Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald, also known as the eclectic musical duo The Ditty Bops, announced to their mailing list and on their MySpace page that they were married this week in California.

The couple have been together since 1999, and formed their band in 2004. Their music has appeared on Grey's Anatomy and The L Word, and they recently released their third full-length CD, Summer Rains. … continue reading

She may have moved to Los Angeles, but she's still an Aussie, through and through. Bisexual singer Missy Higgins is award-winning in her homeland, where she's maintained a successful musical career since she was 18 years old. Now she can add "film actress" to her résumé, as she's been cast alongside Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush in the new film Bran Nue Dae.

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The movie is an adaptation of a hit musical of the same name, and will begin shooting this Friday. Higgins has never acted before, and told an Australian newspaper she is a bit "terrified."

This opportunity felt like something I just couldn't pass up on. I feel very honored to be working alongside such an incredible cast and crew and I know it's going to be a lot of fun.

Coming off a whirlwind of touring and major media attention from their 2007 album Standing in the Way of Control, the Gossip are indulging in some well-needed rest. The band is home in Portland, relaxing while also working on their new album. Yeah — I'm sure that's totally relaxing. No pressure!

In a MySpace blog post this week, bassist Brace Paine that they will not be playing until the new album comes out, except for one special performance at the Miami Art Basel festival in December: … continue reading

We are collaborating on a piece with the kingpins and art master Jim Drain. It will be a very special performance indeed, for you Floridians, check it out.

Amy Ray is currently on tour in support of her new solo album, Didn't It Feel Kinder, but she's still talking Indigo Girls. The famous lesbian duo are feeling "Closer to Fine" about being dropped by Hollywood Records after their last album, telling Billboard that they are actually relieved to be out of the deal.

"We probably shouldn't have even gone into it," Ray told the music business publication. "But we're excited now because we really feel like being without label is going to be a good thing for us for a while."

With the dedicated fan base they have, the Indigo Girls have will most likely reap more benefits from going it alone. In fact, some of the new songs they've played live have already showed up online — but Ray and bandmate Emily Saliers don't mind.

"Like for us, it's all just getting it out there and building the community," Ray said. "It's fun and like when people were bootlegging shows in the old days." … continue reading

Back in June, M.I.A. set off rumors of an early retirement by announcing that her show at Bonnaroo would be her last show ever. Many were skeptical, but in August, she reiterated that she had no intention of returning to the music industry:

[Bonnaroo] was my last-ever show. And it still is. I stopped touring after that and I didn't want to make music again. I was quite happy to just leave it all behind. I was happy with what I had achieved.

As their hearts sank into their scuffed Converse Chuck Taylors, by early September, fans and music industry bloggers alike finally blew out the torch for their darling M.I.A.

This past Saturday, however, M.I.A. came out of retirement for a brief set at the Diesel xXx Party in New York City, and she brought along a surprise guest, whom we shall call “Mini M.I.A.”

M.I.A. showed off her lovely new lady lump at the Diesel party in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn, a show that also featured Franz Ferdinand, T.I., Chaka Khan and N.E.R.D. … continue reading

How's this for hip-hop royalty news: None other than Queen Latifah is set to release a new album in December — and she actually raps on it. After focusing on acting (and garnering an Oscar nomination for her efforts in 2002's Chicago) and releasing two well-received collections of pop standards (2004's The Dana Owens Album and 2007's Trav'lin’ Light) it seems that the Queen is ready to get back in the game for the first time in more than a decade. (Yes, Order in the Court came out in the summer of 1998!)

Queen Latifah grew up in Newark, N.J., and got into hip-hop as a teenager, beat boxing with the group Ladies Fresh. She went on to emcee with Flavor Unit, through which DJ Mark the 45 King heard her song "Princess of the Posse." He passed a demo on to Fab Five Freddy, host of Yo! MTV Raps, who helped Latifah sign with Tommy Boy Records and release her debut All Hail the Queen in 1989, when she was only 19. The rest is a Grammy-studded stroll down the Hollywood Walk of Fame (on which she was the first hip-hop artist to get a star).

Queen Latifah recently told RollingStone.com that she almost decided to call the upcoming and still-untitled project The L Word, "Just to mess with people's heads." Hmm. I'll just leave that one alone. … continue reading

Have you heard of Alina Simone? If not, this won't be the last time. The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter dynamo recently released Everyone is Crying Out to Me, Beware, a collection of covers of songs by Russian punk-rock poet Yanka Dyagileva, to critical acclaim.

Alina’s riveting live shows capture the audience in thrall, despite the fact that most of us don't speak a word of the language she's singing in. The emotion comes across loud and clear, gallows-humor tales of passion and despair. Her sound is reminiscent of early PJ Harvey — spare, bluesy rock guitar framing a rich, hungry voice.

Born in Kharkov, Ukraine, Alina Simone came to the U.S. as a baby, growing up in Massachusetts. In addition to writing and performing music, she is an accomplished photographer. The detailed documentary-maker's eye she brings to her photography is evident in the literary still-life quality of her own songs. … continue reading

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

Alison Krauss is nominated for two CMAs, and she doesn’t even have big hair.

If you’re saying “Huh?" then you must not be a country music fan, because the Country Music Association's awards are bigger than Dolly Parton’s hair. (And you know the old saying: The higher the hair, the closer to God.) Alison Krauss is a singer/fiddler who’s been blazin’ some pretty fine trails since she burst on the bluegrass scene at the tender age of 14. Twenty Grammys later (and only in her 30s), she’s still kickin’ it and doing it as an independent. How twangin’ cool is that?

The CMA has nominated her for Female Vocalist of the Year (something she’s garnered three out of the last four years) and with Robert Plant for Musical Event of the Year. Yes, the Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. But we'll have to wait until Nov. 12 to see if she's won.

Other nominees in the female vocalist category include Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. I’m rooting for Krauss, although I wouldn’t cry if McBride won. I’d like to see Swift finish high school first. … continue reading

Avril Lavigne is a threat to the youth of Malaysia. The 23-year-old pop singer is so smoking hot that members of a Malaysian Islamic opposition party do not want any of their impressionable youth seeing her in concert. Lavigne will have to shake her moneymaker in front of some other country’s young pliable minds because this opposition party isn’t having any of it. The Malaysian conservative group is convinced that her moves are “too sexy” for their teenagers, and they believe her August performance must be stopped.

The group appealed to the Malaysian Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Heritage to cancel the concert and the Ministry agreed. "It is not timely. It's not in the good spirit of our National Day. If we go ahead with the concert, it is contrary to what we are preparing for," said a senior official from the Ministry. Apparently, National Day is a countrywide day set aside to prepare against the evils of wristbands and tube socks.

Malaysia has a history of strict guidelines, which have led many female performers to cancel their shows. The Malaysian government’s rules require that all female performers wear conservative clothing that do not bear any “obscene” images. Additionally, all clothing must cover you from the chest to the knee. (Why am I getting flashbacks of "dress-down days" at my Catholic elementary school?) Beyonce moved her scheduled concert to Indonesia as a result of these mandates, and Christina Aguilera opted to not perform there at all. Gwen Stefani decided to perform, agreeing to cover up her trademark washboard stomach. She called her decision to wear a bit more clothing on stage “a major sacrifice” (and I will add, a terrible loss to that nation). … continue reading

The interwebs are abuzz with talk about Lily Allen's upcoming record — rumors about a duet with hot mess actress/"singer" Lindsay Lohan, and talk about her team-up with producer Greg Kurstin (The Bird & The Bee). There's also the dubiously provocative album title: Stuck on the Naughty Step, about which Allen told Rolling Stone, "Like a timeout, you know? I feel like I'm stuck in a hole where people say, 'Lily, you’re bad. Go think about what you’ve done'."

You may recall Allen's career shifted into high gear two years ago, after the popularity of her song "Smile" swept across MySpace. Certainly, MySpace has proven effective for her, as her profile has been viewed nearly 19.5 million times. That's more profile views than even Madonna has received. Crazy.

As for the rumored duet with Lohan, it sounds like it was born out of Allen's friendship with Lohan's (alleged) girlfriend Sam Ronson, who introduced the two over dinner. The duet is titled "Wherever You Go." … continue reading