March 1 – Boston, MA @ Paradise March 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg March 3 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom March 5 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom March 6 – Chicago, IL @ Metro March 7 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue March 10 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox March 11 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom March 13 – San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s March 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre

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I’m not going to pretend like I’m a huge Depeche Mode fan because I’m not really.  You could make the case that I haven’t listened to enough.  There are some bands like Depeche Mode that I just haven’t taken the time to get into because I feel like so many people are already into them anyway.  And I know it’s not their best material but I like the new single, “Wrong”.  It’s a cool track and  Wrong

- French pop rock…  If you haven’t heard of Phoenix, I think their entry in Wikipedia might get your attention- “Phoenix started as the backing band for a remix of Air’s “Kelly Watch the Stars” single. Soon after, Phoenix released their 2000 debut album United. The name Phoenix was officially chosen in 1996 when Laurent Brancowitz permanently joined the band after the end of the short-lived band Darlin’ he formed with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, who eventually became Daft Punk.”    Check out Phoenix’s latest track- “1901? leaked/released earlier this week. 1901 

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Yikes!  What happened to the Black Eyed Peas?  I remember how I used to love singing along with, “We be fallin’ up/ Never fallin’ down/ Keep you at a higher level, elevated ground” or “That’s the joint/ That’s the jam/ Turn that shit up, and play it again”.  Now it’s “Gotta get that boom, boom, boom” and I don’t feel comfortable singing that.  But even if I did, it seems like Will.I.Am is directing the music away from hip hop and into hip pop club slop, and I don’t really like it.  Check out their new single, “Boom Boom Pow” from the upcoming album E.N.D.  If I was a DJ, I would play it.  Probably just because I know people enjoy dancing to this but seriously, there’s a 80’s style auto-tune/vocoder thing everyone is doing and I’m not into it. Boom Boom Pow

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CunninLynguists also had a new track leaked, “Never Come Down (The Brownie Song)”.  Or maybe they actually released it.  Not sure.  Who knows anymore?  I love the Katt WIlliams sample later in the track.  These guys are pretty funny and Kno makes some amazing beats.  This definitely isn’t their best work or even close to it, but it’s still an enjoyable track… especially if you’re already a fan. Never Come Down (The Brownie Song)