nashville, Paper Route, who released their album, Absence, earlier this year, have a muscular rock sound that's nicely embellished with swaths of keys and assorted electronic instrumentation, calling to mind The Cure and New Order.

They have a slightly more over-the-top-bordering-on-goth feel, which might appeal to Paramore's latent goth streak (which was on display in their Twilight soundtrack jam, "Decode").

You can catch Paper Route out on the road with Paramore through the 11th of November.

+ Watch Paper Route's video, "Carousel."

Tags New-Order, Paper Route, Paramore, The Cure, The Swellers, video

The Mission District is a Montreal-based six-piece that combines '80s Brit pop like The Cure and New Order with contagious power-fuzz (just made that up!) pop-punk and churns out one fist-pumping singalong chorus after another. In other words, these clean-cut hipsters make dance music you can mosh to. Armed with unstoppable beats and endless sinister keys, the ex-punks have enough nightclub charisma to put glitter on your chest in a single listen.

Brain-conquering singles like "The Age Of Pretending" and "So Over You" have won them a steady online following (16,000 MySpace friendies and counting), a spot on tour with The Bravery, Elbow and most recently, Nightmare Of You. Oh, and Perez Hilton is obsessed with them ("Hot Sweaty Boys Make Hot Sweaty Music"). No big deal.

Get your hands and ears and everything else on the explosive British sound that's blaring out of Montreal's biggest speakers at The Mission's District's MySpace.

Tags New-Order, Nightmare Of You, Perez Hilton, The Bravery, The Buzz On, The Cure, The Mission District

Yo, 1983! Welcome back! Again! We've been busting out our moustache combs and scratching at our leg warmers all day over here, listening to this airy New Order-meets-Hall & Oates jam, "Big Bills." The instant new-wave-yacht-rock classic is the latest from underground Chicago DJ duo Flosstradamus, with enchanting girly vocals courtesy of fellow '80s revivalist, Caroline Polachek of Chairlift (who you may remember from the dreamiest iPod commercial ever). And if Flosstradamus sounds familiar, it's probably because half of the DJ team, Josh 'J2K' Young, is Kid Sister's big brother!

Finally, maybe it's just the video's Lost In Translation-esque muted colors, breathy vocals and sleepy blur, but is anybody else picking up on a major Sofia Coppola vibe here? Not only is this new Flosstradamus clip overloaded with that moody Virgin Suicides ennui, but Caroline Polachek (good thing someone found a use for her!) is also a dead-ringer for the it-girl director. Doncha think?! Yeah you do.

Tags Chairlift, Flosstradamus, Hall & Oates, Kid Sister, New-Order

Not to get all parental on you, but you know that whole "if at first you don't succeed" maxim? It sounds totally trite, right? But in Kenna's case it can end up nabbing you stage time with Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, a gig opening Live Earth at Giants Stadium and probably a spot on more album-of-the-year lists than you'd ever imagined.

The long and winding road from the release of his 2003 debut album New Sacred Cow to the late-2007 release of Make Sure They See My Face showed the Ethiopian-born, Virginia-raised artist the dark side of record industry politics after he was passed around from label to label before finally landing on the Neptunes' Star Trak imprint (high school friend Chad Hugo co-produced both of Kenna's albums). The critically acclaimed New Sacred Cow saw some mainstream love: "Freetime" nabbed a 2003 MTV VMA Breakthrough Video nomination, and Fischerspooner and Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan added Kenna, who'd previously opened for No Doubt, to their tours. Even pop-author Malcolm Gladwell famously devoted an entire chapter to the genre-defying artist in his 2005 best-seller Blink, summarizing "Kenna's Dilemma" and the irony behind why Kenna couldn't maintain a major-label deal at the time: the guy's basically too inspired to pin down and too multi-talented to tie up in a neat, happy little marketing package.

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Tags Celebrity, Depeche Mode, Justin Timberlake, Kenna, MTV Featured Artist, Music, Nelly Furtado, New-Order, No Doubt, Pharrell Williams, Prince, She Wants Revenge, Talking Heads, The Neptunes, Vibe-Magazine, video, Videos