After Nine Inch Nails’ Lights In The Sky tour in 2008, Alessando Cortini left the band to pursue a solo career. Today, we finally get to hear what he’s been working on.

In case you’re not a superfan, Cortini played keys on the With Teeth tour cycle, and collaborated in the studio, with a few writing credits on their instrumental album Ghosts I-IV.

His album, entitled SONOIO, is out as of today. The title comes from the Italian words sono io, which basically mean “it’s me.” Kind of a no brainer for the Italian Cortini, working for the first time alone.

Following the trend of recent NIN-related releases, the full-length album can be acquired in a large variety of packages, including, aside from a CD and/or MP3 files, goods such as T-shirts, posters, an exclusive EP with demos, and even an actual fucking synthesizer. You can purchase the album here, and check out a few tracks as well.

It’s fun to hate on Kanye West these days, a deserving punching bag who redefined arrogance and shark-jumping ego trips, but be warned – the seeds have been planted for his inevitable return to glory.

After his mic-grabbing incident was immortalized by Eminem, the 808s & Heartbreak rapper made a return appearance with an unusual step to raise hype for his next album, which is no longer titled Good Ass Job: He showed up at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California yesterday to preview a handful of new songs – a capella.

Dressed in a suit and standing on top of a table in the conference room of the Facebook office, and laid out verses to Mama’s Boyfriend, Chain Heavy, Lost In The World and Sweat On My Face.

A sampling of lyrics from Lost In The World shows the man hasn’t lost any of his narcissistic flare: You’re my lies / You’re my truth / You’re my war / You’re my truce / You’re my questions / You’re my proof / You’re my stress / You’re my masseuse… and so on, to the hook: If we die in each other’s arms / We’ll still get laid in the afterlife.

An one point, the rap mogul even called out Twitter, before moving on to a compelling narrative from a young boy’s perspective, rapping a warning to his mother’s new boyfriend. It’s a standout that we’ve got high hopes for when the record drops.

Sweat On My Face:

Lost In The World / Chain Gang:

Mama’s Boyfriend:

It’s good to see Weezy looking a little nervous and humble… But we know better than to get used to it.

Mines, the fourth full-length release from Menomena, comes nearly four years after their last album Friend And Foe, which broke the Portland trio in the indie scene. The band has made mention of “brutal disagreements” and bandmembers’ external relationship struggles as the cause of the downtime between releases and largely e-mailed collaborations to build the record, and so it would only fit that the resulting product is a complex, powerful and conflicted affair.

The devil – and the glory – is in the details on Mines. In order for Menomena to work at all, a more intricate harmony is necessary within the group that’s so publicly strained; all three members sing, and shift instrumental roles with blurring regularity, so the constructs and holes of their chemistry appear slightly more transparent in the sound. Just as with their prior work, the trio utilized a homemade program designed by member Brent Knopf to record and arrange instrumental loops. Mines makes it clear that it helps to have a computer nerd in the midst, building bedrock of loops and beats before adding color with guitars, keys and progressive, percussive schizophrenics.

Moving from nuanced, melancholy minor chords to unexpected power grooves and spastic percussion bursts, Mines is all over the stylistic map, and its unpredictability is a weapon that enhances each song within a piece. The first two tracks stand solid as general selling points, but the album is riddled with and defined by subtle gems that sink tiny hooks in the heart.

Delicate, melodic and passive-aggressively naked, opener Queen Black Acid sets the album on an deceptive course of spacial accessibility, particularly in the straightforward percussion.

“I don’t know how I missed the signs / I must have passed by them a hundred times / You barely notice what I say / You’re busy looking ’round the room instead.”

The sentiment is hardly subtle, the delivery evoking a strange sense of what Coldplay might’ve been like had they done a few more drugs and had some bad relationships. Following, TAOS swings from buzz-fuck wailing rooster strut to gentle-breeze sunshine melodies in a way that’s delicately captivating and caressing one moment, bombastically anthemic the next.

It’s a suitable precursor for Killemall, a crime-noir suspense trip that builds on an acoustic bass groove with flourishes of keys before shifting to an odd sort of looming Ben Gibbard apprenticeship.

Dirty Cartoons opens on a slow-step acoustic stum that builds to heart-twisting earnestness amidst a sobering, dramatic drum presentation. Each “I’d like to… go home… go home” intensifies with repetition, evoking a cold Autumn rainstorm feeling of homesickness. Meanwhile, Tithe opens with nearly a minute and a half xylophone tinkering before conflicting piano and guitar set the stage for a melody with Us-era Peter Gabriel flare, eventually buoyed by urgent, skittering drum beats.

It’s an assault, a percussion concussion introduction that BOTE presents, with raucously swaying, cascading rhythms and siren-groove riffage that rips at the guts and tickles the frontal lobe.

Oddball baritone sax standout Five Little Rooms was characterized by the band as either the best thing they’ve ever written… or their worst. To the contrary, it’s a middleground track that’s only truly off-putting by the pronounced McDonalds call out. Hookless, there’s a delicate power to the song and that holds gravity, though the morose lyrics don’t help us find an anchor. But damned if it doesn’t demand repeat listens.

As the pieces come together through multiple spins of Mines, as the gears come into clearer view and the intricacies further unfold, the quality standard of Menomena’s work leaves one torn between hoping they’ll forge through the issues that caused a nearly four year gap between albums, and embracing the tension that spawned such promising work.

The Associated Press is reporting that ex-Fugee Wyclef Jean intends to announce his candidacy for ex-President of Haiti.

Wyclef himself confirmed the rumors by stating “Just to clear up the rumors, I have not announced to the Press that I’m running for President of Haiti.” Later, when Fox Business asked if he would run, he replied ”I would say right now, currently at this minute, no.” Really? Not at this minute? Like… Right now, in this interview, I’m not announcing that I will run. But if you’re wondering if I’m going to, I haven’t told the press about it yet, so let me just act like I’m saying nothing while I say everything.

Doublespoken like he was born for the job of course. However, we can’t help but think about that song he wrote… How did it go? Oh…

If I was president,
I’d get elected on Friday,
assasinated on Saturday,
and buried on Sunday.

Of the 50 or so presidents Haiti has gone through in the past 200 years, only a few managed to complete a full term, while the rest were overthrown or assassinated, or committed suicide.

To be totally fair, it seems like it could go either way. Jean’s family has officially stated: “Wyclef’s commitment to his homeland and its youth is boundless, and he will remain its greatest supporter regardless of whether he is part of the government moving forward… If and when a decision is made, media will be alerted immediately.” However, under current Haitian law, Brooklyn-raised Jean would have to prove that he has never been a citizen of any country other than Haiti to be eligible for the job.

The pop star would certainly have his work cut out for him. The disaster-ravaged country hasn’t had a functioning economy in decades, and corruption has been the rule rather than the exception.

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds spinoff Grinderman is readying a second album, and our friends at Consequence Of Sound found Heathen Child, their new single. On a Pitchfork or something, whatever that means.

Multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis has described Grinderman 2 as very different from the last Bad Seeds record and Grinderman’s self titled debut, employing the most interesting sonic analogy we’ve heard in awhile: “It’s kind of like stoner rock meets Sly Stone via Amon Düül,” he told The Quietus.

A brief teaser posted earlier this month embodied that summary surprisingly well, and officially piqued my interest. I’ve never been a big Nick Cave fan, but I’ve always kinda wanted to be, because he looks like Satan and his band and album names are usually pretty cool.

Heathen Child is a little more on the eccentric / what the hell did I just listen to side at times, almost as if Tricky hacked the session. But after a few listens, it’s already starting to grow a little, and we know for a fact that no one involved is shooting for commercial success with this one. There may be some really cool stuff on Grinderman 2 to chew on. So we’re hoping, anyway. We’ll be checking it out for better or worse as soon as we can get our hands on it.

Les Savy Fav frontman Tim Harrington is a hell of a sight to behold, a cheerfully obese sack of hair and weirdness who looks like a cross between a retarded Zach Galifianakis and Santa Claus. With a look like that, one would expect some sort of off-kilter bizarro sonic spaz-fest, but somehow, he and the rest of LSF manage to fit right in with the surging modern tides of forgettable indie waste pop.

Their new album Root for Ruin is set to hit stores September 14 on Frenchkiss, but given that it’s already leaked we’ll probably see that date moved up a bit. Les Savy Fav have already set up a snarky little PayPal where downloaders of the leak can pay what they want, if they decide it’s actually worth something. The band adds, “Pay extra and you’re also forgiven for sex sins and stuff AND we’ll tell Jesus to send you cookies.”

Spoiler: You’re not getting any fucking cookies. But you can have a listen to a new track off the album to see if you want to dive in and download the whole thing. Check out Let’s Get Out Of Here:

The song gives me a feeling I haven’t had since I got kicked in the balls by the girls’ soccer captain in high school. I don’t think that’s something I’d pay for.

Oklahoma might be the last place you’d expect to find Lady Gaga, but when you can sell out anywhere in the world, why not? Being fans of the inappropriate, we couldn’t think of a better place to take in the experience, and at least we had a shot at press access in the bible belt. We didn’t exactly have to beg our resident pop-aholic Steven Anthony to take on the assignment, who was also tasked with checking out LA “buzz” band Semi Precious Weapons… Who we figure must be doing something right to nab such a high profile gig.

At this point in her career, Lady Gaga really needs no introduction. Love her or hate her, she’s here and is more than likely not going anywhere anytime soon.

She made this clear several times during her set Tuesday night at Oklahoma City’s Ford Center. The Westboro Baptist Church was stationed outside spewing their apocalyptic bullshit, blaming everything on the gays. Yet inside the arena, Gaga was having a love affair with 20,000 people, preaching a message of “love and unity,” in her words. If you love her, she’s all for that; If you hate her, too fucking bad, she’s here to stay.

Despite getting an underwhelming response from the crowd, opening act Semi Precious Weapons did an admirable job, with a tight performance that brought the album versions of songs from their new album You Love You to life without compromise. Under the shadow of Gaga they were just killing time. However, they could very well amaze in their own context, on a smaller, club or theater sized stage, as the band’s hype has suggested.

Lead singer Justin Tranter is an entertaining, androgynous being, fond of theatrics as any Gaga support act would have to be. It slithered around the stage for the entirety of the band’s short set, at times pouring champagne over the first few rows. At one point Tranter stripped down on stage for a costume change… From shiny reflective gold clothing to shiny reflective silver clothing.

Throughout two hours, Gaga provided a run of her biggest hits plus a few deeper album cuts. The show is designed as a five-part “play,” based around Gaga and her friends trying to make it to the “Monster Ball.” Just what the Monster Ball is, we never really learn, but throughout the five acts the “story” attempts to keep concert goers entertained but really just seems like more of an afterthought.

The stage setup was fantastically elaborate of course, at times set up like a grungy backstreet complete with rusty scaffolding and at other times like a creepy forest with bleeding statues. Gaga made sure the crowd would have constant visual stimulation, even going so far as to play Speechless on a piano that was literally on fire.

Towards the end of the show, when Gaga and her friends finally arrive at the Monster Ball, her backup dancers dress entirely in black to control a giant terrifying angler fish which Gaga then fights off with a spark-shooting bra and crotch piece during set-closing performance of Paparrazzi. Yeah, it makes about as much sense in person, but damn if it doesn’t make for an entertaining show.

After she finished performing LoveGame, she whipped out her “disco stick” and went around shining the light on the end at the crowd, examining costumes and commenting on concert-goers. Someone also managed to throw a Cardinals jersey up on stage which she decided to wear, followed by a Yankees cap which she then also put on. Then a fan tossed a book up on stage and Gaga seemed genuinely emotional; It was Rilke’s Letters To A Young Poet, of which she has a passage from tattooed on the inside of her arm. She read from it to the crowd. Only at a Gaga concert.

Unlike most of the pop artists whose concerts I attend, Gaga is a true performer. Her voice sounded absolutely spectacular, and while at times she was performing with backing tracks (a necessary evil for multi-layered pop), she always made sure the crowd knew she was singing live. Oh, and she plays a keytar several times during the show, which is something you can’t pull off unless you’re a real badass. Meanwhile, her full live band was a well-oiled machine, often doing double duty by participating in the choreography.

Gaga spent much of the night proclaiming her love for the LBGT community, something that means a lot to these kids in the conservative state of Oklahoma. She didn’t tone down anything for the show here and several times pointed out that it’s not only okay to be yourself, but that she expects no less from her Little Monsters. During the video introduction, Gaga revealed that she is working with a charity organization to raise money for homeless LBGT kids, and that she would match any money donated to the dollar. Classy stuff, for real.

Gaga’s “Monster Ball” tour is going to be one of the biggest of the year with good reason, and while the ticket prices are high (averaging at $150), they are worth it for any fan of pop music. Gaga is, of course, peerless for the time being, and two hours of Gagaland is probably the most interesting scene you’re going to find inside of a concert arena.

Pictures by Madeline Meibergen.

Semi Precious Weapons Setlist:

Semi Precious Weapons
Put A Diamond In It
Sticky With Champagne
Statues Of Ourselves
Magnetic Baby

Lady Gaga Setlist:

Dance In The Dark
Glitter And Grease
Just Dance
Beautiful Dirty Rich
Vanity, The Fame
LoveGame
Boys Boys Boys
Money Honey
Telephone
Speechless
You And I
So Happy I Could Die
Monster
Teeth
Alejandro
Poker Face
Paparazzi
Bad Romance (Encore)

We spent some time last week with the enigmatic, politically-charged System Of A Down ringleader Serj Tankian, who’s out promoting his upcoming new solo album Imperfect Harmonies, scheduled for release on September 7 via Serjical Strike/Reprise Records.

Two songs from Imperfect Harmonies are already making the rounds: Borders Are and the first official single, Left Of Center, both of which tackle pertinent controversial issues that increasingly affect our lives each day. Tankian’s participation in the Sound Strike movement to boycott Arizona in the wake of the state’s controversial new immigration laws undoubtedly a catalyst for the creation and pre-release offering of Borders Are, a damning assessment of the walls we create to divide our minds, hearts, lives and cultures:

As with his 2007 solo album Elect The Dead, Tankian produced Imperfect Harmonies himself at his home studio in Los Angeles, utilizing the orchestral strengths he developed during his time on the Elect The Dead Symphony tour and blending his own brand of charged political rock with jazz, electro and symphonic textures. As I discovered throughout our conversation, Serj is as multi-faceted and complex as his music, an fascinatingly insightful mix of philosopher, sociopolitical activist, poet and rock star.

Antiquiet: You’ve made reference to how your experience with various orchestras on the Elect The Dead Symphony tour allowed you to better orchestrate for large ensembles and full orchestrations – taking that to Imperfect Harmonies, how much is that responsible for the grandiosity of the sound?

Serj Tankian: It’s definitely partly responsible. I think that the two main influences of Imperfect Harmonies besides rock were electronic and orchestral. And the big challenge, really the fun part, was asking how we make all these different elements work within one song. The Rock, the orchestral, the electronic, the jazz… So it was a really fun balancing act, and a lot of tracks. A lot of fuckin’ tracks. Like 150, 170 tracks per song.

Antiquiet: Wow.

Serj Tankian: Yeah, man. So it was quite interesting. I learned a lot in the process, not just about orchestration but about using different sounds together. It was quite a unique experience making this record.

Antiquiet: When it comes to that many tracks on one song, how do you check yourself? What’s your balance beam?

Serj Tankian: You’ve gotta step back and look at it with a producer’s eye, and just go OK, this part’s too much now, it’s getting to be too much of a clusterfuck. So you’ve got to look for the strengths and weaknesses of the song, and obviously fortify the strengths and minimize the weaknesses, and that’s kind of how you’re able to take some stuff out after putting so much of it in.

Antiquiet: As for the next track Borders Are - it’s a particularly poignant choice as a first taste for the album, given what’s happening in Arizona currently – “Fear is the cause of separation / Backed by illicit conversation…” There’s a direct reference to be found there, especially given your participation in the Sound Strike movement.

Serj Tankian: While the first official single is called Left Of Center, Borders Are was the first thing I wanted to release because it was more about the statement than a first single idea for me. It also did a good job of introducing some of the sonic qualities of the new record, moreso than the first single probably.

That said, it definitely makes a bold political statement having to do with borders and our incessant use of them in physical land separation as well as the borders of our mind and hearts separating each other. It definitely interacts and is timely with things happening in Arizona, things happening in Gaza with the flotilla aid, things happening in North and South Korea with the sinking of the South Korean ship, the denial and allegations, the Kashmir conflict which has existed since the creation of Pakistan… It goes on.

I was just in Berlin playing a show with an orchestra there, and to think that that city was divided for almost 50 years, the same people on both sides… It’s quite an interesting thing to pay attention to these days.

Antiquiet: Given your participation in the Arizona boycott, I imagine these events weighed in when considering a first impression. Giving people a musical platform for awareness, be it to dig deeper into the topics you touch on or otherwise, you’re helping draw attention to the cyclical patterns of oppression that are going on in our own culture, which in some ways mirror events we’ve seen on grander scales throughout history.

Serj Tankian: Absolutely. I fully agree. That’s a good insightful comment. There’s a lot going on today that we need to pay very focused attention to, that are important for the times to come. Immigration will be a very important issue in the years to come as well, based on global warming and the necessity of having a lot of populations migrating due to the need to find food and water. You think North America has immigration problems now, wait for another five years – it’s going to be just ridiculous. So it’s important to note all these things, definitely.

Antiquiet: That begs the question – examining of the perils of entering your work into the public debate and thus have these concepts caricaturized and manipulated by the media, what do you say to someone who thinks we should leave music as merely a form of entertainment?

Serj Tankian: Just like we shouldn’t put borders on our thoughts, I don’t think we should put borders on music. I don’t think we should say music is designed for one purpose or another. So to say that it was only designed for entertainment would be short-cutting music, as would saying that music was designed solely for messages. That would be not giving music the wide span that it deserves. I think music is used for many, many purposes, and I think it’s an intuitive medium that inspires. It comes from the universe, it connects us, it co-inspires us – the presenter as well as the listener. It’s a very, very unique and beautiful gift from the universe. I don’t think we should take it for granted and use it in abusive ways.

There’s always going to be someone who says, ‘What would a musician know about politics?’ Maybe nothing, maybe a lot. It doesn’t depend on the music, it depends on the musician. I know a lot of people who know about politics that do other things with their careers. Businessmen that know a lot about politics, plumbers who know a lot about politics – it doesn’t mean they can’t discuss it because they’re a plumber. I think that’s ridiculous to say, that someone shouldn’t talk about something because they do this. That’s like saying ‘Sorry, you can’t vote, you’re a janitor.’ It makes no sense. So to me, I think everyone should be talking about what’s important in our lives. It doesn’t matter what our vocation is.

Soulful, soft-spirited songstress Juliette Commagere is set to release her sophomore album The Procession on September 20th, and we’ve got a delicious first taste for you.

Have a listen to Impact:

Juliette first hit radars as the frontwoman for Hello Stranger, a fascinating little 70’s-glam unit, and has gone on to collaborate both in-studio and onstage with Nick Lowe, Puscifer, Taylor Hawkins and more. You can hear another new track off The Procession on her Myspace page.

Her critically acclaimed solo debut Queens Die Proudly, certified Commagere as an artist to keep an eye on. She’s yet another name on the ever-growing list of exciting, exceptional musicians Antiquiet has discovered through our readers, so keep ‘em coming, guys. You’ve got a hand on the wheel.

Back on June 2nd, Jack White and Dave Grohl were on hand at the White House for a tribute event for Paul McCartney that included Elvis Costello, Stevie Wonder, Emmylou Harris, The Jonas Brothers and Faith Hill, as well as the former Beatle himself. While we saw a nice clip of Obama and friends singing Hey Jude together the day after the event, we’ve been waiting impatiently for video footage of Grohl & White’s involvement, and we finally got our fill today, thanks to PBS.

The event was taped for a PBS special that will air July 28, but we’ve got video of Jack White doing an understated Delta Blues take on the Lennon/McCartney jam Mother Nature’s Son:

Grohl also took the stage and turned out a tongue-in-cheek rendition of McCartney’s Band On The Run (on second thought, it’s not really a goof-off rendition, just Grohl being Grohl). It was a surreal dose of badass to see Stevie Wonder – who was on hand to play We Can Work It Out as well as an Ebony And Ivory duet with McCartney -  rocking along from his seat, next to some highly uncomfortable-looking crypt keepers.

For Grohl, an original D.C. local boy, performing at the White House was a homecoming. “I have probably played every club and every basement and every arena and every stadium” in the town, said Grohl, before gushing over one of his primary influences and the dude he voted for: “Paul, you’re definitely my hero. Mr. President, you’re my other hero.”

Big love to TwentyFourBit and ConsequenceOfSound for the heads up!