Acapella Trio Covers Robyn's 'Call your Girlfriend': VIDEO

Girl group Erato offers a triumphant cover of Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend" with voices and tupperware, and one of its members has her high five cruelly ignored.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

MUSIC NEWS: Penguin Prison, Massive Attack & Burial, Robyn, Major Lazer, Big Freedia, Lykke Li, Radiohead, Death Cab For Cutie, M83

BY NORMAN BRANNON

Norman Brannon is a pop critic, musician, and author based in New York City. He presents a weekly music update here on Towleroad and writes regularly at Nervous Acid.  

Follow Norman on Twitter at @nervousacid.

EXTENDED PLAY:

Penguin Prison Penguin Prison (Downtown)

On the same day that Penguin Prison releases his debut album, former Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump will introduce a higher-profile debut called Soul Punk — an album that is inexplicably drawing comparisons to Michael Jackson and Kanye West. In reality, Stump took his predictable falsetto and imposed it over a handful of tested R&B tropes. But it's "soulful" largely because he told you it was.

Aside from appearing in a handful of high school plays with his performing arts school classmate Alicia Keys, Chris Glover doesn't have many names to drop or superstar cards to pull, but that's no matter. Penguin Prison succeeds in ways that Stump hasn't quite figured out yet: It's referential without replication. It channels the same '80s R&B that drives Soul Punk without being consumed by it. It tells us more about Glover than what his favorite Prince album is. Outside of the occasional nod to Quincy Jones, we also know this a New York album — equal parts Arthur Russell and early Madonna — and gratefully, it's much harder to cite the references where Glover strays. So while it's possible that he loves Blancmange or that first Badly Drawn Boy album, you'll never put your finger on it.

Which is kind of the point: That Penguin Prison is slippery like that is one of the reasons why tracks like "Don't F*ck With My Money" and "Fair Warning" work in the same way that most great pop singles do. To be faithful without being uncomfortably familiar is the mark of a real soul punk.

Also out today: M83 — Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (Mute), Lalah Hathaway — Where It All Begins (Stax), Body Language — Social Studies (OM), Real Estate — Days (Domino), Westlife — Greatest Hits (RCA UK), My Brightest Diamond — All Things Will Unwind (Asthmatic Kitty)

THE DISPATCH:

 Before there was dubstep, there was just plain dub. But somewhere in between there was Massive Attack — a UK collective that brilliantly merged dub characteristics with hip-hop breakbeats and sample-heavy house fundamentals. This week, a two-song collaboration between Massive Attack and dubstep pioneer Burial emerged: "Four Walls" is a dark ambient soundscape that demands patience and rewards accordingly, while "Paradise Circus" is an ethereally reworked version of the track from Massive Attack's recent Heligoland LP. A limited edition 12" of the songs is already sold out.

 Robyn isn't quite done with Body Talk just yet: The singer will appear as a musical guest for the Ellen Degeneres Show on October 20, where she'll perform "Call Your Girlfriend."

 Sissy bounce ambassador (and undisputed queen) Big Freedia is teaming up with Spank Rock for the Check Yo Ponytail tour, which begins on October 20 in Los Angeles and runs cross-country through November. Also just released: a Flinch remix of Freedia's "Excuse" that somehow manages to add even more bass.

 This week's crucial streaming: Lykke Li resurfaces with this haunting new version of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody." Diplo and Switch have not abandoned their Major Lazer project, and they're leaking demos for their new album to prove it: "Original Don" is one of the tracks up for consideration. And the Cure's Robert Smith makes an appearance on "Come To Me," a new song from UK post-rockers 65DaysOfStatic. Smith's vocal is more filtered and fractured than pushed up front, but the result is sublime.

 Death Cab For Cutie have announced the new Keys and Codes: Remix EP — a companion piece to their excellent Codes and Keys album released earlier this year. They're revealing the tracks in succession over at this mini-site, where you can listen to remixes by Cut Copy and The 2 Bears now.

 Radiohead are seemingly everywhere these days, but here's a new way to listen to them: Thom Yorke recently stopped by London's Boiling Room for a 30-minute DJ set, and it's available for download now.

SOUND & VISION:

Tayisha Busay — "Nothing's Happening"

Focus/Virus, the debut album by Tayisha Busay out on Amazon and iTunes today, brings the Brooklyn trio out of the queer-pop underground and into a new light: The new record is sophisticated and insanely hooky, while the aesthetic evokes everything from Kylie Minogue to Kraftwerk — without the fragmented quality of a band that's trying too hard. Not that they've lost their sense of humor: "Nothing's Happening" employs Girl Talk visual artist and video director Thu Tran for an unabashedly campy dose of neon graffiti.

M83 — "Midnight City"

One of this week's must-hear new releases, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming — the latest album from M83 — is the kind of 21-song double-album that words like "epic" were created to describe. Lead single "Midnight City" is indicative of the record's grand gestures, and the video is no less absorbing. Because it's always a good idea to let loose a bunch of kids with psychokinetic powers in an abandoned factory with a camera crew.

The Saturdays — "My Heart Takes Over"

You can't fault them for trying, and with "My Heart Takes Over" — the latest from their forthcoming third album On Your Radar — The Saturdays get that much closer to snatching Sugababes' UK girl-pop crown. It's the third single, so, you know, this is the one where they show you they're all sensitive and stuff. But surprisingly, it works.

Fanfarlo — "Deconstruction"

It's only been a couple of weeks since Fanfarlo released the video for "Replicate" — the lead single from their as-yet-untitled second album. In some ways, the follow-up clip, "Deconstruction," is that video's opposite: It's more of an uptempo indie pop song filtered through a tongue-in-cheek highbrow concept — as if Derrida showed up to direct a Joe Jackson video.

MUSIC NEWS: David Guetta, Smashing Pumpkins, James Blake & Bon Iver, Robyn, Penguin Prison, Foo Fighters, Big Freedia, Leona Lewis

BY NORMAN BRANNON

Norman Brannon is a pop critic, musician, and author based in New York City. He presents a weekly music update here on Towleroad and writes regularly at Nervous Acid.  

Follow Norman on Twitter at @nervousacid.

EXTENDED PLAY:

David Guetta Nothing But The Beat (Capitol)

David Guetta's third album, Pop Life, was hardly a fully realized work, but his intention was clear. In 2007, when it was released, European club music had been desegregated from overseas Top 40 pop for years — but more often than not, this crossover was a matter of fact and not a concerted effort. Guetta was one of the first to put that extra effort in — beginning by hiring legendary pop songwriter Cathy Dennis to work on the record with him — and despite its failures, Pop Life was Guetta's first semi-hit album. It also arguably paved the way for Lady Gaga's The Fame only one year later, which cracked open the American market for this style, and in turn, paved the way for Guetta's truly massive One Love in 2009. (If you really want to complete the circle, listen to "Born This Way" again and see if you don't hear the similarities to "When Love Takes Over.") This week, Guetta returns with Nothing But The Beat — the first new album since his mainstream breakthrough — and it's nothing if not contemporary. This is, however, a blessing and a curse: In a landscape where "Guetta-beat" is being produced by dozens of like-minded studio hacks, the struggle for Guetta to retain his voice is often foiled by his propensity for nabbing scene-stealing guest stars. The album's first two singles — "Where Them Girls At," featuring Nicki Minaj and Flo-Rida, and "Little Bad Girl," featuring Taio Cruz and Ludacris — are archetypes of the old Guetta-beat, and with his trance-based structural dynamics having been appropriated by everyone from Dr. Luke to Stargate, neither song really stands out from any number of singles on the radio right now. The same can't be said, however, for standouts like the Usher–led "Without You" — a sort of arpeggiated progressive-house cousin to Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You" — and the fact that this will be the third track sent to radio is a signal that Guetta is already thinking ahead. Because when the current commercial dance boom subsides, as all pop micro-trends do, it will always be the actual song under the synths that matters most.

Also out this week: Beirut — The Rip Tide (Pompeii), Red Hot Chili Peppers — I'm With You (Warner Bros.), Jill Scott — The Original Jill Scott From The Vault Vol. 1 (Hidden Beach), Cobra Starship — Night Shades (Decaydence/Fueled By Ramen), Male Bonding — Endless Now (Sub Pop)

THE DISPATCH:

Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan took some flack from fans for granting an exclusive regular column to Crestfallen — a fan site run by a Mormon adherent who openly supported California's Proposition 8. But things got more heated after Devi Ever, a guitar-pedal engineer and transgender woman who spent money developing a custom bass pedal at Corgan's request and was then ignored, aired her grievances towards the singer on the Internet: Corgan responded with a series of verbal threats (claiming he would "knock [her] f*cking lights out") and transphobic slights (calling her a "he/she" and "a sad creation"). Corgan has since deleted the offending tweets, but unfortunately for his bigoted temper, the Internet is forever.

 Last week's self-started rumor of a Bon Iver and James Blake collaboration came to fruition as promised: "Fall Creek Boys Choir" is one of the most elegant songs to come from either camp, and it's available on iTunes this week.

 We're still waiting on a new album from Phoenix, but if the band is delayed, it's understandable: Frontman Thomas Mars married filmmaker Sofia Coppola in Italy over the weekend.

 This week's essential streams and downloads: Starsmith released his version of the latest Marina and the Diamonds single, "Radioactive," and then somewhat mysteriously took it down from his Soundcloud page a few days later. Luckily, Hype Machine still has the stream. The debut album by Wild Flag — featuring members of Sleater-Kinney, Helium, and The Minders — is up at NPR now. And let's not forget Penguin Prison: A self-titled debut is due next week and the latest retromodern track to leak is called "Don't F*ck With My Money."

 Robyn's Body Talk trilogy was an ambitious undertaking in dozens of ways, but one of the less examined aspects of the project has been its bold and innovative visual identity — from the album artwork and videos to her concert styling and online interactive campaigns. The Creator's Project took all this into account and put Robyn in a room with the album's creative director, Mary Fagot, for an enlightening video interview on the subject.

 David Bowie's "Space Oddity" is now a gorgeously illustrated children's book.

 Foo Fighters are going on tour this fall, and to let you know about it, they did what any other self-respecting rock band would do: They filmed a teaser video, completely in the nude, showering together. Needless to say, it's NSFW — especially the close-up shots of each member's rear end. No lie.

 The forthcoming second album by Baltimore-based hip hop crew Spank Rock will be called Everything is Boring and Everyone is a F*cking Liar, and our first taste is a track called "Nasty" — featuring an outrageous coda from New Orleans sissy bounce ambassador Big Freedia, who has spent this year quickly shattering the limits of acclaim and mainstream acceptance for queer rappers. The album, due September 27, also features work from Santigold and hip hop megastar Pharrell Williams.

SOUND & VISION:

Leona Lewis & Avicii — "Collide"

The nasty lawsuits are behind them, so the first video from Leona Lewis' upcoming third album has earned its official release. I'm personally a bit torn about the track, and the video — which positions Lewis as more of a summer babe than a smart chanteuse — doesn't seem to reconcile anything for me. I will say this: The original Penguin Café Orchestra composition that Avicii used as the basis for this much-contested track totally outshines its revision.

Bombay Bicycle Club — "Shuffle"

A Different Kind of Fix is Bombay Bicycle Club's highly guarded third album — which means I can't give it a fair assessment until its release next week — but if it's anything like its lead single, the London–based band may have a proper hit on their hands: "Shuffle" is the missing link between their scrappy post-punk debut and their leftfield follow-up of whispery folk confessionals, held together by a newfound sense of rhythm and joy.

Florence & The Machine — "What the Water Gave Me"

Florence Welch promised that her band's new songs were "drawn to dark metaphors," and "What The Water Gave Me" — the first single from Florence & The Machine's as-yet-untitled second album — delivers in spades: "When I was writing this song I was thinking a lot about all those people who have lost their lives in vain attempts to save their loved ones from drowning," she says, suggesting that her warning was an understatement.

Emeli Sandé — "Heaven"

The debut single from Scottish singer Emeli Sandé went to #2 on the UK charts this week, and with good reason. "Heaven" is one of those pleasurable, but slightly edgy pop singles that breed both familiarity and discovery: Recent tracks by Katy B and classic album cuts from Massive Attack certainly inform the music — a sort of trip-hop/drum-n-bass hybrid — but Sandé's capable voice is clearly what makes this song memorable in long run. It's a great way to start a career.

News: Hiroshima, Gay Jurors, Jason Bateman, Ames Straw Poll

As Japan and the world mark the 66th anniversary of the Hiroshima A-Bomb, and in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he would work toward ending nuclear power in his nation: "I will reduce Japan's reliance on nuclear power, aiming at creating a society that will not rely on atomic power generation."

Uniformed members of the Dutch Army, in which gays and lesbians have been serving openly since 1974, were finally allowed to march in Amsterdam's Gay Pride festival.

Elsewhere in gay pride news, police say about 35,000-50,000 people showed up for the annual event in Stockholm.

The fight for gay jurors: "Trial lawyers should be barred from dismissing potential jurors because of their sexual orientation, defense attorneys argued Thursday in a case that, if successful, could extend constitutional protection from discrimination to homosexuality along with race, creed and gender."

China's state media blasts United States for credit downgrade and overall economic nightmare, saying U.S. must "come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone."

Say so long to Wisteria Lane; ABC axing Desperate Housewives after season eight.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes dominates Friday box office with $19 million, while new comedy The Change Up crept to fourth place with $4.6 million.

In related news, Jason Bateman, co-star of The Change Up, was on NPR's Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me to talk about Tarzan star Cheeta and the upcoming Arrested Development movie -- yes, it's coming -- and the classic movie Teen Wolf Too.

CJ de Mooi, a British television personality and president of the English Chess Federation, says he was barred from presenting awards at a chess tournament because he was wearing a t-shirt with the equality message, "Some People Are Gay, Get Over It." "An arbiter approached me saying she had 'personal reservations' about me wearing a Stonewall t-shirt when presenting prizes to juniors. It was apparently inappropriate for me to wear something mentioning 'sexuality' in such an environment," de Mooi wrote in a statement.

The gay population in Washington State has grown 50 percent over the past ten years, and those couples are itching for equality.

Thirty-one American soldiers, more than 20 from the elite SEALTeam 6, and 7 Afghan security officials killed in Afghanistan helicopter attack.

Filmmaker and photographer Jim Goldberg focuses on singer Robyn, giving fans "an unrestricted view of the sincere ambition behind her career" through a Super 8 lens.

The Missouri Research & Education Network, which supplies computer software to the Show Me State's school system, will no longer censor non-sexual LGBT sites after receiving complaints from the ACLU and the Freedom to Read Foundation: "The groups told MOREnet it was illegally censoring LGBT-related websites through its software while allowing access to websites that condemn homosexuality or oppose LGBT legal protections.

Pro-civil unions Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson won't participate in symbolically important Ames Straw Poll. From his campaign's statement: "We simply cannot and will not buy into an event that has been granted far more status in the nomination process than it should have."

Lady Gaga's male drag persona, Jo Calderone, makes an appearance for cover of new single, "You and I."

Finally, full length picture of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. Thoughts on the goggles?

Meanwhile, the first picture of Rihanna for the upcoming Battleship movie just came out, and she has a big gun.

About 4,600 Nevada households are led by two women, and an estimated 4,724 are run by two men, an 87% total increase since 2000.

Robyn Covers Coldplay 'Every Teardrop is a Waterfall': LISTEN

 

Arjan Writes points us to this cover of Coldplay's "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" dropped by Swedish songstress Robyn at BBC Radio One's Live Lounge.

Writes Arjan: "It is a beautifully performed and arranged reinterpretation of Coldplay's anthemic orginal that comes at a perfect time. With all the bleak news headlines of the last few days, Robyn provides comfort, hope and light with this wonderful cover."

Listen, AFTER THE JUMP...

Check Towleroad later for Norman Brannan's Tuesday music update!

Watch: Behind-the-Scenes of Robyn's 'Call Your Girlfriend' Video

At the beginning of the month I posted Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend" video. A new clip takes you behind the scenes of that shoot with some words from the choreographer, director, and the Swedish pop star herself.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...