Audiostraddle Weekly: Newness From Bloc Party, Janelle Monae, Ratatat, Kylie Minogue

No musicians are coming out this week (at least, not on the cover of a magazine), so in lieu of Lady Sovereign or Chely Wright revealing their homosexuality to us, you’ll just have to settle for some awesome new music from the likes of Mark Ronson, Ratatat, and Kele from Bloc Party as well as some news from Janelle Monae and other faves. On to the fix!

MARK RONSON’S NEW VIDEO

Last week, Stereogum premiered a video for “Circuit Breaker,” a new track from Mark Ronson‘s upcoming September release, Record Collection. “Circuit Breaker” features 8-bit animation a la The Legend of Zelda and accompanies equally 8-bit sound. No word on what to expect for the rest of the album, but we do know it will feature all original tunes with guest appearances by Santigold, Scissor Sisters, MNDR, Q-Tip, Rose Eleanor Dougall, Spank Rock, and Miike Snow.

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Janelle MonaeJANELLE MONAE

Our favorite new rising star, Janelle Monae talks to New York Magazine about what influenced her new album ‘The ArchAndroid’. Hint: they include Metropolis, The Matrix, and Disney films. It’s pretty awesome.

KELE FROM BLOC PARTY

Bloc Party frontman Kele has been hard at work on material for his solo career, and he’s just posted two new songs on his blog. “Rise” and “Walk Tall” are reminiscent of the Bloc Party we know and love, sprinkled with some full-out dance breaks. The Boxer, Kele’s debut album as a solo artist, comes out June 21. Listen to two songs from Kele below.

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Kele Bloc Party

SNOW PATROL, R.E.M., B&S SUPERGROUP

Gary Lightbody, Snow Patrol frontman, has formed a supergroup called Tired Pony with members of R.E.M. and Belle & Sebastian. The group will release The Place We Ran From, a country concept album, in July. For the record, Tired Pony lined up guest appearances by She & Him‘s Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward and Editors‘ Tom Smith.

RATATAT’S NEW SINGLE

Electronic duo Ratatat has released a video for “Party With Children,” the first single off LP4 coming out June 4. Ratatat fans, rest assured. Ratatat returns from a string of remix gigs with that classic Ratatat sound of effects-laden guitars and funky percussion. And the video features a parakeet doing parakeet things, like sitting and cleaning itself, so watch it below.

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KYLIE MINOGUE’S “ALL THE LOVERS”

Kylie Minogue has premiered “All The Lovers,” her first single from Aphrodite due out June 6. Now, I liked “Can’t You Get You Out Of My Head” just like the next human being, but I’m not digging this one. Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments.

RIHANNA’S NEW VIDEO:

We’ve got a preview for you from Rihanna’s new video “Rockstar.” It’s like 20 seconds long.

ROLLING STONE’S RE-RELEASE

The Rolling Stones re-released Exile On Main St., their tenth studio album from 1972, this past week. The release featured 10 previously unreleased songs and was an excuse for the world to revisit a great album. Revisit some musician’s favorites from Exile On Main St. at NPR, and listen to my favorite: “Sweet Black Angel.”

RIP RONNIE JAMES DIO

Ronnie James Dio, one of classic metal’s greatest vocalists, died this past Sunday from stomach cancer. Dio sang with the bands Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and of course, Dio. He was 67. Read Ronnie James Dio’s obituary at The New York Times.

TWILIGHT ‘ECLIPSE’ SOUNDTRACK

I hate to admit it, but the lineup for Twlight‘s Eclipse soundtrack looks downright fantastic. It includes Metric, Fanfarlo, Florence & The Machine, The Black Keys, and so many more! Check out the full lineup for Twilight’s Eclipse soundtrack at Entertainment Weekly.

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Jess G.

Jess is a writer/producer with a knack for audio and online production. She grew up in California and now lives in Washington, DC, where she recently graduated from Georgetown University. Jess' jacket collection is obscenely large, and so is her music library. In her spare time, Jess enjoys riding her bike in the city, blogging, writing songs, and eating good food.

Jess has written 44 articles for us.

23 Comments

  1. Oh Kylie, my first love. <3

    'All the Lovers' is a bit slow for my tastes, I'm hoping the rest of the album is a bit more up-beat.

  2. I am so excited about the next Twilight soundtrack! they got the last one so right. I love that Sia is on there.

    • Yeah, it makes me a little sad that the soundtracks are so good. I refuse to read the books/see the movies. I’ll have to keep with buying the cds as gifts for my brother and then borrowing them to copy…

      • Ditto. But then I realize all of those UBER fans are being exposed to good music, and that can only help.

  3. I love Kylie Minogue. Like ppl are all Madonna! Gaga! And I go KYLIE! And they look at me like WTF? Who the hell is that? But anyway I don;t know about this song..Reminds me of ‘I believe in you’ but not as good. 2008’s X was amazing, so was Body Language so I have faith in the Impossible Princess

    I know AS have special feelings for Rihanna.
    But have you seen Ciara’s new video. http://bit.ly/9G1mI6 HOTNESS!!

    • Ohhhh Impossible Princess, loved that album. Gonna go dig it out of the cupboard for a listen now.

      • I never really got into that album. My favorite Kylie is Fever, Body Language, and X. She is so underrated. I hope she tours the state again, for real this time.

    • I’m lukewarm about the Ciara song, BUT I love her dancing in the all black with baseball cap and Adidas.

      • I like the song. Bit I LOVE the dancing! Her other talents are debatable but her dancing is amazing!

  4. I really like the Audiostraddle weekly this week.The Snow Patrol/B&S/Editors/REM supergroup sounds awesome! I especially like the inclusion of Iain Archer (who co-wrote SP’s biggest single ‘Run’ back in the day). He’s a lovely guy.

    • Glad you liked this week’s post. I’m hoping the supergroup delivers. It’s an interesting mix, for sure.

  5. I love Bloc Party and so far I’m digging Kele’s solo stuff. Can’t wait for the album!

  6. Great fix!

    I don’t know if I am more excited about the supergroup (REM/Belle & Sebastian/Snow Patrol!!!!) or the Twilight soundtrack.

  7. I have the Janelle Monae CD on my computer now (even though I had to trick their website with my girlfriend’s old American debit card) but I haven’t listened to it yet! WAHH

  8. How did I never know Ratatat existed? Just looked up a ton of their stuff on youtube and it’s all amazing. I just wish these bands all decamped from myspace because I seriously have never had any idea how to use that mess.

    Not sure what to make of the Kele stuff. I find that his vocal melodies, while good because they’re different from other artists, actually end up sounding quite samey to me because of their uniqueness. However, I do like all the stuff he’s got going on in those tracks, and the single Tenderoni is good, and being played a lot on radio here at the moment.

    Also I had a random idea that you should run a feminist mash-up competition because there’s all the roundtable stuff going on and I just have a sudden urge to hear Dusty Springfield mixed with Gaga.

    • Ratatat’s one of my favorite bands. Definitely pick up their self-titled album and ‘Classics.’

  11. I have to say that I read Ratatat as Ratata the first few times around and my pokemon-loving heart exploded with joy at the prospect of a band named after that scrawny little purple pokemon. Yeah.

    • I know that the pokemon name is actually spelt with two t’s (rattata) but of course you’re bound to get bitten with a typo when you type it out, because you are just too weird for the universe not to chortle at your expense.

  12. I love Kylie, but I’m feeling kinda lukewarm about that new track. Her last album ‘X’ was amazing! Hope this new one lives up!

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