February 16, 2012 – Something about Bob Dylan's songs makes very big pop stars want to take risks. For that alone, Amnesty International benefit compilation Chimes of Freedom, which brings together four discs of Dylan covers, is a very welcome arrival, even though it's not as if Dylan hasn't been covered a kajillion times before. Ke$ha's EMA-intimate take on "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" goes the furthest, but Miley Cyrus also takes a break from devouring penis cakes, devouring stoner cakes, and otherwise partying in the U.S.A. to perform a bare-bones, country-tinged cover of Blood on the Tracks heartbreaker "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go." A bare-midriffed Cyrus and her busker-hirsute Hoosier guitarist, Johnzo West, took their "Lonesome" to Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. It's nice!

February 16, 2012 – "Bitch, I'm James Murphy," raps Das Racist member Kool A.D. on a track from his solo mixtape The Palm Wine Drinkard, which is Lou Reed-and-Metallica levels of batshit. Remember, this is the same hip-hop trio that, evidently parodying all the rap songs that repeat the names of mythic figures like Tony Montana and M.C. Hammer, hilariously compared themselves to "Michael Jackson." Well, like SPIN did at Sundance, Pitchfork spoke with the actual James Murphy recently, and it turns out that, apropos of A.D.'s half-baked aperçu, the former LCD Soundsystem frontman can do pretty much whatever the fuck he wants these days. For instance, in the 10 months since LCD played their final show at Madison Square Garden last April, Murphy hasn't just been doing insane shit with no lesser talents than OutKast's Andre 3000 and Blur/Gorillaz maestro Damon Albarn.

February 15, 2012 – Diplo unveiled his collaboration with Usher yesterday, which, in case you'd already forgotten, was Valentine's Day. For those too bitter about the high-pressure holiday to enjoy a silky digital slow jam, well, there's a playlist for that. On behalf of the rest of a grateful and well-satisfied world: Thank you, Wesley Pentz and Usher Raymond. As with any relationship, though, the true test of the music the R&B superstar and Major Lazer producer have made together will be how well it plays every other day of the year. In that case, let no man accuse "Climax" of peaking too soon. Diplo has called the song, which he co-wrote with South Florida singer-songwriter Redd Stylez and Ariel Rechtshaid (bassist for L.A.

February 15, 2012 – Cee Lo Green finally has the world's attention. On Sunday night, the former Gnarls Barkley vocal powerhouse won a couple of Grammys for the retro-soul belter "Fool for You," from his 2010 solo album The Lady Killer. The previous Sunday night, he donned a sparkly gospel-choir robe for the Super Bowl, the most widely viewed TV event in the history of ever.

February 15, 2012 – Somebody get Harold Camping on the line. The Rapture is here, in video form. On the sleekly funky title track off the New York dance-rockers' 2011 album In the Grace of Your Love, frontman Luke Jenner, electronics whiz Gabriel Andruzzi, and drummer Vitto Roccoforte sounded their most at home with their full-circle return from fashionable DFA upstarts to grizzled veterans tested by life's challenges, staring down 40, and… once again signed to DFA. The video for the track (via Pitchfork) is appropriately graceful, with lasers, washes of pink light, and plenty of trippy visual effects to go with reverent performance footage and spirit-possessed dance moves. Watch it at Dream the End, and then be sure to check out last year's SPIN story on "The Rapture's Second Coming."

February 15, 2012 – No members of the Doors were exhumed for this sweaty jazz-soul celebration. Mark Ronson's team-up with Erykah Badu, New Orleans funk legend Zigaboo Modeliste, and members of the Dap-Kings last night on Late Night With David Letterman came about as part of the same documentary that brought you Skrillex teaming up with Jim Morrison's former backing band for the deplorable "Breakin' a Sweat." But the quality of this performance of their "A La Modeliste" (via Yardie) is on a whole other planet. Modeliste, the founding drummer for the hugely influential NoLa band the Meters, rules the stage from behind the kit like a benevolent monarch, as hearty chunks of piano, guitar, bass, and horns stir up against each other in a tribute to the city's rich jazz tradition. Gumbo might be an over-used comparison, but it's a thematically appropriate one in this case.

February 14, 2012 – Kanye West and Odd Future might be at different points in the road, but they're taking similar paths. Whatever else you could say about them — and a lot has already been said — both are willfully provocative hip-hop acts who've won over crucial portions of the pop, hip-hop, and indie-rock audiences through their constant innovation and unexpected moments of emotional vulnerability. And now signs are pointing toward something that was possibly inevitable from the start: a passing-of-the-torch collaboration between the two. This shit, too, might be cray. As Pitchfork points out, a series of artfully rough-looking photos have been posted on the GolfWang Tumblr showing West, Frank Ocean, and Tyler, the Creator together in a studio next to assorted recording gear.

February 14, 2012 – In case you wondered how telling the world "fuck you" for no apparent reason while pocketing untold sums of money became the sort of thing that could win an artist praise from highbrow types who make a living by providing their readers with an inflated sense of superiority, John Lydon is back in the news. It's been more than four years since the former Johnny Rotten last reunited legendary first-wave U.K. punk band the Sex Pistols, whose best-known bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose so long ago Iran wasn't quite yet a fundamentalist theocracy. In 2009, though, Lydon reunited his other band — the abrasive, dub-inflected post-punk outfit Public Image Ltd.-- for some U.K. shows. Right on schedule, PiL is readying its first new album since 1992's Pistols-sampling That What Is Not. "The album's done," Lydon told BBC 6 Music yesterday, as quoted by the Guardian.

February 14, 2012 – Jack White wants love to do a whole bunch of truly violent, shocking things to him, at least according to the words he sings on his first solo single. The unexpectedly gentle approach of "Love Interruption" should've tipped us off to potential ambiguities in these statements. The song's newly released video continues White's pleasantly laid-back detour, setting the visceral lyrics to footage of the singer and backing vocalist Ruby Amanfu sharing a solitary microphone. Also appearing in the clip are Emily Bowland on bass clarinet and Brooke Wagonner on electric piano. There's a look of old-fashioned glamor to the whole proceeding, though it's long since become unclear at this point whom White more closely resembles, Johny Depp or John Mayer.

February 14, 2012 – Sometimes the best videos do little more than subtly refocus your attention on the music. "Safe & Sound," one of Taylor Swift's two contributions to the companion album for the upcoming movie version of The Hunger Games, is a stripped-down, old-timey acoustic ballad featuring backing vocals from fellow Grammy-night beneficiaries the Civil Wars. When the collaboration first emerged, right before Christmas, it was easy to focus on the way the song appeared to lack Swift's usual pop immediacy and clarion songwriting voice, and to see it as mildly disappointing. Like Nashville neighbor Ke$ha's recent Bob Dylan cover (and praise for Dylan's "honesty"), it felt like a noteworthy display of versatility that nevertheless misunderstood the singer's own particular strengths. Never second-guess Taylor Swift.