Guardian Music — The aim was to engage with contemporary black dance music. The result? Solange Knowles became a big fan!Who else made the top albums of 2009?It has been a great year for intelligent, experimental American pop: Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear and Dirt... more info

Stereogum — Each year when Pitchfork posts their annual Top 100 Songs Of XXXX you can be sure to find a number of hip-hop and popular radio tracks filtered into the electronic and indie stuff. Makes sense: Those genres and/or sensibilities can result in great... more info

Stereogum — This Black Star reunion from the night before Thanksgiving features DP's Amber and Haley along with the Roots on "History" from Mos's The Ecstatic LP. A(nother) hat tip to the Fallon show for doing awesome things on the somewhat regular. more info

Undercover, Australia — Rainbow, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Heaven and Hell singer Ronnie James Dio has been diagnosed with stomach cancer. more info

Altsounds — *With over 100 shows in 2009 under their belts supporting Deep Purple, Shinedown, Hot Leg Theory of a Deadman & Hinder, festival slots at Rock Im Park, Rock Am Ring, Download & Sonisphere THE CRAVE have confirmed their debut headline tour in Dece... more info

Guardian Music — The bell-like, sci-fi oscillations of this neat little gizmo have provided rock music with a futuristic, psychedelic visionWhat are they? Ring modulators are neat little gizmos that make things sound wobbly and metallic and cool. If you're in any way... more info

Stereogum — Dirty Projectors showcased an acoustic "No Intention" at Housing Works this past Spring. Take a break from familiarizing with new DP material, for another stripped-down take on the Bitte Orca tune: They did it this time for Sirius' new XMU Session... more info

Live Daily — Since the release of their 2006 self-titled debut, Aussie hard-rockers Wolfmother [ tickets ]'s major calling card has been singer/guitarist Andrew Stockdale's classic rock riffing, his enormous 'fro, and his banshee-like wail, which makes him sound ... more info

NME - The Daily Download — So OK I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but as the Cities Of The Plain blog mentioned a while back (when they were late to the Dirty Projectors party), late is good. Fashionably late anyway, which is where we stand with The Antlers. And with a... more info

411 Mania — The ghost of Michael Jackson has infested the ship. Jesse, Delilah, and Faulkner wake other slumbering passengers for some assistance with an exorcism. The Discography segment goes from dead to death, with Death, Death Angel, and the Organization, pl... more info