Have rappers graduated from 70s funk?

Anybody noticing a new trend in the hip-hop industry? After years and years of jacking beats from every good funk song of the 70s - James Brown, Parliament, Earth Wind & Fire - , it seems like hip-hoppers have decided that 80s-kitsch has now become 00s -gold.

Case in point: the latest hit single from Flo Rida, "Right Round" (as in, "you spin me right round, baby, right round..."...)



Not to mention, Rihanna's "S.O.S." (thanks, Soft Cell!), Trick Daddy's "Let's Go" (i-i-i!!), and Sean Kingston's "I Can Feel It" (In the words of Phil Collins, "Oh Lord...").

It's only a matter of time before they start exhausting the 90s, and then the aughts, and before you know it they'll have to start coming up with - GASP! - original material...

When concert documentaries become art: LaBlogotheque

I'm sure this is old news to a lot of you indie heads, but lately I've really been digging LaBlogotheque, a pretty incredible French rock blog that films perhaps the most inventive concert footage around. Below are a few of my favs: Grizzly Bear strolling the streets of Paris singing an a cappella version of "Knife," Arcade Fire playing "Neon Bible" in an elevator, and - perhaps most touching of all - a video of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love," filmed from behind him and spotlighting the intimate, candlelit circle of crosslegged hippies grooving to the track like it was '67 again. There's also some great tunes from the likes of Sufjan Stevens, the Fleet Foxes, etc. Take a look here.

Grizzly Bear


Arcade Fire


Bon Iver