August 10, 2012 – Full-contact comedian Eric Andre might be the most post-everything funnyman in history. By combining the home-brewed humanity of Fernwood 2 Night, the surrealist Möbius strips of Tim & Eric, the Dada puckishness of Tom Green and the kinetic pranksterism of Jackass, he's ultimately an Andy Kaufman for the Four Loko generation.

August 7, 2012 – In 13 muddy, manic years, the annual Gathering of the Juggalos has grown from a modest, Faygo-drenched fan fiesta soaking the Novi Michigan Expo Center to what might be the greatest rap festival in America hidden in the middle of the Illinois woods. Beyond its usual stable of horrorgore merchants and wicked shit, this year's festival, returning to its secluded homebase of Cave-in-Rock, boasts a Geto Boys reunion, the Game, Raekwon, DMX, Master P, the Pharcyde, the Fat Boys, Rahzel, Biz Markie, Danny Brown, Rittz, Lil Jon, and Kool Keith — not to mention puff-puff-pass pioneers Cheech & Chong and contemporary hip-hop muse Ric Flair. While the performance fees of the headliners have changed, the Insane Clown Posse's dedication to their fans hasn't. "I want nobody to think we were making money," says the duo's Shaggy 2 Dope. "We were losing big every time.

August 7, 2012 – New York City's Made Out of Babies was one of the great alt-metal sleeper acts of the '00s — a noise-gnash scream-therapist skin-scratcher dogpile of Jesus Lizard, Neurosis, and early PJ Harvey. Former singer Julie Christmas has already dropped her Eat 'Em and Smile with her "sorta-metal, sorta-sadcore" 2010 solo debut The Bad Wife and now the rest of MOoB are going straight 5150 without her: Guitarist Brendan Tobin, bassist Cooper, and drummer Matthew Egan are pushing forward as Bad Powers alongside versatile vocalist Megan Tweed. With a sound more lithe and spindly than the bludgeoning Babies, the feel is like the lean, athletic sound of Faith No More making the switch over from Angel Dust to King For a Day (with just a touch of the violin-ready modern art-majestic pomp of, say, Kayo Dot).

July 30, 2012 – Canadian duo Indian Handcrafts are the latest in a short, ecstatic tradition of sludge-pop twosomes like Big Business, Seawhores and Tweakbird, who mix anthemic hooks with Lysol-drenched downtuned muckery. And like all those bands, they're currently crewing with the mighty Melvins, scoring both Melvins drummers (Dale Crover and Coady Willis) and their longtime producer Toshi Kasai for their Sargent House debut, Civil Disobedience For Losers. It leans mightily into a spastic sludge-funk groove that could give chills to fans of Maggot Brain-era Funkadelic and Big Biz alike — and maybe pop fans, too, since both dudes have voices that are elastic like metal Minaj. Call it a prog-glurp masterwork with about three different breakdowns. Hear it below:

July 27, 2012 – Nachtmystium, one of American black metal's most polarizing and adventurous bands, has returned with their sixth album, the relentless Silencing Machine. After a pair of controversial albums toying around with pan-genre "meddle" experiments (blending their blood-spattered blur with psych-rock, sax solos, synth-pop, post-rock, and even a pair of disco songs), they're back with some no-bullshit, no-frills, no-mercy black metal of the grimmest caliber. With frontman Blake Judd's sandpaper roar in full effect, Silencing Machine is a perfect blizzard of blasts: occasionally churning into head-knocking bleak-rocking, occasionally peaking out the speakers until everything blurs into a dizzy aggro-trance.

July 26, 2012 – SPIN had a ridiculous time at Metallica's weird, whimsical Orion Music + More Festival, having to manage absolutely insane set conflicts like choosing between Modest Mouse and Suicidal Tendencies (spoiler: the five-song Infectious Grooves mini-set with Robert Trujillo truly had us Floating On). Lucky for all of us, a recent conference call to drummer Lars Ulrich about headlining Outside Lands yielded hope for a follow up run. "We had a great experience in New Jersey," said Ulrich, "and as we look to 2013, we're definitely looking to keep it in New Jersey or to keep it on the East Coast." All of which leads us to ask the important question: So who the hell is left to play this weird thing? We isolated the trends in Metallica's taste, and made our best guesses.

July 24, 2012 – The two leading lights of the New Metal Poptimism class of 2012 are simultaneously embracing the most pop move of all — making rock videos! First up, SPIN Essential'd bubblegrunge super-hooksters Torche have dropped a clip for Harmonicraft album highlight "Kicking." In it, a surprisingly non-hipster game of adult kickball devolves into a 2001-style hallucination full of mutated Phoebe Cateses (see photo) and suggestive hot doggery. Also, I think we spy esteemed metal writer J.

July 19, 2012 – Sure, 2012 is the year of Death Grips, a rap crew powered by the caffeinated octopus drumming of Hella sticksman Zach Hill. But Spencer Seim, the wheedlier half of that iconic '00s noise-punk duo has been staying busy too! Witness the birth of Solos, his project with folkster Aaron Ross (who played guitar on Hella's 2007 album for Ipecac). Like in his Nintendocore band the Advantage, Spencer is behind the drum kit adding fleet-footed bass drum bounces. First track "Carpe Diem" is like the folk-metal-gone-Stravinsky twurk of the new Dirty Projectors combined with the laser-fueled tech-pop of post-Hella popsters like Yeasayer, Tame Impala or Mae Shi. Their debut, Beast of Both Worlds is dude September 11 via Joyful Noise, but you can seize the day (right?!) and hear "Carpe Diem" now!

July 18, 2012 – If you are unfortunate to be as old as a SPIN editor, you not only know what a "record store" is, but you may have actually worked inside one! That's why this list of "DO NOT NEVER EVER BUY" CDs from Laurie’s Planet of Sound, a shop in Chicago, tickled us as pink as the font on a Jessica Simpson album that you shouldn't be buying. An employee leaked it to Instagram, The Daily Dot confirmed its accuracy, and the members of Fun Lovin Criminals shed a single tear, stared blankly at a pallet of unsold copies of Welcome to Poppy's, and whispered "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" The complete list is below if you're looking to have your memory jogged that Tripping Daisy existed. If you need us, we'll be selling 15 copies of Sponge's Wax Ecstatic to Laurie’s Planet of Sound until they get wise.

July 17, 2012 – The VP record label has been the gold standard for contemporary reggae and dancehall ever since Beenie Man asking "Who Am I?" wasn't a rhetorical question. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's independence, they're reaching waaaayyy back into the vaults for what may be the most comprehensive reggae box set in the history of time, Out of Many, 50 Years of Reggae Music. In a Rhino-ready feat of pure nerdery, its three discs feature exactly one iconic song representing every year since 1962. Hearing it in full is like experiencing a Koyaanisqatsi-styled time blur, hearing ska evolve into rocksteady and Augustus Pablo's dub; roots reggae adopting electronics and evolving into King Jammy's dancehall; and ultimately hip-hop infiltrating the party and churning out crossover superstars like Sean Paul and Elephant Man.