+ Julian Casablancas, lead singer of The Strokes, plans to launch his debut solo record with an over-the-top tour, Disney-style. As in he'll ride a pole like Miley? We might actually be intrigued by that. (NME)

+ Happy 1st Birthday to The JoBros A Little Bit Longer album, which turned out to be a HUGE trending topic in the Twitterverse today. (Twitter)

+ If you had enough money (or assistants) to get multiple hair extensions glued to your head on a daily basis, you would probably take care of them or at the very least brush them once in a while, right? Then tell us WHYYYYYY Britney seems to go out of her way to make her hair extensions look as obvious (and obviously not washed) as possible? If anyone is within reach, would you please just shake her?? Thanks. (The Blemish)

+ Oh -- and in case you're wondering how Britney's looking so good in a bikini (with those tracks covered up by a huge hat), it comes in a box and is delivered to her door/tour bus. And it's not crack. (ICYDK)

+ With a new album on the way, Janet Jackson is ready for another new look (no, it's not a new pair of Juicy Couture sweatpants). The question is, are you ready? (Bossip)

+ Also, did you know Ryan Gosling has a band? Listen to this song off his forthcoming debut album and see what you think. Sounds like Elvis, Jeff Buckley, and Johnny Cash. Kinda? (PopSugar)

+ Kelly Osbourne is looking very "True Blue" Madonna these days. "Likes this." (Popsquire)

+ Paramore land the cover of this month's Billboard magazine, with costumes straight from Sanny Claws himself and promises of marvelous music to last a whole year. (Neon Limelight)

+ Julian Casablancas (lead singer of The Strokes and son of Elite Model Management founder John Casablancas) is set to release a solo album this fall entitled Phrazes For The Young.  If this trailer is anywhere close to what the entire album will be, sign us up. (The Tripwire)

+ They may not be pitch-perfect (and Nick Jonas may look as disinterested as ever) but at a recent stop on their world tour, the Jonas Brothers got loads of unsuspecting parents out of their seats -- and countless tweens saying "What the hay?" -- by covering the classic Neil Diamond tune, "Sweet Caroline." (Ryan Seacrest)

+ P.S. if you want a chance to win free tickets to a private JoBro show, check this out! (IHeartRadio)

+ Nothing wrong with a little afternoon shirtless fun, courtesy of Channing Tatum (especially when the pics are shot by Mario Testino; he could make Don Rickles look good shirtless.). <LICK> (GQ)

(Credit: Chr!s Sm!th)

I don't know what it's like where you are, but over here in NYC we're deep into the nicest day we've had all year. Major sunshine and big smiles all around. It's perfect weather for the endlessly optimistic power-pop of Two Hours Traffic. The Canadian quartet started out as kindergarten playtime buddies, and they recreate the same five-year-old wonder that brought them together in their irresistibly sunny songs.

But don't get the wrong idea here. Though their tunes are loaded with jangly guitars and sweetheart harmonies, Two Hours Traffic still knows exactly how to get down to business. Their flowery melodies and bucking backbeats add up to unstoppable combos of Beach Boys breeze and Strokes-y swagger. That one-two pop punch has already landed the band among the TV soundtrack elite, earning them airtime on Gossip Girl, The Ghost Whisperer, Smallville and The OC.

This weekend they add MTV's own Camp'd Out to their list of credits. The two-hour docu-drama follows a group of Broadway stars through the grueling paces of a competitive theater camp. Two Hours Traffic's "Stuck For The Summer" is the official theme song!

See what all the fuss is about in their barn-burner "Stuck For The Summer" video and then tune in to MTV this Saturday at noon to see Camp'd Out!

The 1990s, who share origins and former members with fellow Scots Franz Ferdinand, are an indie rock group on the rise. The blogosphere is already all over them, and these days, that usually means the rest of the world is just a breath away. Or at least a car commercial.

Signed to the same European label that has carried The Strokes, The Libertines, Belle & Sebastian, and The Arcade Fire, the 1990s' pedigree alone ought to be enough to get your attention. But wait, there's more.

Not only are their songs airy David Bowie-evoking pop gems -- particularly "59," the first single from their latest album, Kicks -- but they also have flat-out incredible videos to match.

The "59" video, which has just entered the MTV2 rotation, is a stop-motion animation masterpiece. The band members and assorted other characters are rendered as two-dimensional paper cut-outs, uncrumpling and grooving out in a charming miniature world. It's stunning.

Watch "59" and see why we love the 1990s!

Holy underwater Motown magic fireworks. The Dashing Suns. I'll be damned. This seductively sunny little intersection of every band the '60s and '70s ever loved is really making my morning with its scratchy guitars, ooh-ahh Caramello vocals and vintage head cold production value. Monkees, Modern Lovers and Troggs! Definitely sounds more like something you'd discover in your mom's leftover Creedence records than on the Internet.

The Dashing Suns are a four-piece out of Oakland, California, and they certainly deliver on all that West Coast promise laid out by The Beach Boys, The Mamas & Papas and so on and so forth. Jangly and irresistible, their fuzzy pop fantasies reek of post-prom oceanside campfires. A fact which, in combination with their recent run at SXSW, all but guarantees that they won't go unsigned much longer.

For more on The Dashing Suns at SXSW, keep an eye on Jansport -- the classic backpack company is using The Dashing Suns' "Future Thunder" to promote their insanely cool new Heritage Series. As part of the promotion, they followed the band on a road-trip/mini-tour from Oakland to Austin, filming concerts, car drama and everything in between. When that goes live, we'll be sure to share it with you here. I'm expecting plenty of solar flare and sepia tone. Definitely something to look forward to!

Listen to The Dashing Suns here. "I Wanna Run" is getting all the attention, but I'm a pretty big fan of "When I First Met Ya" and "Future Thunder." Highly recommended for fans of The Black Lips, The Strokes and summertime.

Sexy ginger-headed scenester Lissy Trullie's been making the downtown rounds in NYC for ages now. If one of those underground aristocrat clubs turns you away at the door for being too "normal," you can go ahead and assume that she's inside spinning other people's records under bangs and a bowler hat. On her own records, Lissy lays a crackling Strokes-y deadpan over delirious dance-rock, casual as a 4:00 breakfast. She runs with The Virgins, dresses like a motorcycle schoolboy and carries it all off with the gritty, effortless grace of an Andy Warhol movie. Anybody else smell star power?

Today Lissy Trullie (prounced 'Truly') and her band announce the February 17 release of their charmingly droll debut, Self-Taught Learner. Lissy's been out with The Virgins promoting the six-track EP, which includes a Hot Chip cover, on a tour that appropriately culminates at the opening of a San Francisco Andy Warhol exhibit. Well played, Lissy. Truly.

+ Get half the EP, all of those tour dates and an extensive collection of photographs here!

* Thanks for the photo, MySpace!

+ Better luck next time, Royston Langdon. Because the crazy rumor of the day is that formerly scary-haired singer/guitarist Lenny Kravitz will be stepping in for Scott Weiland as Velvet Revolver's new frontman. (Idolator)

+ The Jonas Brothers describe their TRL takeover as "an amazing time in our lives." Our thoughts exactly. (MTV)

+ These days, it's "mo' money, mo' problems" for High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens. (E! Online)

+ And today in unlikely collaborations, Usher and Keith Urban will be teaming up to give a free NFL kickoff concert. (Billboard)

+ British supermodel Agnyness Deyn is reportedly engaged to Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. Which totally explains the collective high-pitched scream of "NOOOOOOOO!" we heard all the way across the Atlantic. (Fashion Gossip Weekly)

+ Can't wait for Madden '09? Check out Franz Ferdinand's website, where they're streaming the game's featured track, "Lucid Dreams." (Franz Ferdinand)

+ Lil Wayne to his fans at the Virgin Mobile festival: "[If] y'all got Tha Carter III...I f---in' appreciate you." (MTV)

+ FNMTV host Pete Wentz divulges his extensive role in Fall Out Boy's creative song-writing process: "I'll go over to Patrick's house, and he’ll kind of just sit there and play songs, and I’ll be like, ‘Ah, that one’s awesome!'" (Rolling Stone)

+ Rumor has it Taylor Swift and Joe "The Middle One" Jonas are "goin' steady." (The Evil Beet)

+ Nas to Jesse Jackson: "We don't need [you]; I'm here. I got this." (MTV)

+ Radiohead's new video does not employ cameras but lasers. Or something. Science is confusing. (Tripwire)

+ VH1's tribute to the Who shaping up to be a veritable "Who's Who" of rock legends. (Billboard)

+ The Strokes, Santogold and Pharrell Williams are all officially playing for the same team. (NME)

+ Amy Winehouse walks into a nightclub, walks out with a table lamp. (MTV)

+ Kerli's debut album, Love is Dead, lives up to the hype. (Neon Limelight)

+ MGMT: A coming of age story. (New York Magazine)

+ Normally dance remixes make us want to hurl ourselves in the path of the closest, speediest bike messenger, but the Masterbeat.com (insert self-love joke here) dance remixes of Jennifer Hudson's "Spotlight" make up for the travesty of dance mixes past.

+ Still funny: "Makin' Music With John Mayer" video on FunnyorDie.com. Plus: new pix of John's "O-face." (Metromix)

Despite a wholesome-enough-sounding name like the Virgins (you've heard them on Gossip Girl -- OMFG! -- about a zillion times), I wouldn't exactly want to watch their "Private Affair" video with my grandma.

The video, which has nothing to do with Jessica Simpson's "Public Affair," (and happy birthday, by the way!) combines elements of:

+ Snoop's "Sensual Seduction" -- that gritty, grainy effect that can only come from taping something on TV straight to a used VHS, if you can remember back that far...

+ ... With the Teenagers' "Love No" video...

+ ... With the fake '80s cable access-ness of Gnarls Barkley's clip, "Run."

Plus: Stroke-a-like guitars; Pet Shop Boys-esque chorus; microphones as male anatomy presented in ways far too blatant to be considered innuendo; yoga performed in ways yoga was not intended; and almost as much ass jiggle as Kanye's "Flashing Lights" video.

Also, lead singer Donald Cumming (a most unvirginal name) reads like a mad scientist-manufactured hybrid of Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta and Deerhunter/ Atlas Sound's Bradford Cox. Also, I need a shower.