Shaking. Crying. Furiously playing From Justin To Kelly on repeat.

Kelly Clarkson just announced that she’s nearly done recording her as-of-yet untitled fifth studio album, set to be released later this year.

From her Facebook:

PS I record my last song on the 25th of this month and then we will be releasing the album! This album was influenced by Prince, Tina Turner, Sheryl Crow, Radiohead and there’s a little bit of a Country vibe/influence on a couple of songs. Oh and also one of my favorites on the new album is highly influenced by Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder. Eric Hutchinson wrote it ….the album is gonna be a great pop record! I can’t wait for y’all to hear it!

Aretha Franklin…Prince…RADIOHEAD?!

HOLD. ME. DOWN. I love me some K-Clark like you don’t even want to know.

BEST YEAR OF POP EVARRRR! Well, since 2007 anyway.

It was “Rock Week” on X Factor tonight. FUCK YEAHHHH! Oh man—what’s going to happen?! Will Dannii rock a mohawk?! Will Cheryl Cole light her nipples on fire?! Will Katie Weasel not be impossibly grating?

No, none of that happened.

Read More…

For the week ending May 30, the U.S. music industry sold a total of 4,984,000 albums, according to Nielsen Soundscan. This figure, which includes new and catalog releases, represents the fewest number of albums sold in one week since Soundscan began compiling this data in 1994.

And that’s not all: While there’s no exact way to compare last week’s total against imprecise, pre-Soundscan tallies, Billboard estimates that weekly album sales volume could, in fact, be at its lowest point since the early 1970s.

From a Billboard article published today, June 3, 2010, on the current sales figures on the Billboard charts.

Music is not dead–it’s just changing.

People aren’t buying CD’s anymore because they’re overpriced, unwieldy, and outdated. That isn’t my own personal perspective on the matter (I’m the dork blowing paychecks on limited edition vinyls and super rare CD singles from France), but it certainly is for the vast majority of modern music listeners.

Digital outlets such as iTunes, Amazon, and Beatport are working to a degree (albeit slowly), but there needs to be a much more massive and all-encompassing initiative.

While I personally don’t host music without direct consent from record labels or artists (I don’t have time to fight copyright battles, nor do I particularly enjoy popularizing a campaign prematurely), I fully understand the fact that music blogs have become the forum through which most fans consume music.

MP3 blogs crop up and die just as quickly as they’re created, but they keep coming back–and in greater numbers by the day. It’s a movement that has gone too far at this point to be stopped.

It’s not just blogs, though. If a song can’t be found on a blog, it’s in a forum. If it’s not in a forum, it’s on a torrent. If it’s not on a torrent, it’s being sent directly from person to person. The cycle can never and will never be stopped when a song is leaked. That is, unless the Internet becomes policed to an unconstitutional degree. (Then again, I’m not saying it won’t come to that either.)

The realm of streaming radio services like Pandora seem to be a good place to start exploring, as most casual music listeners are content simply streaming their music. Get some marketing masterminds to conceive a pay-for-streaming system that no one could possibly live without. (Spotify, for instance, is especially intriguing.)

Artists are making money in different ways now. Touring, merchandise, branding, and promotion have become vastly more important in terms of generating revenue. There’s a reason your Beyonce stadium tickets are $300 (aside from her own personal vanity)–no one’s taking that album off the shelf at Target. At least, not nearly as much as they were in 1998.

Other artists have since taken to different methods in order to fund their own albums. Patrick Wolf memorably endeavored into a successful grassroots sponsorship/funding model for his 2009 album, The Bachelor. Using Bandstocks, investors in the project (fans, basically) were treated to benefits depending on the amount they pledge, including tickets and merchandise.

Radiohead‘s pay-what-you-want system during the promotion of their 2007 album In Rainbows is by far one of the most, though the idea still seems iffy in dealing with artists that aren’t already established superstars.

Further on in the above Billboard article, the writer proves why the mainstream label heads simply don’t get it. “UMGD’s Urie [Jim Urie, president of Universal] cites this week’s album total as “all the more reason why everyone in the industry should be focused on getting the U.S. Congress to introduce legislation that makes the Internet service providers our allies in fighting piracy.”

Wrong. The key is to stop focusing your efforts on ending piracy and start getting inventive. Put your funds into research and marketing. Find a new distribution system that labels can effectively use for listeners to purchase music digitally at a low cost (or none, perhaps through advertising revenue). The movie and television industries are already taking leaps to make the shift–so should music.

The key to fighting the battle against music piracy is not limitation, but rather innovation.

Find a new way to market music digitally, instead of holding dear to the ancient, impractical institutions of a time in which the Internet never existed.

In celebration of the release of Get Him To the Greek on June 4, which features Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) reuniting with his band after ten years for a show at LA’s famed Greek Theater, I wanted to celebrate with five of my favorite performance from the Coachella Festival over the past ten years.

Watch the celebrated return and debauchery of reuniting bands like Pavement (here), who will be reuniting this year at Coachella, as well as the debauchery of Aldous Snow on June 4th.

To find out more about the movie click here, or watch the trailer above.

5. Björk

4. Portishead

3. Lily Allen

2. M.I.A.

1. Madonna

Nadia Ali is one of the greatest natural voices on the dance floor scene.

Formerly of Iio (“Rapture”, “Is It Love?), the singer has since embarked on her own successful career as a solo artist. After a series of songs recorded with artists including Rosko and Armin van Buuren, Ali finally unveiled her long-awaited debut album Embers in September of 2009.

A stunning collection of heavenly trance music and ambient sound, the album showcases both Ali’s unique vocal delivery and her knack for scribing deeply personal, sophisticated electronica, proving why she’s since become such an overwhelmingly admired, oft-requested collaborator for producers and artists alike.

Last Friday, I had the honor of speaking to Nadia as she prepared for a trip to Brazil. She was amazingly kind and as sweet as expected, and she provided a lot of thoughtful, in-depth responses to my questions. Instead of drafting up a short feature, I thought her fans would instead appreciate the full-on Q&A. Below is the entire transcript. I hope you all enjoy!

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Alright, so about two weeks ago I wrote about Mikky Ekko‘s Strange Fruit EP.

Well now you can have it for free.

With this newfangled Noise Trade hippie-dippie nonsense, you can choose to either notify five friends to download the album, or simply pay whatever you want.

An interesting Radiohead/Nine Inch Nails concept to counter a rapidly down-trending industry. Since I’m more than willing to embrace new and inventive ways to redefine the music industry, I thought it was worth a shot.

Click the above widget to preview and purchase the Strange Fruit EP now.

Obnoxious I know, considering that I’ve only just posted the Best Albums of 2008. But alas, it’s snowing…Hard. And when it’s snowing this hard, there’s only one thing to be done.

BLOG. IT. UP.

Somewhere after the top five single reviews, I wondered about how I would write up the remaining ten tracks (read: got lazy). Suddenly, I thought up the genius idea of making my reviews correspond to their song’s ranking in word quantity! And so, the idea has now been brought into fruition. And yes, I’m counting hyphenated words as one complete word.

I’ve had myself some fun. And now, I present…The Top 15 Tracks. Err, well…20.

I couldn’t resist!

Squeezing in…
20. Sia – Soon We’ll Be Found
19. Janet Jackson – Feedback
18. Will Young – Changes
17. Myl̬ne Farmer РDegeneration
16. Madonna – Give It 2 Me

15. Hercules & Love Affair – Blind
Pitchfork proclaims it top dog, but the “coming out” corker merely sizzles beneath the surface.

14. Girls Aloud – The Promise
Slowing down the tempo, the Girls don’t always need Hi-NRG tracks…just some glitter.

13. Britney Spears – Womanizer
New Britney is on a mission, plaguing your dictionaries for years to come.

12. Sugababes – No Can Do
Fabulous track from a fabulous album, the Babes’ sassiest release in years.

11. Santogold – L.E.S. Artistes
Hipster’s delight, mashing genres and crunchy beats. Where’s my skull necklace?

10. Namie Amuro – WHAT A FEELING
Spine-tingling electro reinterpretation, still paving the way for J-Pop.

9. Danity Kane – Damaged
Do, do you, got a first aid kit handy?

8. Sam Sparro – Black & Gold
Slow burning electro gold, never truly grows old.

7. Radiohead – Reckoner
Chanting bliss, especially within the middle eight.

6. Moby – Disco Lies
Purest dance, shame about the video.

5. Kaskade – Move For Me

Easily the finest trance track of the year, Kaskade’s “Move For Me” remains as gorgeously ethereal as it did upon the very first play. Late night synth sounds elevate the track into intergalactic proportions, while breathy, world-weary vocals weave disillusionment in between the beats: “Where do we come from? / Do I know your name? / Doesn’t really matter / In this life, we’re all the same.” Luscious! To this day, my post about the track is still the most searched track of the entire blog…Now that’s saying something.

In five words: Crying at the discotheque.

4. Kylie Minogue – The One

“The One” is, without question, the highlight of Kylie Minogue‘s 2007 album, X. A classic, timeless moment of New Wave warmth and echoey ooh’s and aah’s, the single is the epitome of electro-pop perfection. And despite initial disappointment upon learning the track had already been semi-formed in 2006 under a different artist, its initial impact remains unscathed. In the greatest pop injustice of 2008, “The One” saw a digital release in only a scattering of territories, a phoned-in kaleidoscopic video, and a scrapped-last-minute physical release, completely and utterly gutting the track’s full potential. It will remain one of Minogue’s greatest missed opportunities…We will never forget!

In four words: Love me, love me.

3. Lady Gaga – Just Dance

Prior to the release of the Girls Aloud and Britney albums, Gaga’s debut single was determined to remain my number one track for the year. As simple as it is instant, “Just Dance” was responsible for ushering in a torrent of artist requests for Lady Gaga’s writing skills and RedOne’s electro beats, “Just Dance” is a thoroughly crafted work of chiseled pop perfection. Through and through, the song is solid. I believe I’ve said it before, but “Just Dance” is the first track in years that has given me the “Since U Been Gone” effect–That instant vibe that a track is about to be colossal. Though its rather annoying that the song is only now climbing the Top 10 and gaining national attention (as it was originally released in April), it is a deserved amount of recognition nonetheless.

In three words: Dance all night.

2. Girls Aloud – The Loving Kind

In the Girls’ most tender track to date, this dream team collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys is truly the stuff of dreams (that glitter!). Five seconds short of being a four minute masterpiece, “The Loving Kind” is 2008′s “The One”: A timeless synth stomper intermixed with lyrics of longing. There are dozens of moments of brilliance interspersed throughout the track, though nothing will top Nicola’s show-stealing shouting bits in between the choruses. And sure, they can’t sing it live yet, but give the gals some time…After all, Perfection always takes some practice.

In two words: Love me.

1. Britney Spears – Circus

In her finest moment since 2004′s “Toxic,” Britney Spears takes back the reigns as the true ringmaster of this circus in this whip crackin’, adrenaline packin’, booty smacking stomp fest. “Circus” has already proved to be a massive smash, landing #3 on the singles charts despite establishing a formal release date. Seriously, this is a fully functioning performance piece, bursting with energy, sound, and movement. Was I influenced after having seen this go down live? Probably, but this isn’t getting old for me, and I sure don’t see it running its course anytime soon. Run that ship tight, bitch!

In one word: Perfection.

DL: Kaskade – Move For Me (Mediafire)
DL: Kylie Minogue – The One (Freemasons Vocal Club Mix) (Mediafire)
DL: Lady Gaga – Just Dance (Mediafire)
DL: Girls Aloud – The Loving Kind (Video Mix)
DL: Britney Spears – Circus (Junior Vasquez Remix Edit) (Mediafire)