Since the now infamous Taylor Swift incident, Kanye West has been laying pretty low. Up until a couple of months ago, he’d been almost completely silent for 9 months, taking some time to lick his wounds from the fallout. But now, he’s back in a big way, which for those of us who enjoy Kanye doing what he does best — making GREAT hip-hop music — is  excellent news.

Apparently he’s releasing a brand new album sometime this fall. There’s no official date for the album yet, although it’s said to be September 14th and likely titled Good Ass Job (Ye confirmed that’s no longer the title on Twitter this morning). He dropped the first single off it, “Power,” online, and then performed it at the BET awards. Both indicated a triumphant return to form, especially for those who didn’t favor the style of his 808s and Heartbreak album.

News on the web today is that he rapped a bunch of tracks off of the album at the Facebook HQ (huh?), and they’ve made it to YouTube this morning. All the rhymes are rapped Acapella, so there are no beats, but Kanye does some serious spittin’. Check out some of the videos below of a particularly dapper looking Kanye rapping tracks titled, “Lost In The World,” “My Chain Heavy,” and “Mama’s Boyfriend.” They’re all sick, but I’m especially a fan of “Mama’s Boyfriend.”

This one’s from a post on Kanye’s own blog about the performance.

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“Lost In The World” & “My Chain Heavy,” both via Pitchfork

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“Mama’s Boyfriend”

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Also, it isn’t verified yet, but some sources close to him are claiming that Kanye has now started a Twitter account. It only has 2 Tweets so far, but they mention him attending meetings in Silicon Valley, which sounds about right with his performance at Facebook HQ. It’s pretty simple: @kanyewest.

*Update: The Twitter is really him, ’cause it’s now verified.

** Another Update: Ahhh, he’s at it again. Continuing on the trend of inpromptu social media drop ins, Kanye decided to spit a few more rhymes for the folks at Twitter today. What is with this guy and websites today. Hey, Kanye, if you haven’t had your fix of website HQs today, come on down to MetroLyrics LOL.

Anyways, there’s one low quality video below. Hopefully some better stuff shows up soon.

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If you’ve got nothing to do this weekend or if the weather sucks where you live then have I got the solution for you! The Pitchfork Music Festival is going on this weekend down at Union Park in Chicage, Il.  Although it isn’t quite as cool as being there, a live web stream of the festival, courtesy of Pitchfork.com will be going on all weekend! Unfortunately, you won’t be able to crowd surf like the guy above (unless you’ve got some really enthusiastic friends), but you can watch the thing from the comfort of your lazy boy. Is there anything quite as great as live music in a lazy boy? Now that I think about it, that might be a good idea for a cool concert venue. I should look into that. Anyways, I digress. Just watch the thing already!

Some of the highlights this weekend include Robyn, Modest Mouse, Wolf Parade, LCD Soundsystem, Major Lazer, and Big Boi. Check out the entire streaming coverage lineup and open up the streaming player here.

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The summer music season is upon us.

Every Memorial Day long weekend, I kick off my summer music season by heading to the Sasquatch Music Festival.  It’s a 3 day event filled with music, comedy, camping and loads of fun. The festival takes place at The Gorge Amphitheater, which is located basically in the middle of nowhere, about halfway between Seattle and Spokane on the edge of the Columbia River. Behind the main stage is one of the most stunning concert views you’ll ever see: a sprawling river canyon as far as the eye can see. It’s unbelievable, and probably something you have to see in person to appreciate. The photo at the top gives you a taste, but definitely doesn’t do it justice.

For those of you that have never experienced a music festival, picture your favorite camping trip of all time. Now multiply that by about 3000 times because, at the same time, you get to see some of today’s best musicians perform, often at unbelievable outdoor venues.

With that said, I’m pretty sure I don’t have to directly tell you that I had an AMAZING time for that weekend kickin’ it Sasquatch style at the Gorge.

Here’s my list of the best performances I saw, all of which are bands that you should DEFINITELY check out! I’m giving you a top 8, just ‘cause I like that number.

Full list after the jump.

8. Deadmau5

The Canadian superstar DJ Deadmau5 put on a massive show. He closed down the first night of the festival with an unbelievable late night light show. Whether you’re into Dance/Electro/House music or not, the production that went into the set was second to none. Of course, he wore his signature ‘mau5 head during the performance while spinning his tracks from inside of his half-cube stage set, both of which were equipped with wicked lights. Check the video below for a taste of how gnarly the production was.

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Track to check out: Strobe

7. Vampire Weekend

Before the weekend began, I wasn’t sure how well these Ivy League prepsters would perform at an outdoor venue like the Gorge. It turned out that their mix of African drum beats and catchy melodies proved irresistible to just about every single person present. It was a literal dance fest. They got my hearty stamp of approval. I’ve included their awesome video for “Giving Up The Gun” below, which includes cameos by Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lil’ Jon and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tracks to check out: Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance -

6. My Morning Jacket

For me, My Morning Jacket is a band that you MUST see perform live. Though I love their album stuff, their live show is epic. This was the second time I’d seen them in an outdoor festival setting, and both times were amazing. Lead singer Jim James and the boys really benefit from the expansive outdoor setting. Their southern rock style guitar anthems screamed into the night as they closed out the first night.

Tracks to check out: Off the Record, One Big Holiday.

5. MGMT

The opinions of MGMT’s new album, Congratulations, couldn’t be more polar; some people love it, others hate it. The album takes a completely different direction than the band’s 2007 album, Oracular Spectacular. The dancey pop-style hits that made MGMT household names are nowhere to be found on this album. At Sasquatch, the good news for fans of all types was that MGMT chose to give them the best of both worlds. Along with a selection of new tracks, the band mixed in some of their uber-famous dance hits into the set to get the crowd moving, including a super satisfying send off of their super-pop track “Kids” (see official video below).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Other tracks to check out: Electric Feel, Congratulations.

4. Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi is not your typical rapper. His newest album resembles the 808s and Heartbreaks style of emotional rap/singing that Kanye introduced to us, so I was skeptical as to whether or not he could get the crowd into his set. I was wrong to doubt him. The performance brought some much needed heavy bass to the main stage with hits from both his debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Days, and his well known mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi.

Tracks to check out: Day N’ Night, Pursuit of Happiness.

3. Band of Horses

If you’re familiar with Band of Horses then you know that they play beautiful music. I was sure going into the weekend that their mix of soaring, airy songs would provide for an unbelievable Gorge experience. I was right. As the sun set on day 3 of the festival, this local Seattle band provided a perfect cap to my weekend. The pairing of tracks from their newly released Infinite Arms album with classics from both Everything All the Time and Cease to Begin was brilliant. The band’s tour de force song, “The Funeral,” was flawless in every way.

Tracks to check out: The Funeral, Detlef Schrempf, Marry Song.

2. LCD Soundsystem

LCD Soundsystem’s latest album, This Is Happening, has critics in a frenzy. As lead singer James Murphy’s project, LCD has been hearing constant praise since they burst on to the scene in 2005. The Sasquatch Festival turned out to be the perfect place for the band to play some of their infectious genre bending dance anthems. It was an incredible sight to see the entire crowd dancing in unison for their rendition of “All My Friends,” which is, without a doubt, one of my favourite songs of the last ten years (see video below).

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1.  The National

Just under a month ago, The National released a new album entitled High Violet. I’m already calling it a modern masterpiece. But despite my affection for the band, going into the festival, I was a little unsure how their tunes would translate to this type of venue. They didn’t have any problem with that. The group’s driving drum rhythm and lead singer Matt Berninger’s unique voice made for an unforgettable set and my most memorable for the weekend. I didn’t think there was much the band could do to improve my opinion of their work, until I saw them live.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tracks to check out: Mistaken For Strangers, Conversation 16.

In this episode, Los Angeles-based rockers Carney share the story behind the lyrics to their single “Love Me, Chase Me,” as well as its new music video featuring Evan Rachel Wood…

Love Me Chase Me is actually a really special song for us :-) It is the first song that Carney ever co-wrote as a band, the song whose demo enabled us to record our album the way that we wanted, and the song that provided the inspiration (and soundtrack) for our first music video.

I remember how the song was written and looking back I see the embryonic stages of our still maturing band approach to writing. Reeve, our lead singer, has long been the main songwriter of the band and so this new sort of experience really snuck up on us overnight. I showed Reeve a simple riff that I had been messing around with for a year or two in what turned out to be the intro and verse guitar part, and Reeve thought I should share it with the band so we could give a shot at writing something together. The next day I showed him another riff that I had been hearing in Am (what turned out to be the bridge lead guitar fanfare) and somewhere along the lines that triplet landscape came into focus behind it.

Then we brought these two ideas to Aiden and Jon one day in rehearsal and from that point on started to figure out the arrangement of each section. We definitely were not trying to write a “single” so it’s quite ironic that it’s the first song we’ve released – we were just taking it to a place that felt natural while still maintaining that sense of exploration and the rest sort of fell into place.

It’s been really awesome to get people’s response to the song. Even if it’s not our favorite song on the album, it gives people an strong idea of what we sound like and shows that we’re not afraid to take some chances. Plus, there’s a guitar solo which I always like ;-)

Anyway, times a wastin’ so go watch the music video!

Sincerely,

Zane (Carney)

“Love Me, Chase Me”

I don’t want you baby
I don’t need you lately
Love is ever-changing
And I think you’re crazy

Girl, I’ve got to let you go…

Let me touch your daisy
Give me what I can’t be
Let tomorrow face me
Love me, kill me, change me

Girl, I’ve got to let you go…

I’m a jumper, baby
Mama, don’t forsake me
Madness can’t contain me
If you love me, chase me

Aw girl, I’ve got to let you go…
Girl, I’ve got to let you go…

Girl, I’ve got to let you go…

Carney is playing their last Los Angeles show for a while at the El Rey Theatre on November 28. They’re great guys, so you should definitely check this out if you can!

During an athletic performance of her new song “Louboutins,” Lopez walked up the backs of five dancers, who were assembled like steps, then attempted to leap off — and fell right on her rear end.

and

“She walked off the stage absolutely fuming,” an unnamed insider told Fox News. “She was so upset, and ready to kill. Jennifer was a perfectionist about that performance and practiced hard.”

Singer Adam Lambert also made an impression with a performance MTV says divided critics. According to their article:

A kind of mash-up of the top awards-show shock moments from Britney, Madonna and Christina Aguilera over the past 15 years, complete with faux-oral sex (which was edited out of the West Coast feed), S&M play, bondage, crotch-grabbing, same-sex make outs, serial hip-thrusting and even an accidental stumble, Lambert made it clear that he’s not the kind of safe pop star typically churned out by the “Idol” machine.

He also pre-emptively declared that anyone who criticized his display of sexual liberty was endorsing a double standard that says straight women can explore their (bi)sexuality onstage, but gay men can’t. However, not everyone agreed.

The Los Angeles Times’ site features photos of the awards show, including what they call Lambert’s “ultra-lewd” performance.

Taylor Swift was a big winner last night, this time without interruption from Kanye West when accepting any of her five awards, which included the top prize, “Artist of the Year.”

Whitney Houston’s big comeback performance is getting very positive buzz on the Internet. FilmyFair says:

What made Whitney different from the other performers at the AMAs, was the fact that she only let her voice do all the performing – figuratively speaking. She did not get into anything bold, nor headline grabbing worthy nor seductive, but she let her powerful voice win over the audience.

And Gather.com says, “It’s official: the Queen of the Night is back!”

For a complete list of winners and links to their award winning songs, check out the Events section on MetroLyrics.com by clicking HERE!

The Decemberists are playing at Royce Hall at UCLA tonight, and they’re a great band for singing along. Some of my favorite songs by them are “Angel, Won’t You Call Me,” and “Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect.” To prepare for the concert tonight, I’m spending a little time with MetroLyrics to brush up on the lyrics to my favorites, because I hate to be the only person not singing along during the best songs!

Am I the only one who does this? What songs do you look up before seeing a show? Who are you seeing this week? Tell me, and I’ll help you find the lyrics!