Maybe it was because one of America’s musical capitols was represented in the game, but there just seemed to be more music in this Super Bowl. There was the perfunctory opening anthems and halftime show, songs in ads — The Who even managed to be the halftime show act and sneak into an ad. Whatever [...]

A pretty slick new Rhapsody ad promoting Jay-Z’s upcoming release, The Blueprint 3, takes us through a series of some of his better known album covers. More importantly, the new track in the background is called “Run This Town,” which features some help from Rihanna and Kanye West. Listen to the rest of the album [...]

I’m not a fan of award shows – too long, too dull, and I don’t really get off on seeing celebrities glammed up and celebrating themselves. Last night’s Grammy Awards, however, had some pretty cool performances – not enough to sit through the whole thing, but great for YouTube highlights. The winner was definitely an [...]

Mashups as a whole annoy the hell out of me. But I’m somewhat impressed/intrigued by Minty Fresh Beats effort to combine Radiohead instrumentals with Jay-Z rhymes. For those Radiohead fans out there, don’t worry, it’s not just obvious samples – Minty Fresh gives some love to “Gagging Order,” a Kid A b-side.
Download the Jaydiohead project.
Check [...]

As 2008 comes to a close, we at Stranger Dance are starting to look forward to what 2009 holds. A number of our favorite artists (Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, Jason Isbell, M. Ward, Wilco, etc.) have confirmed upcoming albums and even more are flirting with the idea.
A few things stuck out to us while compiling [...]

[The Blogmine is a weekly feature where your fearless Stranger Dance staffers dig up all the gold hidden around the blogosphere. Feel free to pass along any interesting stories we may miss.]

Is “Little Dealer Boy” a new Christmas classic? Umm, yes. [Wired Listening Post]
The coming Colbert/Kanye apocalypse will spare nobody (yes, we’re on a Colbert [...]

Happy Friday people. This is an old one, but it still puts a smile on my face every time I see it, so I’m posting it.
I don’t know much about Aries Spears apart from the fact that he was a cast member of (the wholly unfunny) MadTV. For all I know, he could be brilliant [...]

I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that this existed, nor would I have ever imagined it listenable had I known that it did, but yes, a Jay-Z/Pavement mashup album has been made. And, you know what, it’s not actually that bad. In fact, it’s pretty cool.
My never-ending mancrush on all things Pavement [...]

As with all things Lil Wayne, you always end up having to take the good with the bad: Dude is undeniably talented, but he’s also a bit of a trainwreck. His swagger and magnetic personality are most of what makes him great, but it also causes him to take things a bit far, like claiming [...]

So, I originally set out to do a post on the music tastes of John McCain and Barack Obama, which I sort of knew was just going to turn into an opportunity to mock McCain. Fucking sue me. But then, I ran into this:
[McCain] was trailed by a mob of photographers and Cindy, smiling in [...]