so rumor has it these guys made the longlist for the BBC’s Sound of 2011 lineup. they also appear to have won another big UK poll, MTV-UK’s Brand New for 2011. so they signed with Island Records and their debut is set to drop in May - but only in the UK. all pretty strange for a band based out of Nashville. and one that, honestly, isn’t that great. (they sound like kings of leon but with even less spine, if that’s possible.) and quite frankly, mr. sitek isn’t having any of it. he uses the remix to yank them out from behind their edgy indie rock facade and present them, on a stage of synths and skips, for the dopey dance popsters they really are. the result is head and shoulders above the original. take the hint, gents. -d

and on this, the 26th Annual Power Christmas Day of Greatness, the day on which we celebrate all things great and powerful, we enjoy the new single from TV on the Radio. -d

*this is a free download at http://www.tvontheradio.com/ for the price of a fake birthday and a junk email address. full album out soon.

new side project from TV on the Radio guitarist Dave Sitek. at first, i was just going to write ‘you had me at TV on the Radio’. but then i remembered that this guy produced that Tom Waits cover album that Scarlett Johansson did a few years back and i was like, llgugll. but then i went back and actually listened to some of that, and it’s really not as bad as i remembered it. plus i knew he’d done work with the yeah yeah yeahs and a few other bands toying with an edgier pop sound. so then i looked up his wikipedia page and learned some more things, but nothing that interesting. fortunately by then “>the album was done downloading. so i listened to it. and it’s righteous. like 80s post-pop, if that’s a thing. groovy and kind of gritty and full of crazy guests. in retrospect (and in light of this clustercuss of a post), i probably should have just said ‘you had me at TV on the Radio’. -d

what song do you pick to represent the day you quit your job? do you pick something bombastic and liberating? or maybe you try to capture the savory satisfaction of abandoning your manipulative, opportunistic boss? or the twinge of anxiety at what could possibly be next? or do you try and sum up everything the last five years have meant, in all its glory and horror? or do you just pick that great song you were reminded of last night, like it was any other day? i just don’t know. -d