August 15, 2012 – Plenty of you have likely snickered at the thought of Snoop's new name (after a religious experience in Jamaica, he traded in his Dogg for Lion) and his subsequent embrace of both reggae and — gulp — patois. It's happening anyway and today, TV on The Radio multi-instrumentalist and indie rock super producer Dave Sitek tweeted a link to stream "Shoop Lion," an inspired, interstellar, reggae-informed re-imagining of Salt-n-Pepa's 1993 sex jam "Shoop." It's very much its own animal.

August 15, 2012 – Last summer, actor Matthew Lillard, known for his work in '90s cinestaples like Scream and SLC Punk, tweeted the following: "Mike McCready of Pearl Jam is into scoring FAT KID RULES THE WORLD! I'm trippin out that a guitar legend is down with the FATNESS." At the time of the announcement, Lillard was in Seattle to scout locations for what was to become his directorial debut, the finish line in a decade-long mission to bring KL Going's best-selling young adult novel of the same name to the screen. At the suggestion of his agent, the two had lunch. "There are a few times in your life when you're in a meeting and you know, if all goes well, it's going to impact your life in an incredible way," Lillard said of his first encounter with the Pearl Jam lead guitarist, during a recent call.

August 14, 2012 – Harlem hip-pop fireball and newly minted SPIN cover star Azealia Banks unleashed her new Rankin-directed video for "Van Vogue," a head-thumping highlight from this year's 1991 EP. It's an expectedly frenetic, fashion-forward clip redolent of early '90s R&B visuals, shot at times in her adopted mer-vixen persona's natural habitat. See the video below, via Hunger TV, and take a behind-the-scenes look of her SPIN cover shoot with photographer Jason Nocito here.

August 13, 2012 – Just two months after uncaging his second full-length of this year (the wondrous Slaughterhouse, written and recorded with his touring band) Ty Segall is officially prepping the release of his third, Twins, the solo follow-up to last year's Goodbye Bread. It's a devil-horned effort whose forthcoming fury he touched upon in conversation with us earlier this year. "The Hill," a Lennon-indebted, elephant-heavy first single, is now set to arrive on September 4 via Drag City. Hear it below:

August 13, 2012 – Brainy Brooklyn pop songwriter, MTV-approved innovative performer, and admitted gearhead Amanda Warner calls her forthcoming full-length debut as MNDR Feed Me Diamonds one of the "most difficult" experiences of her life. "I was tested, on all levels at all times," she says of the album she and producer Peter Wade wrote in the wake of her star-making guest appearance on "Bang Bang Bang," the first single off Mark Ronson & the Business Intl's 2010 LP, Record Collection. "I know who I am. I've been making music my entire life. I wasn't willing to bend and do what the industry wants you to do. I really had time to fight." Below, read the story of every track on Feed Me Diamonds as Warner remembers it, and hear the album (due August 14 via Ultra) in its entirety. "#1 In Heaven" This was the first song we started together in the studio.

August 10, 2012 – Earlier this summer, South London production trio LV announced their forthcoming Sebenza LP — a collaborative effort with South African MCs Spoek Mathambo, Ruffest and Okmalumkoolkat of 5 Best New Artists bros Dirty Paraffin — by way of a stunning clip for its title track, shot in downtown Johannesburg and Orange Farm township. It felt like something of a star turn for Okmalumkoolkat in particular, the Durban-bred MC's charisma in frame and on record converging in spectacular fashion. For the Chris Saunders and Malcom Chen-shot "Spitting Cobra" clip below, he remains in rare, can't-take-your-eyes-away form, despite the less frenetic feel of the track itself. Sebenza is due September 4, 2012 via Hyperdub, Dirty Paraffin's DP EP is out now and can still be heard right here.

August 10, 2012 – In most ways, "Anti-Pioneer" scans as a toothsome microcosm of all that made Ms. Leslie's Feist's most recent full-length, last year's Metals, a record to remember. Stark, gnarled, understated — if the Reminder-borne singles that propelled her to mainstream stardom boasted airborne hooks, her latest often felt like a freefall into bottomless, equally beautiful depths. This morning, Nowness premiered the minimalist, Martin de Thurah-directed clip for the Metals ballad, a fitting black-and-white visual comprised of little more than Feist, the occasional lens flare, and oceans of deep, dark, negative space. See it below.

August 9, 2012 – In the wake of some staggering collaborative work with SBTRKT last year and a breathtaking string of singles in the past few months, Jessie Ware continues to prep for the release of Devotion, the nascent pop supernova (and former 5 Best New artists alum)'s full-length debut, due August 20 on PMR. "Sweet Talk," a silken, somewhat queasy reboot of early '90s R&B is yet another minimal, mood-setting number that places the Londoner's vocals in marvelous light. It's set to feature prominently on Devotion, but hear it below now, via Consequence of Sound.

August 7, 2012 – Brooklyn-via-Virginia mope-pop revivalist Jack Tatum unveiled "Paradise" today, a synth-lined, high-altitude mood-piece set to appear on his Wild Nothing project's forthcoming sophomore full-length, Nocturne. "There was a great deal of restlessness that went into the creation of this album," Tatum says of Nocturne, which is due August 28 courtesy of Captured Tracks. "The moon cycle has come to represent this for me; a slowly changing symbol of where these songs feel most at home, a sleepless state of mind." Hear "Paradise" below and download it over at Nocturne's interactive, lunar-themed website.

August 6, 2012 – In a telephone conversation we had this past winter with schizophrenic Brooklyn post-punkers the Men, we asked if there was one band in their home borough with whom they felt some kind of spiritual connection or kinship. They answered quickly and enthusiastically: Nude Beach, a trio that, while certainly less abrasive, seem to share an implacable lust for timeless American songwriting as penned by Tom Petty and Paul Westerberg. On II, an album the 5 Best New Artists alums self-released earlier this year (and one they're re-releasing wide next week via Other Music), they bring the goods from top to bottom. It's a jangling, jukebox-bound feast of unshakable melody and it's streaming in its entirety below.