May 11, 2012 – "Watch me dance, I'm a puppet," Thom Yorke commands in "Up on the Ladder," from Radiohead's In Rainbows bonus disc. "You can almost see the string." Given the notoriously herky-jerk movements of the Radiohead frontman, not to mention his paranoid lyrical themes, it's almost hard to believe puppeteering hasn't been a more prominent idée fixe in Yorke's work. The ominous, mystifying, and masterfully orchestrated video for "This," one of Yorke's collaborations from Berlin electro-chimps Modeselektor's Monkeytown, brings the humble marionette to its rightful place in Radiohead lore (via Fact). One part Being John Malkovich, one part that episode of The Twilight Zone with the creepy "Talking Tina" doll, the video focuses on a hooded figure (sorry, Radiohead nerds — not Yorke) who makes a humanoid puppet do some pretty slick dance moves.

May 11, 2012 – "A lot going on," David Letterman enthused after Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes' performance last night on Late Show. "A lot of music." The late-night TV host wasn't wrong: As a live proposition, "Man on Fire," from from the band's upcoming sophomore album Here (out May 29 on Vagrant), turns into an enthusiastic exercise in old-timey gospel-folk maximalism. Frontman Alex Ebert asks the world to dance with him, his "fire" and "desire" intonation evoking a bit of Johnny Cash; then he goes out into the crowd to dance with the world. There are so many instruments on stage that one appears to be a didgeridoo. All that's missing, in fact, is smoke. Check out our interview with Ebert about new album Here, um, here.

May 10, 2012 – Rye Rye and M.I.A. are together again, this time in a tantalizing taster for the Baltimore rapper's May 15 debut album on nascent beer-bottle designer Maya Arulpragasam's N.E.E.T. imprint (via the Hairpin). Rye Rye was last seen in the colorfully creative video for insidiously catchy synth-pop romantic come-on "Boom Boom," but on scream-stabbed sidewinder "Rock Off Shake Off," she returns to the rude, raw vitality that first brought her to prominence. It's a chilly, minimalist nod to B'more club music, with a sinuous synth line and crushing low end. According to iTunes, where you can pre-order the deluxe edition of Rye Rye's Go! Pop! Bang!

May 10, 2012 – In 2001, as drummer Taylor Hawkins was recovering from a near-fatal overdose of booze and painkillers, Foo Fighters went into the studio to record fourth album One By One. It did not go well, and the Foo Fightingest guy around, Dave Grohl, brought the sessions to a halt. "I don't think we were really ready yet," Grohl told SPIN in a candid 2002 cover story, after the album finally came out. "We basically made what Taylor called 'the million-dollar demos.' " As GrungeReport points out, two full songs purportedly from these "million dollar" sessions have now surfaced online.

May 10, 2012 – Fashionista. Clintonista. Recessionista? Sigh. Three years after Sting-backed Manhattan nightclub Socialista shut down, the adaptation of the romance languages' "-ista" suffix by English speakers has yet to run its course. In the case of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich's latest band, Ultraísta, however, the source appears to be, y'know, actually Spanish: an early 20th-century literary movement known as ultraísmo, whose adherents included the great Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. Not too shabby-ista. In addition to his longstanding work with Radiohead, Godrich has also produced Beck, Paul McCartney, and, more recently, Here We Go Magic. He's also a member of Atoms for Peace, Thom Yorke's band with the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.

May 10, 2012 – While some deceased music luminaries — well, so far just Tupac — rejoin us in hologram form, others endure in the form of their record collections. That includes the late British DJ John Peel, whose vast trove is gradually going online, or the late rapper/producer James "J Dilla" Yancey, whose personal crates were said to be on sale at a Detroit-area record store. J Dilla is like Tupac in another way, though, in that after his death in 2006, at age 32, he left behind plenty of material for posthumous releases. Detroit's own hip-hop eccentric Danny Brown has already rapped on one, 2009's Jay Stay Paid, and his latest work over Dilla's beats, titled "Jay-Dee's Revenge," has now surfaced, with an impressionistic video to go with it.

May 9, 2012 – App makers must be salivating in hopes that Swizz Beatz inadvertently shares his contacts list by failing to read the terms-of-service fine print. The New York rapper-producer (real name: Kasseem Dean) enlists an impressive pair of rising stars, DJ-producer AraabMuzik and rapper A$AP Rocky, on "Street Knock," from his forthcoming Limitless mixtape. The flashy video goes one further, however, delivering cameos from basketball great Allen Iverson and a host of hip-hop veterans, plus the requisite expensive car. As the video's inclusion of a drum line confirms, AraabMuzik's twitchily propulsive style here isn't so unlike that of the One Man Band Man himself, while Swizz and Rocky trade ridiculous boasts with charisma to spare. It might be hard to pay attention to their lyrics while you're playing spot-the-rapper, though.

May 9, 2012 – The original lead singer for the Village People, Victor Willis, has won a court case involving the rights to "Y.M.C.A." and other songs, Billboard reports. For the music industry, the ramifications could be almost as far-reaching as the 1978 pop-disco smash itself. Almost. Read our oral history of "Y.M.C.A." U.S. District Court Judge Barry Moskowitz in California granted Willis' motion to dismiss the claims of two music publishing companies, Scorpio Music and Can't Stop Production. The publishers had sued to block the former Village People frontman from reclaiming his share of 33 of the act's songs, "Y.M.C.A." among them.

May 9, 2012 – We already know B.o.B will collaborate with anyone who moves units, but this is ridiculous. Bobby Ray, the Atlanta rapper-singer with a latent and unfortunate coffeehouse-strummer streak, and fellow abbrev. users O.A.R., the rockers who rode their poor-man's Dave Matthews Band jams all the way from Ohio State frat parties to a sold-out 2006 Madison Square Garden show, have teamed up. Although both the Strange Clouds artist and the

May 8, 2012 – The summer music festival outlook just got a bit clearer, as Bumbershoot, Counter.Point, Pygmalion, and CBGB are among the latest events to unveil their lineups. The forecast calls for plenty of Skrillex, but art-rockers Grizzly Bear will also be making a stateside return, while M83, Cloud Nothings, and plenty of others are scheduled for multiple appearances. As Seattle Weekly reports, Bumbershoot returns to the Seattle Center on the Sept. 1-3 Labor Day weekend. Jane's Addiction, Tony Bennett, Skrillex, M83, Mac Miller, and Big Sean are among this year's headliners. Other standouts on the bill include Passion Pit, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the Vaselines, Low, Mudhoney, Wanda Jackson & the Dusty 45's, M. Ward, Yelawolf, and the reunited Promise Ring.