Ashley O

By now you've probably heard that in the new season of "Black Mirror," there's an episode featuring Miley Cyrus as a popstar whose songs might sound vaguely familiar.  Trent Reznor gave the series permission to reinterpret some Nine Inch Nails song into little pop ditties, and it all works strangely well.  Anyway, i have not had a chance to watch the episode yet, but it sounds like a potential highlight.  In the meanwhile, Cyrus has released two tracks under the persona of Ashley O, "On a Roll," a take on the seminal "Head Like a Hole," and "Right Where I Belong," a version of the lesser known Nails track "Right Where It Belongs" from 2005's "With Teeth" (coincidentally one of my all time favorite NIN songs).  Check out both songs below and watch the show on Netflix.





Reznor, for his part, his been super supportive of this whole thing.

Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz

I feel like i need to weigh in on this...and it feels really, really weird to do so.  I'm not usually one to hype up some manufactured pop superstar, but this whole Miley Cyrus thing is just too much to ignore.  Earlier this week, the former Hannah Montana released a crazy album that she made with The Flaming Lips called "Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz."  To be frank, it's a complete and utter mess, but kind of a fascinating one, full of bedroom club stompers celebrating drugs and sex (what 22-year old doesn't dig drugs and sex?), sweet psych-pop ballads, and some all around weirdness.  It's overlong and all over the place, basically like someone just vomited up months of artistic ideas with no real purpose, a purging of glitter and pastel colors.  That's not to say that there aren't some genuine gems on the record though...which it why i'm even writing about this.  Kudos to Cyrus here, going outside of her normal label system to create what she wants to create, even at those moments where it feels juvenile or misguided.  She is 22 after all.  And you can certainly feel The Flaming Lips' presence, and Wayne Coyne in particular.  Often i can't tell if he's rejuvenating his artistic muscle working with these young pop starlets, or if he's just a creepy old weirdo.  Probably more of the latter, but at least we're getting some interesting music out of the deal.

Anyway, i couldn't embed the whole thing, so you'll need to go here to listen to the whole album, but in the meantime, take a gander at the Ariel Pink assisted "Tiger Dreams" below.

I can't believe i just did a write-up of Miley Cyrus.

alt-J

Full disclosure: when alt-J's first album came out a couple of years ago, i didn't get why people reacted so strongly.  It's not bad or anything, but it just never hit me the way it seemed to hit so many other folks.  At best, i would have called it serviceable.  All that being said, i'm really digging the band's new single, "Hunger of the Pine," the first taste of new album "This Is All Yours," out in September on Canvasback/Infectious.  The song is moody and eerie and contains a Miley Cyrus sample of all things.  I also think there's a sample of Hans Zimmer's "Journey to the Line" from the score to "The Thin Red Line," but i can't find any confirmation on that.  It it's so, remember you heard it here first.  Listen the track below.

Sondre Lerche - Wrecking Ball

Indie acts covering mainstream pop songs is nothing new.  In fact, it's kind of become cliched, with the annoyance of the tune far outweighing the novelty of its new context.  That being said, i'm digging songsmith Sondre Lerche's earnest and moving take on Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball."  Listen below.