Italian born ex-super model and chanteuse Carla Bruni releases her third solo album Comme Si de Rien N'Etait (As If Nothing Happened), available digitally today via Downtown Records (physical release August 5th). Produced by Dominique Blanc-Francard, the fourteen track LP contains - aside from the original work by Bruni - a poem by French author Michel Houellebecq, set to music by Bruni, and two previously performed pieces: "You Belong To Me," a title popularized by Bob Dylan and...

Photo of Wale at SOB's © Antwan Duncan On Thursday, I learned something: Steve Madden is a real person. I just never saw that coming. But he is real and showed up to the Giant Step Little Jackie party at the Steve Madden store in the L.E.S. He and other non-imaginary people came to see Little Jackie perform acoustic renditions of their playful repertoire from their new album, The Stoop. Little Jackie’s wily frontwoman Imani...

Yes. Leslie Feist guests on your favorite childhood TV show (next to Mr. Rogers, of course), singing "1 2 3 4" to all ankle-biters under 5. The episode airs Monday, August 11th, but you can watch it on YouTube now.

Photo of Afrika Bambaataa and crew © Phillip Angert View photos here . Archive link here . Hear ye, hear ye! The negroes are coming! 2008 Afropunk Festival is in town! This year at BAM , there's a skate ramp (courtesy of some hefty corporate might) and performances from artists like Kudu ...

Formed in 1998 and fronted by Jay Denes aka Blue Six, Naked Music - ten years down the line - delivers Re-Creation (out July 8th), a sultry summer album of downtempo soul, Brazilian, electronic and dance music. Responsible for much of Naked Music's output over the years, including the classic debut What's On Your Mind , Beautiful Tomorrow , Aquarian Angel , as well as a smattering of widely acclaimed remixes for Sade, Maxwell and more, Denes reunites with his...

Photo of Kid Sister © Antwan Duncan So, why has my life recently been ...bizarre? A couple weeks ago, I'm living my little Mawuse life, logging hours at the day gig when my left eye bubbles up for no reason. It starts swelling and I can feel it growing by the second. Have you ever felt the skin around your eye expand, puffy matter festering exponentially until your lids are swollen shut. Sexy, right? Well, I decided to go the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary . Now...

Divine hip hop producer Saint returns with his sophomore album "About Time" on Pro Se/Domination Recordings. Just a few years after his debut Grown Folk Music and on the heels of several releases by his group The Good People, the album, entirely produced by Saint, demonstrates his versatility as a beatmaker and an MC. He is joined on the mic by a host of distinguished guests, including El da Sensei (Artifacts), Cadence (Raw Produce), Dumi Right (Zimbabwe Legit) NYOIL, Mr. Man (Da...

Memorial Day weekend '08 I wasn't passed out, tummy distended, on somebody's gritty Brooklyn "rooftop lounge." Instead, I trekked to the Midwest to take in The Detroit Electronic Music Festival. Everyone from Mark Farina to Richie Hawtin to Benny Benassi to The Cool Kids camped out near downtown Detroit's Renaissance Center as I spent Memorial Day weekend in a flurry of D&B, hard house, deep house,...

On Saturday June 14th, Esbjorn Svensson fell victim to a lethal diving accident outside of Vrmd, Sweden's archipelago near Stockholm. Svensson had been diving in a group at a landing stage and was later discovered at the bottom severely injured. The pianist and founder of e.s.t. (Esbjorn Svensson Trio) died at age 44. Renowned for bringing jazz to a young audience with influences as wide ranging as classical to funk, e.s.t.'s roots began to sprout in the 1980's, and eventually they...

Chicava HoneyChild at Brown Girls Burlesque © Vishnu Hoff I know a lot of you beautiful flowers were wilting in this weekend's oven fresh heat but I was cookin,' honey. And I ran into some children who didn't let the heat stop them no way. Monday night, DJ Daz-I-Kue of Bugz In The Attic was serving up global burners including fiery Afrobeat, disco and tribal house selections at The Hudson Hotel. And Wednesday night, the...