Another summer, another amazing music festival lineup. The 15th Annual Sonar Music and Art festival in Barcelona takes place 19-21 June this year and they just announced another amazing lineup. There is a strong female presence from M.I.A., Goldfrapp, Roisin Murphy, Kid Sister, Miss Kittin and an assault of amazing electro, techno, noise and pop from Shackleton, Diplo, SebastiAn, Justice, DJ Scotch Egg, Ove-Naxx, Neon Neon, Spank Rock and more! ([More →])

The kids in this new vid from Buraka Som Sistema floor me – they’re ridiculous! They be double jointed everywhere! M.I.A. is all up in it too and it looks a bit like her video for “Boyz”… But this has Sabrosa and Sabrosa slaaaaaaaays!!!!!!!

Buraka Som Sistema – “Sound of Kuduro” featuring DJ Znobia, M.I.A., Saborosa and Puto Prata

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With all the technical difficulties lately, I’ve fallen far behind with a lot of things I wanted to post here. So, I’m going to do my best to catch up, which will involve posting a lot of videos that came out in the last month or so. This is one of them: the video from B-more legend DJ Blaqstarr for “Shake It To The Ground/Crazy Leg Edit” featuring Rye Rye.

DJ Blaqstarr & Rye Rye- “Shake It To The Ground”:

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Ever wonder what everyone else is listening to? Today’s list of Top Rankin Tunes is compiled from what was most popular among ([HearingTest]) readers in 2007. This is definitely the most pop-oriented of all the lists; starting with the the most-played tune: Alicia Keys and Jr. Reid’s reggae soul remix of “No One” followed by the tune that Jah Cure released at the same time he himself was released from Tower Prison. These two tunes were receiving thousands of plays per day for weeks! Recently, the audio CD that comes with Ghostface Killah’s new book “The World According To Pretty Toney” has been streaming pretty much round the clock on computers around the globe and linked to on numerous hip hop BBs. Other big contenders include Foxy Brown’s don diva anthem with Mavado – “We’re On Fire” – released during her incarceration in Rykers Island and the club anthem of the year in UK – T2 and Jodie Aysha’s incredible infectious “Heartbroken” which puts the bounce in Bassline music! ([More →])

Digging through the ([HearingTest]) audio archive for the Top Rankin Tunes of 2007, I discovered that most of my favorites could be summed up as shotta anthems. So, I pulled out 10 tunes for Top Rankin Shotta Anthems of 2007. These selections are from the archive of tunes featured on ([HT]) over the last year: ([More →])

Pull up Selecta, let’s hear those tunes one more time! Here are my selections for the Top 10 Tunes and 15 Albums Released In 2007… Tune in again tomorrow for a REWIND of the Biggest Tunes Published On ([HearingTest]) in ’07! ([More →])

RWD Magazine has published one great interview after another every day this week. RWD caught up with Eve to discuss hip hop, beats, her new album, record labels and reppin. Just yesterday, they published one of the best interviews with M.I.A. talking about the Tamil Tigers, Timbaland (including what she thinks of Timbaland using her tune on a Snoop Dogg track) and other treasures. We’ve got those interviews and a bunch of music from the new albums… ([More →])

I love music events. I love attending them, I love hosting them, I love hearing other peep’s experiences of them. That’s a huge reason why I write about music for a living. I’ve attended concerts since I was 5 or 6, I’ve been a crew member for various production companies, warehouse events and soundsystems for 14 years, and I’ve experienced countless types of music environments. Therefore, I can say from experience that the Treasure Island Music Festival was unique. ([More →])

MI.A. loves San Francisco! And how could she not, after last weekend’s performance on the idyllic Treasure Island? (I have a fabulous review of her performance as Pirate Queen of the Island refugees!) And surely she wasn’t going to let a tiny bar event that sold out immediately and a huge music festival with 8 other bands be her only shows in SF this year. Was she? No! M.I.A. has just added TWO new SF shows to her tour calendar! We also have a beautiful East African remix of her “Paper Planes” to share with you! ([More →])

I love the way M.I.A. seamlessly combines everything that is hot and bumpin from Jamaican dancehall, UK grime, and her own quirky, femininity. I’m also a big fan of her tunes getting remixed with a UK/Jamaican flavour that spices up an already sizzlin sound! This new remix of M.I.A.’s “Boyz” featuring Akon and Rock City is a prime example – it takes her song which is already PURE FIYAH and adds a luscious male patois to show the Boyz how to be Men. ([More →])

M.I.A. has the hottest dance moves, the most kid-friendly wardrobe, and the sweetest smile. It’s no wonder that Captain Perfect asked her to be a fitness instructor for the uber-indie kid’s show Pancake Mountain! You may remember the land of sock puppets who love to rock when we reported the White Stripes visit to Pancake Mountain. Jack performed an acoustic “John The Revelator” in the Pancake Mountain Jam Zone while Meg stood by, shyly smiling in support. Yes, Pancake Mountain is for kids of all ages, especially indie-kids with indie-kids of their own. ([More →])

M.I.A. is too cool for school, and she knows you can’t wait any longer to listen to Kala. Even though it won’t be released for another week, you can listen to it right now on M.I.A.$pace. All 12 tracks from “Bamboo Banga” to “Come Around” are streaming for your pleasure! Just make sure to buy the CD when it drops on August 21st. ([More →])

What a great combination! M.I.A. will open for Bjork on September 11th at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan and at her two concerts in Nimes, France August 21 and 23. ([More →])

M.I.A.’s new video for “Jimmy” is gorgeous! Very Bollywood, very trance-y. You may have read this already, but Jimmy is a cover tune of a song that Maya would sing when she was a child. She would play guitar and sing this song for a handful of cash at a local eatery in her hometown. She brings her music career full circle by covering this song again, and including it on her upcoming Kala album. ([More →])

M.I.A. announced that she will visit Japan this Fall. Here are confirmed shows thus far… ([More →])