Jack White debuts 'Love Interruption' from upcoming solo album

On Monday afternoon, Jack White posted "Love Interruption," a new song (posted after the jump) from his forthcoming solo debut, "Blunderbuss," which is out April 24 -- but not to be confused, mind you, with the faux film/music festival of the same name mentioned in an episode of "Portlandia."

"Love Interruption," which opens with some strumming and mellow woodwind touches, is a striking first song that shows off White's gift for tension, but without the full-throttle force of his work in the White Stripes or his latest stormy project with Alison Mosshart, the Dead Weather. If anything, "Love Interruption" sounds like what his other band the Raconteurs might make while brewing morning coffee, the regrets of the previous night leaving a bitter aftertaste.

The lyrics are plenty violent, delivered by White and a female singer who twists her shaky voice around such lines as "I want love to stick a knife inside me... walk right up and bite me... murder my own mother." So, with cheery lines like that, maybe don't expect this song to be playing over the pivotal scene in a swoony rom-com anytime soon.

In rotation: Goldfrapp's 'The Singles'

In rotation: Goldfrapp's 'The Singles.' A series in Sunday Calendar about what Times writers & contributors are listening to right now...

Alison Goldfrapp has exhibited two personas in her last decade-plus as the frontwoman of the electro-chic collaboration with composer Will Gregory that bears her name. Over the course of five albums, the British singer has been a blackberry-lipped robot-vixen, the kind that might throat you with her heel, only to drift away uninterested a minute later. She’s also been a pagan goddess, drawing wisdom from unlikely sources, like the fugue of the dance floor. It’s most exciting when she combines the two, but no matter what mode she’s operating in, there’s a mesmerizing detachment to it all, her breathy soprano on the verge of slipping into a trance.

Goldfrapp’s first singles collection, due in early February, is a tour through the outfit’s luxe disco hits and the more conceptual pockets of dance music in the ’00s (which also means some unavoidable flashes of datedness). Two new songs at the end of the batch — especially the drowsily rapturous “Yellow Halo” — bode well for Goldfrapp’s next step, which, if these are any indication, might be more ambient music in the vein of 2008’s “Seventh Tree.”

Goldfrapp

'The Singles'

(Astralwerks)

ALSO:

An Appreciation: Etta James

In rotation: Kids These Days' 'Hard Times'

In rotation: The Weeknd's 'Echoes of Silence'

--Margaret Wappler

Documentary on Paul Simon's 'Graceland' screens at Sundance

A new documentary screening this week at Sundance, "Under African Skies," chronicles the making of Paul Simon's 1986 solo album, "Graceland," and seeks to resolve some of the political static that has long surrounded the work.

Floundering with writer's block after the commercial flop of "Hearts & Bones," Simon jump-started his career with "Graceland," which won a Grammy for album of the year. But it also unleashed public scrutiny and protests, including bomb threats, that dogged the "Graceland" tour.

Critics charged Simon with valuing his own careerist goals above the priorities of the South African musicians he worked with on the album. By playing and recording in the racially segregated country, the musician violated a United Nations cultural boycott — a cornerstone strategy in the fight against apartheid.

PHOTOS: Scene at Sundance

Last year Simon, now 70, released "So Beautiful or So What," but it didn't receive a single Grammy nomination despite scoring high with critics and ending up on many best-of lists for the year (though "Graceland" is being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame). It doesn't seem a stretch to wonder if the shadow cast by some of the furor surrounding "Graceland" doesn't still affect the public perception of Simon.

Director Joe Berlinger sought to answer some of those questions when he followed Simon to South Africa last summer for the 25th anniversary of "Graceland." During the 10-day shoot, Simon reunites with former "Graceland" collaborators such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo for an anniversary concert.

Review: Katy Perry with Jon Brion, 'The One That Got Away'

What will resourceful Katy Perry try next in order to stick one more single from “Teenage Dream” at the top of the charts? An acoustic retooling from famed instrument-savant Jon Brion, it turns out.

The slick version of “The One That Got Away” with Dr. Luke and Max Martin has failed to launch, peaking instead at No. 3, so now Perry’s jettisoned the song’s original gloss for a strummed, piano-laced take that’s subtly detailed but still marred by Perry’s hammy singing. When she stretches out the title phrase toward the end, apparently in an attempt to communicate heart-wrenching angst, you can’t tell if the frustration is directed at wayward husband Russell Brand or simply the capricious whims of the charts that prevented “The One That Got Away” from getting to the top in the first place. Naked ambition is a turn-off sometimes, this rejiggered song being case in point.

Obama covers Al Green -- for one line of 'Let's Stay Together'

On Thursday night while the Republican hopefuls were duking it out in South Carolina, President Obama let loose a line from Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" during a fundraiser at the Apollo Theater in New York City. "I-I-I-I'm so in love with you," he crooned in falsetto, much to the audience's delight.

Quick critical appraisal: Two and a half stars out of four. Barry, you were a little timid but perfectly in tune. Not bad -- but maybe don't quit your day job (if you get a choice)!

The president sang the song while the legend himself, the Rev. Al Green, was in the crowd. "Don't worry, Rev. I cannot sing like you," he joked. "I just wanted to show my appreciation." The soul singer was one of two opening acts for the president at the $200-a-seat fundraiser, one of many around the Big Apple on Thursday, including a swanky fete at Spike Lee's house where the filmmaker and the president bonded over their love for the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan. Mariah Carey was one of the luminaries who dropped $35,800 on the ticket.

But back to that performance. Let's allow ourselves some hope for a minute: If President Obama isn't reelected on Nov. 6,  perhaps he'll release an album of covers instead? After all, it is a Tuesday, the same day new music is released. Can we humbly suggest covering Etta James' "At Last"?

Time will only tell what will happen, but we've gotten word on what will show next week at the Apollo: Newt Gingrich sings the tunes of Neil Diamond.

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First take: Bruce Springsteen's patriotic 'We Take Care of Our Own'

Lady Gaga, at Obama fundraiser, urges end to bullying

For politically aware songs, the '00s were all for naught

-- Margaret Wappler

New music this week: Die Antwoord, Santigold and Miike Snow

  Die Antwoord "I Fink U Freeky" by Press Here

When Die Antwoord played Coachella in 2010, the South African duo of Ninja and Yo-landi Vi$$er -- a gyrating, potty-mouthed sprite -- shocked, confused and delighted the crowd, already hyped to their tricks via a rabid Internet following. Nearly two years later, they've built on -- or exhausted -- their project, which is somewhere between performance art, hip-hop worship and massive cultural joke. Their second album, "Ten$ion" is due Feb. 7; "I Fink U Freeky" is the record's first single, which kicks off with Yo-landi's warm feelings about playboys, bad boys, et al. It's got some appealing synth grinds -- the digital equivalent of vocal fry -- from DJ Hi-Tek but the biggest problem with this song is that there's not nearly enough talk about ninjas. "I think you're freaky and I like you a lot?" OK, but you still haven't mentioned ninjas. Moving on...

In 2008, after various stints in the music industry as a songwriter and fronting her inventive rock band Stiffed, Santigold released a self-titled debut album that slowly but surely turned into a sleeper hit, fusing together dancehall, punk and new wave. She now returns with her first single from her forthcoming "Master of My Make Believe," recorded partially in Jamaica and due out this spring. Over a clattering stomp from Portugal's Buraka Som Sistema (co-producing with frequent M.I.A. collaborator Switch), "Big Mouth" is a high-energy diss -- and if the video's animation by Cody Critcheloe is any indication, at least a little bit of its ire is directed at starlets Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. Some have complained that this sounds too much like M.I.A., which is a fair critique, though hopefully the rest of "Make Believe" takes its own tack.

Paddling Out by miikesnow

Despite the name, Miike Snow is not one man with a fondness for vowels but a trio from Sweden that made its official debut in 2009. The synth group is anchored by the producing team of Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, also known as Bloodshy and Avant, who made their names long before being a performing group; they have worked with Madonna, Kelis, Kylie Minogue and on one of the best Britney tracks from her pre-breakdown years, the elegantly menacing "Toxic." With the fantastic "Paddling Out," one of the singles released Thursday from their follow-up "Happy to You" due in late March, Miike Snow has taken the same "Toxic" qualities and injected it with a happy house racing pulse, giddy but still polished. Picture Grace Kelly losing control at a glittering Euro rave and you're somewhere close to the smart charms of this addictive song.

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M. Ward will play the Masonic Lodge on Feb. 2

Rihanna, Coldplay, Paul McCartney to perform at Grammys

First take: Bruce Springsteen's patriotic 'We Take Care of Our Own'

-- Margaret Wappler

Photo: Die Antwoord posing on the streets of Los Angeles. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

M. Ward will play the Masonic Lodge on Feb. 2

Soft-voiced troubadour M. Ward is coming to Hollywood Forever's Masonic Lodge on Feb. 2. The singer-songwriter is probably best known these days for She & Him, his retro-tinged collaborations with forever-ingenue Zooey Deschanel, but his own well-crafted solo music is something to be savored. Keep your fingers crossed for cuts off of his 2007 album, "Post-War."

Tickets (two per "household," please) are on sale now for $25. Parking is free. In other words, you have no excuse not to go. Plus, we have a feeling the "New Girl" may pop in for a song or two -- she's in the neighborhood.

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The Pierces at Hotel Cafe

Bruce Springsteen's 'Wrecking Ball' set for March 6 release

First take: Bruce Springsteen's patriotic 'We Take Care of Our Own'

--Margaret Wappler

Photo: M Ward. Credit: Hollywood Forever

Album review: Ani DiFranco's “¿Which Side Are You On?”

For those who have been complaining that there are no protest songs in pop music right now, ’90s icon Ani DiFranco serves up a well-meaning but predictable specimen in the title song to her new studio album. With a contribution from activist folkie Pete Seeger, a marching snare-drum beat and calls for an end to financial corruption, why not cut to the chase and cull the lyrics from an Occupy pamphlet instead?

Her heart might be in the right place but it’s better served by her nuanced, questioning mind in other songs. DiFranco makes a reasoned and witty argument for the benefits of “Promiscuity,” comparing it to globe-trotting. She sings “some of us like to stick close to home; and some of us are Columbus. What can I say?”

In rotation: Julia Holter's 'Tragedy'

In rotation: Julia Holter's 'Tragedy.' A series in Sunday Calendar about what Times writers & contributors are listening to right now...

Local experimental musician Julia Holter had a banner year in 2011. Her full-length album, “Tragedy,” inspired by Euripides’ “Hippolytus,” found its way onto a few influential year-end lists, including NPR’s Best Outer Sound Albums of 2011.Released on the tiny Leaving label in the fall, “Tragedy” is 50 minutes of collage, soaked in neo-classical atmosphere.

Spin starts 140-character reviews; we write haikus in response

 

On Wednesday of this week, Spin senior editor Christopher Weingarten announced in an essay that the magazine would be embarking this year on 1,500 reviews written in 140-character chunklets approved by Twitter. I wish he’d chosen to honor the traditional Haiku form, which is at least lovely and historical, but alas, Weingarten, who popularized this trend with his 1000TimesYes project, also known as OperationKillMyself, chose to live in fear of the Fail Whale, which will never let you write as long as “Moby Dick.”

By the way, Weingarten stated that none of this means an end to the kind of criticism that can be read while consuming an entire cup of coffee, instead of one thimble –- not even a shot! -– of espresso. The magazine promises to post about 20 long form reviews a month on SPIN.com, where they started with Guided By Voices, who, coincidentally, know a thing or two about writing short songs but then stringing them together over a long course of time to make a giant pearly necklace of drunken fuzz-pop.

On the occasion of Spin’s audacious move, which signals either the death of music criticism or the advent of its leaner, quippier self, I’ve written some of my deepest thoughts and concerns about this turn toward Twit-Crit but in the traditional 5/7/5 haiku form because I’m not that into Twitter or its 140-character limit ( hey, follow my near-dead account here!).

The haiku format doesn't mean I’m not keeping an open mind about Spin’s mission. It's just that I once won a pair of Morrissey tickets in a haiku contest (true story) so this should be pretty fearsome. Here goes:

 

HOPE:

Spin will review “a

Lot of friggin' records,” like

Maybe your bad band?

 

QUESTIONING:

“No more 80-word

Blurbs.” OK, but why is this

Way any better?

 

EXISTENTIAL WORRY:

Twit-Crit will ping our

Minds like so many pennies

Raining on the roof

 

ACCEPTANCE:

Some will write shortly

Others will take their sweet time

To still write same things.

 

ONCE AGAIN, HOPE:

I choose to believe

Criticism will never

Die, like – shiver – Korn.

 

Please let us know how you feel about these changes, or the beauty of haiku, in the comments. Extra points for writing in 5/7/5.

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Jimmy Fallon takes on David Bowie and Tim Tebow

Black Sabbath was reportedly to play Coachella, but canceled

Critics' Notebook: At Coachella, a rebellious spirit

--Margaret Wappler

Photo: A snowy white egret, which has inspired many a haiku, as seen in The Japanese Garden in Van Nuys. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times