Australia

Amanda Palmer, her Dresden Dolls partner Brian Viglione, and her frequent collaborator Jherek Bischoff made a charity album to help with victims of the Australian bushfires, featuring covers of Australian musicians as well as guest appearances by Australian musicians...

Two of our favorite current Australian bands contributed to a fellow Australian artist's new EP of reinterpretations, and you can listen to both now. The Camp Cope track makes its North American premiere in this post:

The first new music from Mazzy Star since 2014!

RVG and Totally Mild's NYC show is an all-Melbourne showcase with Jade Imagine and Jess Ribeiro also on the bill.

Jerry Lee Lewis are Duane Eddy are the Stray Cats' openers. The Pretenders are backing Slim Jim who may be making a new album with Captain Sensible too. Read on for more details...

This week: a premiere from Jorge Elbrecht, the man behind Lansing-Dreiden and Violens, the return of Total Control, long-awaited Brainiac vinyl reissues, new Melbourne band RVG, and a look back at Carl Newman's pre-New Pornographer's past.

AC/DC recently released a new band photo without their drummer Phil Rudd in it. When questioned about it, the band said Phil just couldn't make the photo shoot...

'Song 2' by Blur plays loudly over the P.A. right before Arcade Fire starts. Woo-hoo! Oh, how we laugh. Their twilight set is masterful. Ten musicians on stage throughout...

Australian sextet Alpine released their debut album, A is for Alpine, back in August in their native country. With crisp staccato rhythms, slinky bass and the honeyed vocals of Phoebe Baker and Lou James, it's bright, effervescent, danceable pop with at least three terrific singles -- "Villages," "Gasoline" and, especially, "Hands" -- all of which you can check out below in video form...

Did Snoop Dogg talk much politics at his Wellmont Theater show last week? That picture above, no not the cats, is his Tweeted list of reasons for voting for Obama, and for not voting Romney...