SPIN'S 30 Must-Hear Albums of 2011

Clockwise: The Strokes, The Kills, Beastie Boys, Drake

By William Goodman and Kevin O'Donnell 

From http://www.spin.com/

Already, 2011 is shaping up to be another big year in music. To see what's in store, check out the latest on upcoming albums from 30 SPIN artists that matter, including the Strokes, the Beastie Boys, the Kills, Drake, Lady Gaga, and more!

• PJ HARVEY
The English songstress teamed up with longtime collaborators John Parrish and U2 producer Flood for Let England Shake, a collection of melodic tunes that tackle the vagaries of war, past and present. The record was recorded live in a Dorset, England, church — and Harvey's songs have a stomping, rhythmic vitality that was missing in her more restrained recent releases. (Due Feb. 18)

• PATRICK STUMP
Since Fall Out Boy went on hiatus in 2009, the frontman has spent more than a year recording, then completely re-recording, his debut solo album, Soul Punk. What happened? "As for the delay of the album itself, I'd say it's been less about the music or recording and more about all the other things that finish the thought," he told MTV. "I just want to make sure I go to sleep at night knowing I'm not half-assing this." Stump recently released thealbum's first single, "Spotlight." Listen here! (February)

Beady Eye Click to enlarge

• BEADY EYE
The debut from Liam Gallagher's post-Oasis band, which also features ex-Oasis members Gem Archer and Andy Bell, dips into everything from Beatles-style psychedelia and classic arena rock to hummable Britpop. "It's proper rock'n'roll," Gallaghersaid in July. "Oasis was a pop band compared to what we're doing." Different Gear, Still Speeding was produced by Steve Lillywhite (Dave Matthews Band, Morrissey). (March)

 

• LUPE FIASCO
Fans of the Chicago rapper can give themselves a pat on the back. After Lupe Tweeted that his follow-up to 2007's Lupe Fiasco's The Cool was done but not scheduled, fans circulated an online petition demandingLasers' release. Warner CEO Lyor Cohen ultimately gave in. In late October, "The Show Goes On," the album's first single, was released. The Neptunes, Kane Beatz, Alex Da Kid, Soundtrakk, and the Buchanans are confirmed producers; guests include Trey Songz and British-rapper Sway. (March 8)

• R.E.M.
R.E.M. cut their 15th album, Collapse Into Now, in New Orleans and Berlin, Germany, with producer Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol), and the 12-track set features some of their fiercest straight-up rock songs in years. Among the best are "Discoverer" and "Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter," which finds frontman Michael Stipe spouting rapid-fire phrases with the dizzying pace of classic tunes like "It's The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)." Other highlights include the title track, which has guest vocals from Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. (March 8)

Kanye West / Jay-Z Click to enlarge

• KANYE WEST & JAY-Z
Even before he released SPIN's Album of the Year,My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye was already working on this collabo with Jay-Z, Watch the Throne. The record was initially intended as an EP but ballooned into a full-length, with the rap titans laying down tracks all over the world, including the South of France and Australia. Listen to its first single "H.A.M.," which dropped in January, here.(March) 

• THE STROKES
The Fab Five's first release in as many years promises to be a "classic sounding" album in line with the group's groundbreaking sophomore LP, 2003's Room on Fire. And they've changed their creative process: Singer Julian Casablancas recorded his vocals separately from the band for the first time. "It's all a learning experience," bassist Nikolai Fraiture said recently. (March 22)

• PETER BJORN AND JOHN
After experimenting with artfully damaged electro sounds on 2009's Living Thing, the Swede trio recruited Cardigans producer Per Sunding and returned to the studio with a new plan: "This time around we had the clear idea of going back to basics -- guitar, bass, drums," singer-guitarist Peter Moren tells SPIN. Gimme Some is full of power-pop jams influenced by R.E.M., Stone Roses, Buzzcocks, and the Damned, as well as 1950s blues, soul, and rock'n'roll. "We wanted something peppy, poppy, positive," Moren says. (March 29)

• PANIC! AT THE DISCO
With Ryan Ross and Jon Walker out of the group (they left to form the Young Veins), singer Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith are soldering on for Panic!'s third album, Vices & Virtues. The emo-pop stars, who are getting production assistance from Butch Walker and John Feldmann, recently previewed the first track "The Ballad of Mona Lisa," which will be released officially on February 1. (March 29)

• THE KILLS
For the duo's fourth studio album, Blood Pressures, Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart wrote separately, an approach brought on by Mosshart's time on the road with the Dead Weather. "At the start, I was a bit sad about that," Hince tells SPIN. "But it really freed me up to try new things. She'd come back off tour with something she'd write on acoustic guitar. The process was a lot more exciting than ever before." Musically, Hince says the band stepped beyond their angular and minimal sound. "We didn't shy away from melody this time. This time around the songs took over." (April 5)

U2 Click to enlarge

• U2
The veteran rockers are busy working on three albums, and the first to arrive will be their collaboration with super producer Danger Mouse, tentatively titled Songs of Ascent. U2's manager Paul McGuinness told the Irish Times to expect an "early 2011" release. Bono told The Age, "We have about 12 songs with him [Danger Mouse]. At the moment that looks like the album we will put out next because it's just happening so easily."(Unscheduled 2011)

• FOO FIGHTERS
Expect a needle-in-the-red rock'n'roll revival for the Foo Fighters' first disc in five years. "There's 11 songs and front to back, there's not one sleepy ballad," Dave Grohl said of the untitled LP earlier this month, before the band teased a blistering new song. Which makes sense: The Foos' album finds Dave Grohl reuniting with Nirvana's Krist Novoselic and Butch Vig, who produced 1991's Nevermind. (Spring)

• BEASTIE BOYS
Now that Adam Yauch is recovering from cancer, the New York trio will release their first album in four years. The Boys originally intended to drop Hot Sauce Committee, Part 1 but opted to release Part 2 first, although it's more of a joke, really: Part 2 will feature the track list originally intended for Part 1. "Strange but true, the final sequence for Hot Sauce Committee, Part 2 works best with all its songs replaced by the 16 tracks we originally had lined up in pretty much the same order we had them in for Hot Sauce Committee, Part 1," Yauch said in October. "So we've come full circle." Follow that? (Spring)

Lady Gaga Click to enlarge

• LADY GAGA
It's the most anticipated pop record of the year — and Gaga won't let you forget it. For months, she's been teasing bits of info via Twitter and at her shows about Born This Way, calling it "almost perfect,"with "endless melodies, hooks + poetry sledge-hammering my skull." The wait is almost up: Gaga will drop album's first single, "Born This Way," on February 13. (May 23)

• DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
On their seventh album, the Seattle indie stalwarts are broadening their sound to include more vintage keyboards and other textures inspired by Brian Eno's Another Green World. Frontman Ben Gibbard told SPIN that early highlights included "Codes and Keys," the group's first song to feature strings in 12 years, and "Unobstructed Views," a seven-minute, mostly instrumental number. (May)

• FLEET FOXES
Washington State's bearded folkies were close to wrapping the follow-up to their self-titled debut last fall. But frontman Robin Pecknold scrapped much of the material to "return to the cave," as he called it, and start over. The record has since been mastered and is prepped for release. Expect it to be similar to their debut: bright, pastoral folk tunes, with richly layered vocals and harmonies that call to mind Crosby, Stills, and Nash during their late-'60s prime. (May)

BLACK LIPS
For their upcoming sixth studio album, Atlanta's garage rock bad boys teamed with super-producer Mark Ronson. "We're just spending a lot of time and making sure it's awesome," singer-guitarist Cole Alexandertold SPIN.com. "This album is going to be more commercial." Still, the band experimented with country sounds and even used a human skull as an instrument. (Early Summer)

• DRAKE
Drake is going all out on Take Care, the follow-up to the former teen soap star's smash debut Thank Me Later. "I really want to write great 'life' raps," he told Shade 45 radio. "I just want to write for the people and speak for my generation." The album will be sonically experimental, featuring interludes and transitions; Q-Tip is reportedly producing. In a December interview with SPIN, Drake said, "I'm working on myself, both mentally and physically, to come back stronger than ever." (Summer)

• STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
Before Pavement's much-salivated-over reunion tour kicked off last spring, the Jicks recorded 90 percent of their new LP with Beck producing. In August, Beck told Pitchfork they planned to finish up once Malkmus was off the road. A publicist says the yet-to-be-titled release is expected this fall.

Radiohead Click to enlarge

• RADIOHEAD
Guitarist Jonny Greenwood said it would only be a "matter of weeks" before they finished their first album since 2007's In Rainbows -- and that was back in June. Since then, drummer Phil Selwayrevealed they've toyed with throwing out all the material they've worked on, so it's hard to say where they're at with the record, which will be produced by Nigel Godrich. Still, a rep for the band confirms a new record is due out sometime this year.(Unscheduled 2011)

• GYM CLASS HEROES
After releasing his solo album Lazarus last year, frontman Travie McCoy is getting back with his pop-punk crew for their fifth record, tentatively titled The Papercut Chronicles II. The band has roughly 18 songs sketched out and the final product is due out sometime this year. "Some [songs] are in the very, very embryonic stages, and some are more refined," McCoy said recently. (Unscheduled 2011)

• JANE'S ADDICTION
After Duff McKagan abruptly quit the band, Jane's Addiction hired TV on the Radio producer-instrumentalist Dave Sitek to take up bass duties (and contribute song ideas) for their new LP, tentatively titled The Great Escape Artist. Expect the record to marry Jane's L.A. punk roots with Sitek's talents for expansive, atmospheric sound collages. "They're songs that take you on a journey, songs that grow from soft to hard to tribal to psychedelic to metal in one song," said drummer Stephen Perkins. We're trying to explore that hybrid again."(Unscheduled 2011)

My Morning Jacket Click to enlarge

• MY MORNING JACKET
The Louisville, Kentucky, rockers are going back to basics on their sixth record, producing the set themselves in their own recording space -- a converted gymnasium. "This time it's just the five of us; the control room is only separated by a curtain," bassist Tommy Blankenship told SPIN in October. "We're going back to a similar vibe that we had on the first three records. It's definitely more laid back than it's been in a while. [The album has] got that vibe to it where it sounds likes everybody is in the same room. Even if someone is only playing on half of a song, you can still feel their presence."(Unscheduled 2011)

• RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
RCHP have roped in touring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer to replace John Frusciante and their latest LP will include songs that were written by Flea on piano, as well as material inspired by Afro-beat music from Lagos, Nigeria. "There's crazy shit on that," drummer Chad Smith told SPIN last fall. "That music just moves to a different groove, it's not your typical Western four-four. The rhythms are so infectious."(Unscheduled 2011)

 WILCO
Jeff Tweedy and Co. will release their follow-up to 2009's Wilco (The Album) on their own label, after splitting from their longtime home Nonesuch last year. The band has been quiet about details of the new album -- which a rep confirms is due out sometime in 2011 -- although the group did hit up their Chicago studio to lay down tracks last October. (Unscheduled 2011)

Santigold Click to enlarge

• SANTIGOLD
After the release of her self-titled breakout debut and its blockbuster single "L.E.S. Artistes," the Philadelphia-bred New Wave singer underwent a name change, from Santogold to Santigold, a play on her birth name Santi White. She also collaborated with Christina Aguilera, DEVO, and Major Lazer, among others, and finally returned to the studio in late 2010. While little is known about her upcoming release, a publicist confirms that she's currently in the studio working on the effort.(Unscheduled 2011)

• LIL WAYNE
Since his release from prison in November, Weezy has been holed up in his Miami studio working on Tha Carter IV, his sequel to 2008's Tha Carter III. On Twitter, DJ Scoo Doo, Wayne's collaborator, compared the record -- which a publicist confirmed to drop in 2011 -- to Tha Carter III's lynchpin track "A Milli" -- "but on steroids!" Its first single, "6 Foot 7 Foot," featuring Cory Gunz, was released on last month. Reports say Wayne, who started working on the album before his prison sentence, started over from scratch and will use rhymes he penned behind bars. (Unscheduled 2011)

Blink-182 Click to enlarge

• BLINK-182
After drummer Travis Barker's brush with death in a fiery plane crash brought Blink back together in 2009, the trio has been slowly working on their yet-to-be-titled sixth studio album. Bassist Mark Hoppus told MTV, "We've gone through a lot of really heavy stuff over the past few years. There's plenty of heavy stuff to write about." This includes the deaths of longtime producer Jerry Finn and friend DJ AM. Musically, "it's really an expansive record," said Hoppus. "There's stuff that sounds like what we were doing on the last Blink record, and there's stuff that sounds like what we were doing 10 years ago and stuff that we've never done before." (Unscheduled 2011)

• OUTKAST
It's been four years since the Atlanta duo dropped Idelwild, but a publicist confirms that, yes, they're working on their long-awaited follow-up, which is expected this year. But according to Big Boi, whose Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty made SPIN's Best Albums of 2010 list, Andre 3000 needs to drop his solo effort first. "Right now, we're putting beats together for the OutKast album," he said. "When 'Dre finishes, we’ll commence and record." (Unscheduled 2011)

• DR. DRE
Though there's no official release date, Dre already seems to be in promo mode for his next album: The weed-tastic first single, "Kush," recently dropped (as did its video), and he appeared on the cover of XXL magazine. In the interview, Dre said the LP is expected in the "first quarter [of] 2011," and that it will be his last: "I don't ever see myself retiring totally from music, because I have a genuine love and passion for it. But as far as me going into the mic booth, that shit is over. I'm always going to talent scout and try to find new artists to work with. But, yeah, that's it. I don't see myself doing it the way I'm doing it now." (Unscheduled 2011)

New Scream 4 Trailer Delivers Big Thrills, Kills Heroes' Cheerleader

Genre: Horror, Comedy
Official Site: http://www.scream-4.com/
Director: Wes Craven
Cast: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox Arquette, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Hayden Panettiere
In theaters: April 15th, 2011
Synopsis:
New decade. New rules.

The World's 10 Happiest Countries

 - Forbes.com

Christopher Helman

Think about it for a minute: What does happiness mean to you?

For most, being happy starts with having enough money to do what you want and buy what you want. A nice home, food, clothes, car, leisure. All within reason.

But happiness is much more than money. It's being healthy, free from pain, being able to take care of yourself. It's having good times with friends and family.

In Pictures: The World's Happiest Countries

Furthermore, happiness means being able to speak what's on your mind without fear, to worship the God of your choosing, and to feel safe and secure in your own home.

Happiness means having opportunity--to get an education, to be an entrepreneur. What's more satisfying than having a big idea and turning it into a thriving business, knowing all the way that the harder you work, the more reward you can expect?

With this in mind, five years ago researchers at the Legatum Institute, a London-based nonpartisan think tank, set out to rank the happiest countries in the world. But because "happy" carries too much of a touchy-feely connotation, they call it "prosperity."

Legatum recently completed its 2010 Prosperity Index, which ranks 110 countries, covering 90% of the world's population.

To build its index Legatum gathers data from 12 sources the Gallup polling group, the Heritage Foundation and the World Economic Forum. Each country is ranked on 89 variables sorted into eight subsections: economy, entrepreneurship, governance, education, health, safety, personal freedom and social capital.
The core conceit: Prosperity is complex; achieving it relies on a confluence of factors that build on each other in a virtuous circle.

"To use economic measurements alone to gauge the success of a nation would be equivalent to assessing the entire condition of a man simply by looking at his bank balance," writes Peter Mandelson, former U.K. economic minister.

To that end, the inputs used to create the index are both objective and subjective: that's because it's not enough to know hard data like a country's unemployment or inflation rates. It also matters how hard people think it is to find jobs, how convinced they are that hard work can bring success.

This can get complicated. In Nepal, for example, inflation is 11%, unemployment 46%. Yet a surprisingly high 50% of the people say they are satisfied with their standard of living and 81% have confidence in their banks. Could be they're scared of voicing their true opinion in a shaky democracy, or maybe the Nepalese are just endemically happier people. Legatum adjusts for this, adding a variable called "ability to express political opinion without fear."

What's the most prosperous country in the world? Norway. What's it got that the rest of the world doesn't? The biggest bump comes from having the world's highest per capita GDP of $53,000 a year. Norwegians have the second-highest level of satisfaction with their standards of living: 95% say they are satisfied with the freedom to choose the direction of their lives; an unparalleled 74% say other people can be trusted.

Cynics (particularly those leaving comments on Legatum's excellent website) say Norway's ranking is a fluke, that it's a boring, godless (just 13% go to church) homogeneous place to live with a massive welfare state bankrolled by high taxes. Without massive offshore reserves of oil and gas that it exports to the world through state-controlled Statoil, Norway's GDP would be far smaller.

And yet joining Norway in the top 10 prosperous countries are its Scandinavian sisters Denmark, Finland and Sweden, with equally small and civilized Switzerland and the Netherlands also in the club. None of these countries are blessed with great hoards of oil and gas.

So what gives? What do these prosperous European nations have in common that can somehow explain their prosperity? Being an electoral democracy is almost a given--of the top 25 most prosperous countries, only Singapore and Hong Kong aren't.

Being small helps too. Big countries have so many disparate groups (ethnic, geographic, civic) vying against each other that it's hard for true social cohesion and trust to emerge, and harder to maintain high levels of safety. Among countries with populations of more than 150 million, the United States ranks highest, at No. 10.

What else? They are all borderline socialist states, with generous welfare benefits and lots of redistribution of wealth. Yet they don't let that socialism cross the line into autocracy. Civil liberties are abundant (consider decriminalized drugs and prostitution in the Netherlands). There are few restrictions on the flow of capital or of labor. Legatum's scholars point out that Denmark, for example, has little job protection, but generous unemployment benefits. So business owners can keep the right number of workers, while workers can have a safety net while they muck around looking for that fulfilling job.

Of perhaps utmost importance, nearly all the nations in the top 10 are adept at fostering entrepreneurship and opportunity. Legatum's researchers concluded that a country's ranking in this area is the clearest proxy of its overall ranking in the index.

This means low business startup costs, lots of cellphones, plenty of secure Internet servers, a history of high R&D spending and the perception that working hard gets you ahead.

That last bit--the perception that working hard pays off--is especially vital. Consider that Denmark and Sweden rank first and second in entrepreneurship and opportunity, but only 77% of Swedes and 84% of Danes think that working hard will get them ahead. Compare that with the U.S., the No. 3 country for entrepreneurship and opportunity. Fully 9 of 10 Americans think that hard work will pay off.

Perception matters. Alan McCormick, a managing director at Legatum, points out that the U.S. remains the envy of the world when it comes to entrepreneurialism, pointing out that during the recession year of 2009, Americans created 558,000 new businesses each month. That's 27,000 more per month than in 2008 and 60,000 more per month than in 2007.

For countries that want to move up in the prosperity rankings, that care about improving the happiness of their people, one of the best ways may be to cultivate an entrepreneurial culture.

"Over the last three decades, new startups have accounted for nearly all of the increased employment in the American private sector," says McCormick. "Entrepreneurial societies raise levels of expectation and produce a culture in which human potential is released, healthy risk-taking is encouraged, and where the fledgling business ideas of today become the global-selling products of tomorrow."

Entrepreneurialism also gives a society a mechanism by which it can address and improve other aspects of the prosperity ecosystem. Want better education, health care or safety? Someone's ready to sell it to you.
So what else does the U.S. have going for it? High levels of governance, education and freedom. But most surprising, Legatum gives the U.S. the top ranking in the world when it comes to health.

Huh? Didn't we spend last year decrying the sorry state of an American health care system that had left 40 million uninsured? This doesn't mean the U.S. has the best health care system, says McCormick, but $5,500 a year in per-capita health spending has resulted in excellent vaccination rates, water quality and sanitation.

Lacking: the U.S. scored just 62nd in feeling "well rested." Compare that with China, which ranked 12th in being well rested.

That takes us back to our original question: What does happiness mean to you? Does being well rested fit into the equation? Maybe. But not if all that shuteye is because you don't have a job to go to. Or if you have no choice but to rest because you don't have access to real medical care. China ranks 66th in health, spending just $350 per capita per year.

Overall China is the 58th most prosperous nation in the world. Despite scoring well in economic measures, it's dragged down by a rank of 92nd in safety and security and 102nd in personal freedom (just edging out Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe).

And the worst? Zimbabwe is the least prosperous country on Earth, followed by Pakistan, according to the study, with most of the rest of sub-Saharan Africa not much better. To be fair, some countries, like North Korea, are so far off the deep end that they don't publish any data or let in pollsters to quiz their people.
How to improve their plight? Economic growth at all costs. Roger Bate, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, points out that if you live in one of the poorest nations, a doubling of income from $3,000 to $6,000 per year will generate a lot more additional happiness than would a pay raise of the same amount, from $33,000 to $36,000, for a citizen of a prosperous country.

Ultimately how happy you are depends on how happy you've been. If you're already rich, like Scandinavia, then more freedom, security and health would add the most to happiness. For the likes of China and India (ranked 88th), it's more a case of "show me the money." What they want most of all? The opportunity to prove to themselves that money doesn't buy happiness.
In Pictures: The World's Happiest Countries

Cameron Diaz Says Snoop Dogg Sold Her Pot in 'LBC' High School

By Dennis Romero
From http://blogs.laweekly.com/

Lopez Tonight / TBS

Cameron Diaz says Snoop Dogg was an uplifting influence in high school.

Not really a shocker here: Cameron Diaz told George Lopez this week that she's "pretty sure" she bought marijuana from Snoop Dogg in high school.

America's foremost promoter of goodweed sold pot in high school? Sounds like it. Diaz apparently went to Long Beach Polytechnic High School in the '80s with Snoop. She remembered it as a campus with 3,500 students.

And she said the rapper was "very tall and skinny he wore lots of ponytails in his head."



That's him, officer. (We hope there's a statute of limitations here, because selling weed to a high school kid -- without a medical marijuana card even! -- has to be illegal).

Frankly, we were surprised to see such humility from Diaz, a former model. She talked openly about her Cuban background and growing up in "the LBC."

She said Snoop was "a year older than me ... I'm pretty sure I bought weed from him. I had to have."

"So you were green even in high school," Lopez asked, referring to her affinity for Toyota Priuses.

"Absolutely."