M.I.A. is on the April 7 cover of the NME (to be fair, there are nine other covers this week) as part of their special “The State Of Music Today” issue. Inside she discusses politics in music, what music’ll look like in ten years, and dresses down Coldplay and Lady Gaga. The kids at Oh [...]

Today's top pop news stories

By the end of CMJ 2009 Brooklyn duo Derek Miller and Alexis Kraus aka Sleigh Bells had a handfull of homemade demos showcasing immediately distinctive and highly combustible distorto-beat razor pop jams, hit the stages with a fully formed live show, and ended the fest with both a BTW stamp and M.I.A. in their pockets. [...]

If you look at Vampire Weekend as that endangered species of band that can collapse barriers in a fragmented, niche-driven music economy, then this week is proving “Giving Up The Gun” to be the band’s quintessential amalgamator. On the heels of Contra’s pop chuggernaut getting a pop-cultural mashup video o...

This track surfaced yesterday, initially reported as a Busy Signal track featuring M.I.A. from the dancehall dude's Hott Ed Turf!!! mixtape, a credit later clarified by Diplo as "actually part of the major lazer EP thats out in APril." Major Lazer EP out in April! Skerrit Bwoy is already daggering a bottle of peroxide in anticipation. Diplo &...