(Insert beatbox noise here) We the ladies of TIG have bands and beats to suggest to you, G. There’s a grip of hip hop this week live in town, old favorites and new groups to make you get down. So chiggity check your calendar and check your technique, and come out and shake your Jet [...]

Things you don't expect to hear on a Vampire Weekend song: Gunshot sounds, blissed-out Animal Collective synths, Kid Cudi telling you to suck his balls. And yet two of the three appear on "California English Pt. 2", the dizzily weird B-side to the band's "Cousins" single. (The single is out now digitally, and due on vinyl on December 15.) You should probably stop whatever you're doing and listen to it right now. Check it out below, via Pretty Much Amazing and We All Want Someone to Shout For.

A song called just plain "California English" will appear on Contra, the band's forthcoming sophomore album, due January 12...

Photo by Rez Avissar

Torontonian ragers Fucked Up may be in the midst of a nostalgic stretch (playing last year's monsterpiece The Chemistry of Common Life at a Brooklyn show, prepping a compilation of old singles, Couple Tracks), but they're also constantly looking to the future. And that future is always busy.

Early next year, Fucked Up will hit the road with Matador labelmate Kurt Vile. And they've got a slew of new music in the works, including split releases with punk vets NOFX and garage rockers King...

The appeal of zines, mini-monographs and small books is hard to explain. There’s something about the intimacy and concreteness of a handheld object that can’t be replicated by art that hangs on the wall or books that roll off the presses in editions of ten thousand. Anyone who’s traded zines...

� Hey kids, have a great weekend! Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do! Also, enjoy these fine examples of 1980’s dance music by Shalamar, Nu Shooz and Five Star. � � http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Yx0X-eHn8 � http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVAm_obRPQ8 � http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQVeXzMBvQk

-- Yellow Bird Project, the Canadian nonprofit behind The Indie Rock Coloring Book, has introduced new T-shirts designed by Grizzly Bear (pictured), Bloc Party, Metric, and Little Boots. They've also got older shirts designed by bands like Bon Iver, of Montreal, Broken Social Scene, and the National. Proceeds from the shirts go to benefit various different charities. Check here for more details. -- Next month, Cali psych band Citay will drop album number three. Dead Oceans will release Dream Get Together on January 25 in the UK and January 26 in North America. The Fucking Champs' Tim Green produces, and

"On Fire", reportedly from Lil Wayne's forthcoming "rock" album Rebirth, features a whole lot of very, very slurred Auto-Tune rapping. It also features a sample of "She's on Fire", a Giorgio Moroder nugget from the Scarface soundtrack. It's, uh, interesting! Rap Radar has the stream.

Rolling Stone reports that Rebirth's release date has been pushed back to December 21 from December 15. As previously reported, it'll come packaged with We Are Young Money, the album from Wayne's Young Money crew.

Fans of Cat Power's band-less early years just might be in for a treat when the singer-songwriter eventually unveils her first album of original material since 2006's The Greatest. Though the record is still in the very early stages of development, Chan Marshall chatted about it in an interview with Australia's Courier-Mail that ran today. (Via Largehearted Boy.)

Talking about the new stuff, she said, "It's just me this time... I don't know if I should push all these [new] songs away and actually try to write and record it with the band. I don't know what to do. But I'm at a point where my heart tells me, 'Chan, you haven't played piano or guitar for four or five...

From Machine Project: Echo Park Medicinal Forage with Nance Klehm Wednesday, Dec 9th, 2009 7-8:30pm Cost: $15/person An after dark exploration of the sidewalk cracks around Machine Project for local medicinal plants, led by Nance Klehm. Get ready for the long winter dry, cold haul with simple...