Rumaging around www.etsy.com, I found an artist named Pinkytoast. She loves all things sweet, sour, and pouty. Check her out:

You can find more here. And here’s her MySpace.

Liars is kinda hit or miss for me, but I really dug that Brocken Witch album. However, I’ve heard their live shows are something of a spectacle. The group recently wrapped up an arena tour in support of Interpol and Liars frontman Angus Andrew described the experience as follows:

“When we last toured the States it was quite royally. Interpol laid out a magic carpet ride that took us from one historic venue to another. The whole experience was a mind-blowing orgy of music and memories.”

Memories, dude. The New York Times was similarly stoked on the experience.

“[Liars] worked the Garden stage like rock stars… with Andrew strutting and gesticulating in a white suit and a big, relentless beat, Liars sounded at home as arena-rock.”

For the Liars US tour, they’ll be cramming that big arena energy into smaller venues, thereby throwing it all up in your face. The group will stop at Slim’s in San Francisco, The Casbah in San Diego (great venue, by the way), Metro in Chicago and Warsaw in Brooklyn on their jaunt across the US. Los Angeles band No Age will be in support. Dates after the jump. (more…)

Sharon Jones would’ve sounded really good flowing out of the speakers of my 1978 Cutlass Supreme, driving through Brooklyn on a muggy summer day. Unfortunately, that car’s long gone, and I’m stuck listening to her raw, soulful voice buzzing through my computer headphones, in an office. Still, it’s enough to send me on a mental vacation at the very least.

Daptones Records will release the new album from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, 100 Days, 100 Nights, on Oct. 2nd, but you can listen to “It Hurts to Be Alone” (not available on the record)here. If that whets your appetite, you can listen to a stream of 100 Days, 100 Nights at AOL’s Spinner.com.

Much like the death of a comic book character, the retirement of a rapper is rarely permanent. It wasn’t long after Jay-Z called it quits that a new song popped up on a Budweiser commercial, leading to his first “comeback” album, Kingdom Come, which was pretty much a dud. Now, the New York Times is reporting the 37-year-old rapper/mogul is readying his second post-retirement release. The forthcoming album, American Gangster, is inspired by the yet-to-be released Denzel Washington film of the same name. Though Jay-Z had nothing to do with the film, nor do these songs appear in American Gangster, the album will be released in conjunction with the movie in early November.

In an hourlong telephone interview, Jay-Z, 37, who has spoken of spending his early years in Brooklyn both rapping and drug dealing, said that the movie had tremendous resonance for him and had sparked a burst of creative activity that even he found surprising. He has already recorded nine tracks, almost every one prompted by a specific scene.

“It was like I was watching the film, and putting it on pause, and giving a back story to the story,” he said.

No flute here, just a Tricycle, a car battery, an inverter, an amp and some speakers. Graffiti Research Lab mobs through Manhatten and eventually over the bridge into Brooklyn. Compare reactions of the people in Manhattan with the ones in Brooklyn.