October 22, 2012 – There's a lot at stake in this election. The two candidates represent very different worldviews that will have a lot of consequences for the way our country is run. In terms of economics it's really about a candidate's stance on business. Romney firmly stands in the camp of pro-corporation, and then we have a candidate who firmly stands behind workers, and that's Obama.This election is really important in terms of women. Obama is about supporting women's health care and women's health issues. He has firmly put birth control as a part of women's health care, and that's extremely important. That's where we should be at right now. Part of what I showed on my record [the Corin Tucker Band's Kill My Blues] is a little bit of frustration that our country is still struggling with that issue.

October 22, 2012 – If what you want is actual change, then what has to be built is a mass movement that is militant and can use direct action to slow or stop profit. A movement that can do that can demand whatever it wants. Why? Because politicians answer the dictates of the ruling class, the 1%. [Politicians] are merely puppets. If you have a movement that stops a portion of the economic machine, the ruling class will make their puppets dance for you.None of the changes that we see as great advances in human or civil rights have come by electing the right politician. Social Security, Medicare, Section 8, AFDC, Civil Rights legislation — that all came because there were movements that were using direct action to stop profits; movements that the ruling class was scared would turn revolutionary.

October 22, 2012 – Remember that this election is bigger than the presidency, y'all! The Republican party favors the Citizens United ruling, which has opened the floodgates for Super PACs to pour massive amounts of money into political campaigns, to the point that a wealthy few individuals and corporations have much more power and influence than average citizens.That same party favors restrictive voting rules that tend to disenfranchise completely legitimate elderly, disabled, and young voters, which for me is painfully reminiscent of the poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses that were used for decades to prevent lawful citizens from voting.

October 18, 2012 – There are those people who are probably convinced Linkin Park are a super-serious group of humorless musicians, and then there are those who have spent a little time with the California band and know the truth: Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda and Co. are introspective artists with an extremely healthy sense of whimsy. ("I'm a 36-year-old man, I'm not an angst-ridden teenager anymore," Bennington told us with a chuckle). SPIN knows this from first-hand experience — we spent a chunk of the past few months on the road with the band as they cruised North America on the Honda Civic Tour, and captured the crew during moments of onstage glory and behind-the-scenes decompression.

October 17, 2012 – The 32nd annual CMJ New Music Marathon has officially descended on New York City, bringing its usual swarm of buzz, bloggers, bands, and laminated badges. Somewhere in the 1,300 artists playing this year there's the next Sleigh Bells, Surfer Blood, or Gotye — someone with a silly name that you're going to see written on the Internet a lot. To help prepare yourself, here's a massive zip drive of 46 up-and-comers: from gnashing of-the-moment indie rockers (Diiv, Merchandise) to rising rappers (LEP Bogus Boys, Mr. MFN eXquire) to fashionable buzz-binners (Poolside, Sky Ferreira) to whatever "galactic electro yacht" is (New York's own Chrome Canyon). Stuff your Nano now, brag that you were there later!Click to download the full mixtape and/or stream it below!

October 17, 2012 – We've told you about 25 acts we highly recommend you check out at this year's CMJ fest in NYC and given you a free 46-song mixtape featuring some of the event's best up-and-comers, so now it's time to alert you to SPIN's own throwdown: Our annual CMJ party will be headlined by AraabMuzik with DJ spots by Chromeo and MNDR! The bash is Thursday, October 18 from 9 p.m. to midnight at a downtown NYC firehouse and our RSVP is unfortunately already filled up — but we'll be sneaking in three lucky winners (and their equally lucky plus-ones!) who can enter to win passes by liking us on Facebook or retweeting our announcement. Thank you to our sponsors Red Diamond Wine, CABO Wabo®, and Tito’s Handmade Vodka!

October 17, 2012 – U.S. Girls mastermind Meghan Remy isn't going to let you experience a piece of her art without kicking in a little brainpower, so watch our premiere of her new "North on 45" video with your thinking cap on: Is the woman in the clip (Lulu Hazel Turnbull) running backwards or forwards? Toward the lights or away from them? Desperately or ecstatically? As Remy's vocal line gloriously clashes with the piano-driven track backing her, we watch a scantily clad woman take a seemingly harrowing late-night jog down a country road ("One camera, one car, one woman and one silk robe were the only things used to make this video," Remy, who directed and filmed the clip, tells us), but the questions about power and intention raised by this fascinating video are anything but minimal. U.S. Girls' fourth album, GEM — another fruitful collaboration with Slim Twig — is due on FatCat October 23.

October 16, 2012 – On 2011's Wolfroy Goes to Town, Will "Bonnie 'Prince' Billy" Oldham achieved an almost meditative state of spectral closeness with his spare folk musings. And on this recent track, "Paradise I Missed,"which SPIN is making available for limited exclusive stream, he continues in that severely intimate, almost ghostly vein. Voicing lyrics written by New York performance artist/musician Cynthia Hopkins, Oldham sings a hushed confession while lightly plucking the strings of his acoustic guitar, admitting that he "clung too hard"— to a lover, a spiritual belief or entity — and, as a result, lost everything.

October 15, 2012 – ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead's eighth studio album Lost Songs is dedicated to Pussy Riot and inspired by "the apathy to real world events that has plagued the independent music scene now for over a decade," according to singer/multi-instrumentalist Conrad Keely. If their beautiful cacophony arises a renewed sense of purpose in you today, then we have done our jobs well: SPIN is pleased to premiere the full album, which is due October 22 via standard, deluxe, and vinyl editions. Get lost in the spiraling riffage midway through "Catatonic," soak in the classically melodic Trail vocal line of powerhouse opener "Open Doors Standard," and resist the temptation to smash things to the pummeling "Opera Obscura" now!

October 4, 2012 – L'chaim, Bawse! We were as shocked as anyone to find out the cover of Rick Ross' new mixtape, The Black Bar Mitzvah, features the Teflon Don gone Jacob the Jeweler, draped in a Star of David. We know Ricky won't be able to get buried in a Jewish cemetery with that pot leaf tattoo on his hand, but his Carnegie Deli swag is impressing the Hebrew contingent at SPIN today. If Jay-Z is the new Frank Sinatra, we're glad to know we have a Sammy. Look for it on October 8, when he's finally free from Sukkot duties.Hey, he already lives in Miami, it's not that much of a stretch!