Amanda Palmer, Nicole Atkins and Regina Spektor walk into a bar.

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

OK, so it may not have been a bar — more like New York City's Spiegeltent — but the three were indeed together and, thanks to some peer pressure from Palmer, Spektor walked away from the evening with a mission: update her MySpace blog. "Amanda was kind enough to remind me that me not writing about anything on MySpace for such a long time, is uncool to the max (not her exact words)," she wrote.

In fact, it had been eight months and 11 days since the quirky chanteuse fully took to her digital scribe, and only then to talk about her then-recent health ailments (vertigo) and to wish readers season's greetings. In that time, Spektor, as she reveals, wrote a song, titled "The Call," for Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, recorded a tune with Ben Folds for his new album, played a Brooklyn show with a Stroke (Albert Hammond, Jr.), opened for Ani DiFranco in Philadelphia, and played three dates on the True Colors tour, which included a little tour-bus dance party with Tegan and Sara in Washington, D.C.

"They are the funnest and awesomest twins I know," Spektor wrote, "and just because I don't know that many twins doesn't mean they are not the highest caliber of awesome and fun." We'd imagine few would argue. … continue reading

The Cure are releasing yet another album today, but the true musical gems take a different form this week, in a female-fronted pop trend. I don't mean pop ala the Pussycat Dolls, however; I mean pop as it should be — blissful tunes that stay in your head and can easily be adapted to situations in your life, like a score for your everyday. Give these new albums a listen and you'll see what I mean.

Dressy Bessy Holler and Stomp (Transdreamer)

This album is dreamy indie pop from a band that brought you two songs from the But I'm a Cheerleader soundtrack. Frontwoman Tammy Ealom gets a little angsty on "Simple Girlz," and the song is better for it.

Jem — Down to Earth (ATO)

Not to be be confused with the Jem that is truly outrageous, this one is a Welsh vocalist which you might remember from several TV shows utilizing songs from her 2004 album, Finally Woken. On Down to Earth, expect more TV-ready pop rock love songs. … continue reading