Mudvayne is an American metal band. Their music has been described by vocalist Chad Gray as Math Metal. "Determined" was included on the Need for Speed: Underground 2 soundtrack.

Jasten King doesn't shy away from the term "nancy". To the Los Angeles singer and songwriter, it's a badge of honor: shorthand for the long rock and roll tradition of sexual ambiguity and decadent naughtiness that animates his music. At the same time, he'd like to make sure you know that there's nothing fey or retiring about his approach - like the glam artists he admires, the rock he makes doesn't hold back on being full and forceful. In KillRadio (a HIP client alumni), the guitarist kicked back at the star system and the power structure; with Nancy FullForce, the political has become personal, and King and his bandmates are proving their politics not only in their words but with their actions.

The recently released Nancy FullForce digital-EP is all they've got for us now - but what an EP it is. Here, the brand-new band gives it to us straight: big riffs, bigger backbeat, irresistible choruses, distortion, sass and glamour without losing it's edge. King has hard-rock grit in his voice, but he's also the possessor of an arch, knowing Pavement-like sneer. His nuanced performances radiate genial hedonism, deliciously bad attitude, and, most tellingly, a self-awareness that borders on self-deprecation.

"Thief's Theme" is a single from Nas' double album Street's Disciple. It is the last song of the album (13th track of the double album to be precise). The single contains vocals from Nas' song "The World Is Yours" from his first album Illmatic:

"The Thief's theme, play me at night they won't act right Understandable smooth shit that murderers move with."

This was intended to remind listeners that it was Illmatic's 10th Anniversary.

The song featured an interpolation of the famous riff from Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" performed by Incredible Bongo Band. Nas would again use the same sample on the 2006 single "Hip Hop is Dead".

Nas sponsored a contest in the United Kingdom in 2004, encouraging entrants to record a verse using the instrumental version of the song. The winner would perform a verse on the song, which would appear on the UK version of Street's Disciple. Rising Son would win the competition.

If you thought that Sixpence None The Richer's "Kiss Me" was condemned to lite-radio purgatory, guess again: it turns out that it was always a punk song waiting for NFG to unlock its potential. They've paired it with a video that feels like a pure celebration - beautiful young people constructing a stage and an outdoor fortress out of old mattresses. New Found Glory plays in the makeshift structure, and sings these lyrics about bearded barley and sparkling silver moons with shocking conviction. Meanwhile, the kids are having their fun, especially one cad who takes to tallying up the girls he smooches in black magic marker on his arm (he gets his comeuppance, of course). Watch for a cameo by Paramore as well; when a party is this good, everybody wants to attend.

Lead video "Neptune City" has been a YouTube favorite for months, but after hearing "The Way It Is", it feels like a prologue. Similarly to "Neptune City", the latest single is suffused with nostalgia, but this is no simple trip down memory lane. Like Leslie Feist and Amy Winehouse - two singers who Nicole Atkins sometimes resembles - the talented indie frontwoman uses the past as a resource, and a jumping-off point for resolutely modern meditations. It helps that Atkins's huge, powerful voice bears the stamp of timeless authenticity. On "The Way It Is", Atkins is a gigantic presence, squeezing every ounce of remorse and longing from the song's elegant melody. Much like the late Roy Orbison, she leaps octaves effortlessly, and catapults the listener into emotional territory rarely traveled.

The clip for "The Way It Is" displays a similar fascination with the power of past - and the power and impermanence of memory. Atkins herself appears in red pumps and a billowing blue skirt; her outfit would look equally stylish at a Fifties cocktail party and on the streets of Williamsburg today. She sits in a dressing room inside a warehouse, and she's surrounded by antiques: blown-glass vases with roses in them, a framed still-life, classic furniture, an heirloom mirror. Yet, again, all of these lovely objects could easily have been found in a modern thrift-store. There's no clear implication that we're looking at a re-enactment of a scene from history. And yet: the footage of Atkins has been treated to appear as if it has been hauled up from a dusty archive. The edges of each frame fade toward black, and shadows encroach on the singer. White scratch-marks occasionally cris-cross the celluloid. The image jumps about nervously as if it's been threaded through a projector; at the end of the clip, it slips from the reel. By nodding to the past while preserving its ambiguity, Nicole Atkins makes a powerful statement about nostalgia and loss, and does so with consummate flair.

Director Sean Donnelly perfectly captures the camaraderie and energy of Northern State in his partially-animated clip for "Better Already." It opens in a typical urban apartment; Sprout is mixing drinks and Hesta Prynn sits on a sofa and sketches a rough picture of her in ballpoint pen. It all seems familiar - until Spero pulls open the window shade on a cartoon wonderland. The three rappers soar out the window and into the phantasmagoria; they ride unicorns and giant butterflies, play with marshmallows, make a visit to a "space mall," and soar through the ether. The visual effects are bold and bright, but they're outshone by the pure glee of the members of Northern State. Donnelly keeps flashing the word "friendship" on the screen, but he really doesn't need to - their joy in each other's company and the music they make together is wildly apparent.