New Music: Janelle Monae, M.I.A., B.o.B., Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, DOM

The last week or so has been RIDICULOUSLY chock full of fantastic music releases.

Janelle Monae's new album The ArchAndroid is a wonderfully clever idea and it has been executed perfectly. Her duet with of Montreal, "Make the Bus" is a match made in indie-heaven. Their voices mesh together beautifully and harmoniously. The rest of the album is filled to the brim with equally quirky pop-soul songs, the best of which, "Tightrope," comes with a killer video to boot. Check that out and more after the jump.

Here's the video, which also feature Big Boi of Outkast:

Make the Bus:

Tightrope

After her controversial video for "Born Free," M.I.A. is back with the official first single of her upcoming album / \ / \  /\ Y / \ (which spells out Maya, her birth name). The song, "xxxo" is a total smash. At times, it straddles the line between subtlety and "in your-face."  It is hook-laden, as M.I.A. chants "You want me bein' somebody who I'm really not."  Perhaps a backhand slap in the face to her record label who didn't like the direction she was going with this album? I say her next single should slap them doubly as hard if it's half as good as this song is.

Dubbed "This Year's Kid Cudi" by blogs everywhere, B.o.B recently put out a very solid debut album The Adventures of Bobby Ray. Yesterday, the phenomenal DJ, Villains, dropped his remix of the hit "Nothin' on You." It's such a massive improvement on the original song. It's a certified club hit. It's synths bounce around with crisp precision, heating up the previously slow and subdued track. The guitar riffs that fill the background are the perfect added touch. Even B.o.B. sounds more engaged here.

Speaking of B.o.B...his "Nothin'" collaborator Bruno Mars released a single of his own this week, called "The Other Side" and God, is it GOOD! With the help of Gnarls Barkley singer Cee-Lo Green and, of course, his pal B.o.B., Mars fills that retro-soul gap that we've been missing since Gnarls went on hiatus. Whereas Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings sound like they belong in the 1960s (not an insult, they're just great in a different way!), Mars does the time-warp and makes this dancey-soul-pop-who knows what else-song into a relevant, fresh sounding SMASH!

Just in time for summer, Ms. Katy Perry returns with a new single, "California Gurls" featuring the ubiquitous Snoop Dogg. It's produced by Dr. Luke and sounds similar to the also Luke produced "Tik Tok" but that's a good thing; Perry actually has the pipes to support the beat. Snoop's verse is as cool as a summer's breeze. This song is going to burn up the charts this summer.

 

On Cinco de Mayo, I had the opportunity to check out up-and-coming indie band DOM at Great Scott in Allston. The trio sounded just as good live as they do on their new EP Sun Bronzed Greek Gods. Check out the best tracks, "Burn Bridges" and "Living in America" below, and quickly-you'll be hearing their name a lot in the next few months.