pop

I've had a lot of time this summer to watch how the next generation interacts with music and technology, and it's making me feel like my parents. Two stories to illustrate my point:

1. My 14-year-old niece came to visit last week. One night, she excused herself from the table because she had to take a particular call. As she explained, "My friends brought a portable keyboard with them through the Chick-fil-A drive through and recorded their order as a rap. Now they're sending it to me." (This is the kind of story that sounds … Read more

Now that we're knee-deep into summer, it's time to recap the big festivals going on this season. Coachella and Bonnaroo have come and gone, so now our eyes are on, among others, Lollapalooza in Chicago, Outside Lands in San Francisco, and Rock the Bells in cities nationwide. And it's not too late to catch the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Festival. This two-day tribute to one of the greatest indie labels ever is happening in Seattle--aka the home of grunge rock--this weekend. Road trip!

Listen to our free Summer Daze playlist by clicking the green button below. Then … Read more

Early Wednesday, antivirus vendor Sophos reported that some visitors to the Sony PlayStation site may have been prompted to download an antivirus scanner.

Pages promoting the PlayStation games SingStar Pop and God of War contained SQL-injected code. Visitors to those specific game pages would see a fake antivirus scan , then a message that their computer was infected with different viruses and Trojan horses. Warned, the user would then be asked to purchase the scanner to remove the bogus malware.

The injected code linking to the scanner has since been removed.

Sophos said the attack could have downloaded malicious payloads, but … Read more

Like top ten lists? You might like SmashBuys, a link aggregator of the best selling items on the Web. Sites included are Amazon, iTunes, VGchartz, and Downloads from Webware's sister site Download.com. There are nine in all, and clicking any link will send you straight to the product page. You can also hover over any item to learn more about it.

It was pitched to us as a PopUrls for products, which is very true, although Smashbuys users have the added benefit of seeing how popular each link is with the community. Items that get more clicks get … Read more

It's a good time to be a budding pop-punker in Las Vegas; odds are someone in your high school English class already has a record deal. For the Cab, Panic at the Disco did the networking, and it's easy to hear what they liked. Both bands mix vulnerable lyrics with lean and mean guitar power.

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With Father's Day coming up, it's time to resurface one of our favorite genres: Dad Rock. It's a style that originated from the bearded soft rock era of the '70s, however, its legacy has lived on. Many of its signature artists are still recording, and some are even bigger than ever, including Neil Diamond and Van Morrison. Meanwhile, sons-of-dad-rockers, such as singer-songwriter Jakob Dylan, carry the touch.

Listen to our Dad Rock playlist by clicking the green button below. Then visit Download Music to stream and download thousands of more free songs.

The never-ending quest for extraterrestrial life goes on: the Phoenix Lander touched down last Sunday on a mission to explore the polar region of Mars. The $420 million spacecraft, which launched last August, is expected to find "ice-rich permafrost" underneath the Martian surface. Back on Earth, members of NASA, astrophysicists, and amateur star gazers worldwide (not to mention those of us at Download Music) will be tracking its every move.

What's a better way to celebrate this historical event than a space-theme playlist? Listen via the green button below and visit the artist pages to download or … Read more

New York has always been a breeding ground for talented musicians, but not since East Coast hip-hop emerged in the '80s has there been enough of a scene there to call it a movement. Today, if you zoom in on the map, you'll find the trend-setting and musically productive borough of Brooklyn. It's definitely a mecca for indie rock hipsters, but not everyone there wears ironic thrift store t-shirts. Artists such as Nada Surf, Antibalas, and Beau Jennings have ubiquitous styles that could be from anywhere, really. And this diversity is the reason why we love New York.… Read more

Stalwart indie label Sub Pop has been on a particular roll of late, and that continues with local Seattle group Fleet Foxes. The group makes a strangely sublime sort of country-pop, one built around antique arrangements, soulful lyrics, and gauzy gospel-folk harmonies.

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