• The 10 Best Albums Off of XL Recordings

    XL Recordings announced a compilation titled Pay Close Attention to celebrate the label's 25 years in our ears, and the last 15 of those years have provided us with a shelf's worth of amazing music. Music Times looked through the imprint's release catalogue and chose ten albums that are most worth the purchase price.
  • M.I.A. and Janelle Monae Appearing Together via Hologram

    M.I.A. and Janelle Monáe will perform a duet together to "celebrate" the launch of the new Audi A3 because, you know, M.I.A. can't get enough sponsors from the automotive industry. No, but seriously: The news is that the pair will not appear onstage together (and yet they will!) via the power of holographic images.
  • Nicole Oran's 2013 Playlist: Jay Z, Daft Punk and Savages

    Music Times, like so many other music publications, was looking to publish a "Best of 2013" playlist. We met to discuss what such a playlist should include, and that's where we ran into trouble. We couldn't agree. Sometimes two of us just couldn't agree on whether the performer was amazing or terrible, and even when we agreed they were amazing, we couldn't agree on what track was most representative of their work. Hence it was decided that rather than try to agree (a seemingly impossible endeavor), everyone would get their own "favorites of 2013" playlist. We won't argue that these are necessarily the best tracks of the last year, but they're definitely songs that caught our respective attention and caused us to hit 'repeat" over and over and over again.
  • SPIN Devises Ultimate Review Format. Hint: It Involves Kittens

    There are some things that every rabid music fan loves: great reviews for the new album from their favorite acts. Some things that every rabid music fan loathes: terrible reviews for the new album from their favorite acts. And, there are some things that every decent human loves: kittens. Even those deathly allergic to cats (our sympathies), love memes and funny cat videos. SPIN, using pure PR genius, has tied all these things together into a can't-lose-review format: "Cute Reviews."
  • M.I.A. Facing $1.5 Million Lawsuit From NFL...More Than A Year After Flipping Off Super Bowl Cameras

    Remember the furor around the Super Bowl halftime show? The one where M.I.A. was guest starring alongside Madonna and she flipped the bird? No, it wasn't this year's Super Bowl. It was 2012. If you forgot about the controversy, you're forgiven, because some of us sure did. Anyways, the NFL haven't forgotten about it, and now they're looking to get $1.5 million from the alt-pop star for breach of contract.
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