Janelle Monae

Help Me Think Of A New Name For Myself For 2013

With every new year, I grant myself a new appellation, just to mix things up and scare people a little. Last year it was Joyce Purnick, but that didn't stick. So this year I want something as catchy as a disease, but much more fun. Here are the choices:

Live: Janelle Monáe, TV On The Radio, And Toro Y Moi Break Boundaries At Afro-Punk

Afro-Punk Festival Commodore Barry Park Sunday, August 26 Better than: Sitting at home, waiting for Breaking Bad to start. Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley were some of the original architects of rock and roll. Jimi Hendrix pushed it forward in the late '60s. Then came Prince. And Bad B ... More >>

ROCK ’N’ REVOLT

The Afro-Punk festival storms Commodore Barry Park

100 & Single: Gotye And fun. Help Alternative Rock Go Pop Once Again

Consider this six-pack of rock acts: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Big Audio Dynamite, the Psychedelic Furs, U2, R.E.M. and Julian Cope. My dream Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Not quite—it's a list of the first six artists to go to No. 1 on the chart Billboard launched in the fall of 1988, then call ... More >>

100 & Single: fun., Gotye, M83, EDM, And The Beginning Of The Hot 100's Spotify Years

How do you know when you're at the dawn of a new pop era? It's not like someone sends a memo. Sure, occasionally there's a well-timed cultural event that offers a hint—the disastrous Altamont festival in December 1969, which signaled that the flower-power dream was over, or Comiskey Park's Di ... More >>

Radio Hits One: fun.'s "We Are Young" Brings Indie Pop To The Super Bowl And The Hot 100

Last week Billboard published the Hot 100 chart covering the post-Super Bowl week, and unsurprisingly the most notable leap on the chart was made by a song featured on the telecast. The surprise was that it wasn't "Give Me All Your Luvin'," Madonna's new single, performed during her halftime show pe ... More >>

fun.

Afro-Punk To Throw A CMJ Showcase Starring Death

​Last month Hurricane Irene washed away the Afro-Punk Festival, the weekend-long celebration in Commodore Barry Park that was supposed to have headliners like Cee Lo Green and Janelle Monáe and an undercard rounded out by YIMBY alums like Das Racist and Cerebral Ballzy. While there were hopes ... More >>

PUNK FUNK

More than just Bad Brains—a lot more

Cee Lo Green, Santigold, And Janelle Monáe To Headline Afro-Punk Festival

​The seventh annual Afro-Punk Festival will take place at Commodore Barry Park in Brooklyn at the end of August (the 27th and 28th, to be precise), and the just-announced lineup looks pretty incredible: Cee Lo Green will headline, and the once-again-active Santigold, the always-spellbinding Ja ... More >>

Live: Bruno Mars And Janelle Monáe Dance It Out At Roseland

The Hooligans in Wondaland Tour Bruno Mars/Janelle Monáe w/Plan B Roseland Wednesday, May 4 Better than: Waiting for "Grenade" to come on the radio. The co-headlining tour starring sweet-voiced android Janelle Monáe and uxorious pop crooner Bruno Mars kicked off at Roseland last night, and why t ... More >>

WONDERLAND BLUES

Mars and Monáe unite and conquer

Cee Lo Green and the Year of "Fuck You"

Summing up 2010 in two little words

Pazz & Jop Voter Comments: Rick Ross Lies, the Rolling Stones Plunder, and Taylor Swift Triumphs

Arcade Fire Sell Nearly Half A Million Records in 2010, Will Perform at the Grammys

​"The whole chart thing is kind of like sports," said an unimpressed Merge label chief Laura Ballance, back when Arcade Fire hit #1 on the Billboard charts. That may well be true. But if selling records is like sports, Arcade Fire are weirdly good at it, considering they're a bunch of spindly ... More >>

Rob Harvilla's Top 10 Singles of 2010

​Not every great song this year was released by Katy Perry. From a snarling avant-electro NPR lecture to a haunted-house posse cut to a ludicrously profane viral sensation, here are 10 examples. "Teenage Dream" might still be better than all of these, though. Better get this started before I c ... More >>

PARADE DU PRINCE

He’s back with an army in tow

You'd Better Get Your Prince Tickets Soon

​As you may have heard, Prince is playing five NYC shows in December, as part of his Welcome 2 America tour, also featuring the likes of Maceo Parker, Mint Condition, Esperanza Spalding, Cassandra Wilson, Sinbad (!!), Lalah Hathaway, Sheila E., Graham Central Station, and still-extant SOTC obs ... More >>

V.V. Brown Cancels Tour, Including Bowery Ballroom Date

​A quick note for anyone hoping to see pleasantly spastic electro-soul upstart V. V. Brown on tour this fall: Show's over. Citing merely "unforeseen circumstances," she's canceled the remainder of her fall dates, including October 24 at Bowery Ballroom. All canceled dates are below; those disa ... More >>

Week in Review: Quarantine the Past

Later, dude. Photo by Rob Harvilla​In the week we threw up our hands and named all seven days after Pavement, we celebrated at the now-reunited and finally in New York band's first show at the Williamsburg Waterfront, pitied the plight of scalpers trying to get rid of their tickets, hung out w ... More >>

Live: Of Montreal, Janelle Monae, and a Pair of Manpigs Take Over Terminal 5

all photos by Rebecca SmeyneThe new King and Queen of the misfit teens. Of Montreal, Janelle Monae Terminal 5 Saturday, September 18 Better than: Any music currently being made by actual teenage girls. In a characteristically intellectual/saucy dis on his new album False Priest, Of Montreal fron ... More >>

Saluting Janelle Monae's Ethereal Beauty at Her Free Concert In Bryant Park Today

To be fair, they are some pretty incredible ankles. Chief r&b space demon Janelle Monae took stage at Bryant Park a few hours ago, playing out in the sunshine as part of a Levi's promotion that involved donating clothes to Goodwill in exchange for a new, gratis pair of Curve ID jeans, whatever the ... More >>

Photos: Monotonix at the Siren Pre-Party

Sam HorineOpen wide Of all the things we here at Sound of the City emphatically endorse--Janelle Monae, the Mountain Goats, Matt & Kim, Ohio sports teams, responsible reporting of M.I.A.'s Tamil Tigers Tweets--the frantic live antics of Israeli stunt-garage trio Monotonix are high up there. Ami Sh ... More >>

Whoever Just Faked The Jelly Pool Parties Lineup Could've Done A Way Better Job

​So a couple hours ago Brooklyn Vegan seemed to post this year's Jelly Pool Party schedule, easily the most vital dance card for Brooklyn-is-the-center-of-the-universe types. But apparently it was some clown with access to the JPP braintrust's official Twitter account last year. BV posts a pho ... More >>

What The Hell Is Going On? Contemplating The Possible Genius Of Janelle Monáe's "Tightrope" Video

I've been watching and re-watching Janelle Monáe's video for ArchAndroid first single "Tightrope" for a few months now, and though I've come up with lots of other music-related stuff to talk and think about since, it's stuck with me. Firmly. Not for Gaga reasons, either--it's not nine minutes lon ... More >>

Tonight! Public Image Ltd., Keepaway, DOM, Janelle Monae, Phantogram, BRAHMS, BELL, And ARMS

Tonight, find Mr. Johnny Rotten aged to post-punk perfection with Public Image Ltd. at Terminal 5, where you'll catch the ex-Sex Pistols frontman wailing about "Death Disco," songs that aren't love songs, and the like. At Mercury Lounge, discover a couple of Christopher R. Weingarten-approved acts ... More >>

B.o.B Fulfills His Destiny, Goes #1

​Not to brag or anything, but Sean Fennessey pretty much called this exact turn of events a full month ago. The success of The Adventures of Bobby Ray, which sold 84,000 copies out of the gate, was a phenomenon long in the making--follow, if you care to, his team's careful set of decisions, fr ... More >>

VV Brown

This Weekend! Ted Leo, Screaming Females, Sundelles, Arms, Sea Monsters, MiniBoone, The Trombone Festival, Doveman, Mirror/Dash, Wild Babies, Twin Sister, and Balún

TedLeo.comTed Leo loves popcorn more than you​Everyone's favorite "goddamn American hero," Ted Leo, will be chord-chugging tonight at the Fillmore with Screaming Females. Though if you've been offended by his karaoke criticism, you can always check out mindlessly ecstatic lo-fiers the Sundelle ... More >>

Live: Janelle Monáe, Cheerfully Confounding At Highline Ballroom

​ Janelle Monáe Highline Ballroom Thursday, April 8 Bad Sign #1: We are greeted in the Highline Ballroom atrium by a cardboard cutout of Janelle, sci-fi r&b heroine extraordinaire, holding a sign informing us that we must listen to The Archandroid (that's her upcoming album) from beginning ... More >>

Week in Review: THIS CAN'T BE GOOD!!

Figured this one deserved an encore.​In the week Aimee Mann heard the phrase "Eat a hot bowl of dicks" for the first time, we made suggestions for her inevitable reconciliation with Ice-T, whose acting she at first did not sufficiently respect. Perhaps it'll involve Key Largo, Jon Brion, "Cop ... More >>

DO THE TIGHTROPE

Janelle Monáe juggles three nights in NYC

Week in Review: Fist Fight in the Parking Lot

In the week a chipped tooth kept Lil Wayne out of jail and a secretive, proprietary Billboard chart made a success out of his new, abysmal Rebirth, we pulled our Paul Wall grills out of the closet, just in case. You never know when your hood pass might get pulled, you know? Care for a Sightings p ... More >>

Say Goodbye to 2009: Looking Back at the Year in Concerts

Last year's Stupid Party in Crown Heights. All photos by Rebecca Smeyne.​We're closing up shop early today, and getting a head start on the New Year by doing snow angels outside for a while. Last minute guidance on your own New Year's Eve plans can be found here and here. In the meantime, plea ... More >>

OF MADNESS

Georgia's deranged rockers still mean business

Pig Destroyer, Eyehategod Now Playing a Suddenly Much More Metal CMJ 2009

​CMJ 2009 has just announced another wave of performers: The xx, Pig Destroyer, Eyehategod, Patrick Watson, Z-Trip, Midnight Juggernauts, Saul Williams, Janelle Monae, Superdrag, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Bear Hands, and UUVVWWZ will join Japandroids, the Very Best, Das Racist, Pissed J ... More >>

Week in Review: Costumes Are Relatively Minimal But There Is No Nudity Involved

This kind of behavior is really unacceptable. APW photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​In the week a shiny pair of crispy white shoes ventured out to New Jersey and All Points West, never to return, we joined the rest of the rainsoaked masses in saluting the Beastie Boys, who weren't there, though they di ... More >>

Photos: Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae at Governors Island Beach

​ Few things we love here more than Janelle Monae. Unfortunately our resident "space cowgirl" correspondent had his own event to attend, so Rebecca Smeyne went in his place to photograph the r&b superstar open for Erykah Badu, also no slouch to the strange-while-riveting live performer depart ... More >>

Janelle Monáe, Space Cowgirl

On the daffy sci-fi audacity of a fledgling r&b superstar

This Week's Voice: Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

In this week's Village Voice, we remember Michael Jackson: Greg Tate on the man and his legacy, rapper Jean Grae on what Jackson meant to musicians everywhere, and Jessica Hopper, reporting live from Gary, Indiana the night Jackson died. Elsewhere, Rob Harvilla describes the daffy sci-fi audacity ... More >>

Live: The Psychedelic Lunacy and High Production Values of Of Montreal

Rebecca Smeyne Of Montreal/Janelle Monáe Music Hall of Williamsburg Thursday, April 16 "I wanna do my dance. Can I do my dance? It's called the Sophisticated Sissy." And then Kevin Barnes does the Sophisticated Sissy, which is pretty aptly named, and is but one element in an overpowering barrage ... More >>

Of Montreal+Janelle Monae

SWXS 2009: A Biased Top-Five Recap, and How The Artists Therein Will Soon Tangibly Impact Your Life

Well that's over with. To complete my spiritual journey, I will now both provide my top-five greatest moments (Metallica excluded) and explore how non-SXSW revelers might enjoy their music, immediately or in the immediate future. 1. Ms. Janelle Monáe, of course. Her deeply, defiantly weird dyst ... More >>

SXSW 2009 Best in Show: Janelle Monáe

She could use a little help here. Janelle Monáe (Vice) SXSW Saturday Night, March 21 Ideally at this thing you find someone to champion, whether they're a relative unknown or already loudly championed by myriad others. Definitely the latter here: Janelle's been hailed as the future of r&b for wh ... More >>

SXSW 2009: Futuristic Nostalgia with Janelle Monáe and Phosphorescent

Janelle Monáe (Stubbs) Phosphorescent (Club De Ville) SXSW Wednesday Night, March 18 I would declare that a bunch of Decemberists fans crowding the front of the stage four hours before the sea shanties etc. even begin just to insure their spot is not exactly Atlanta r&b space-cadet Janelle Moná ... More >>

This Week in the Voice: Pazz & Jop!

Catch up on a year's worth of musicology with the Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll, now in its 36th year of goading the nation's top parsers to struggle over the higher meaning of sonic culture. Review the singles top-1,761 and albums top-1,693, see how your favorite critics voted, and attend the deep thou ... More >>

Janelle, Erykah, and Santogold Are the Afro-Techno Revolution

While Beyoncé just struggles to keep up

Game Rebellion Party for Their Right to Fight

Brooklyn crew's furious rap-rock taps a new, fresh vein of gangsta militancy

Extensions of a Woman

Alicia Keys is still a few albums away from her masterpiece. She'll get there.