Lonely Hearts Dub Band follows Easy Star Allstars 2 earlier chart-topping dub albums: 2003’s Dub Side of the Moon (a dub reggae tribute to Pink Floyd’s psychadelic rock concept album Dark Side of the Moon) and 2006’s Radiodread (a dub version of Radiohead’s OK Computer, another concept album).

For those in North America (and perhaps unaware), Southport Weekender is Europe’s most unique and best loved indoor soulful music festival. In fact, the Southport Weekender is celebrating 21 glorious years of festival madness with two events every year! Attracting 5000+ party folks to the indoor Pontins Holiday Complex in Southport, it’s dubbed as the “UK’s friendliest party.”

Queens-born lyrical shapeshifter, Pharaohe Monch, has been composing so called “conscious” music since he teamed up with Prince Poetry to form Organized Konfusion in the early 90′s.

Throughout history Japan has been known to borrow things from other countries and make them their own. Among those Japanese imports are Kanji characters (China), Beer (Germany), Baseball (America), Pei Yong Jun (South Korea), Gwen Stefani (America), and most recently, spaghetti western movies like Sukiyaki Western Django by the master of stylized violence, Takahashi Miike.

“In the end, it’s about taking the listener on a ride,” says Jason. “That speechless, awestruck thrill ride that you go on when a piece of music seems to hone in on that point in your chest and just plays right into it—you know, when you feel connected to it. When it speaks to you. That’s when it’s most fun, for us and for the listener.”

All the photos in this gallery are of The Yoshida Brothers at Highline Ballroom, NYC in late May 2008. No pictures or material may be reproduced without written consent from the owner, all pictures and video are copyrighted. Thank you.

They say that in the worst of times, in the most dire of situations that often the most important, most miraculous people can arise from the ashes. Coming off of a year in which the art of hip-hop was accused of being deceased and done with, this Brooklyn born emcee has come to stake a claim….

There is a lot of debate over the quality of The Simpsons when compared to the incessant craziness of shows like Family Guy and South Park. Yes, the show is not as funny as it was when we were kids, but watch this clip and think to yourself, if they’re going to invest in a brand new HD format, don’t you think the writing would be worthy enough to watch on it? I do.

After a strong debut album Endangered Species, Nickodemus unleashes his second solo album, Sun People! Inspired by sunny days and good people, the album mixes positive dance music from all over the globe including Guinea, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Romania, India, Turkey, United Kingdon & his hometown Brooklyn, NYC!

All signs point to a major take-off in progress for the suburban Washington, DC-based group, comprised of David Cook (vocals, piano, guitar), Will Cook (bass), Bobby Morgenthaler (drums), Pat Jenkins (guitar, vocals), as several tracks from their album make noise, attracting fans to My Favorite Highway’s outposts on the web…

One of the most iconic and influential pop acts in the world, Pet Shop Boys return with their tenth album and first for Astralwerks on April 21, 2009. In a career spanning over 2 decades, the duo of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have created some of the most beloved and recognizable hits in the world (West End girls, It’s a sin, New York City Boy, etc.), and sold over 30 million records.

Not only does this album reveal another dimension into Chris Cornell’s bottomless soul, it give listeners insight into how this man re-built himself mentally and emotionally from past demons.

HYDE is offering his first greatest hits self-titled album for digital download from iTunes and other online music stores. The album features 17 songs from his previous 3 albums and 7 singles including the hits HELLO, COUNTDOWN, and SEASON’S CALL and an English version of GLAMOROUS SKY (theme song for the film “Nana”).

All the photos in this gallery are from Franz Ferdinand’s live performance at New York City’s famed Roseland Ballroom on Thursday, May 7th, 2009. No pictures or material may be reproduced without written consent from the owner.

As a duo, Chester French worked for three years on Love the Future, making money on the side by engineering recording sessions for Boston area instrumentalists, rappers, and other bands. Finally, in May of 2007, D.A. and Max completed their recording and their degrees, in African American Studies and Social Anthropology, respectively.