The official version of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” hits the radio on Monday. She’s also confirmed for a cameo on Gossip Girl. [@cherrytreerec, Rolling Stone]

Julian Casablancas pushed back the release of his solo album, Phrases for the Young, to November 2. [NME]

Want to listen to the New Moon soundtrack? It’s streaming in its entirety here. [@newmoonsound]

Weezer wants to answer your questions. Click here to find out more. [@weezer]

The Flaming Lips played “Watching the Planets” on The Tonight Show. [The Music Slut]

Today is a big day for The Antlers, as the tastemakers at Pitchfork bestowed their Best New Music honor upon the group’s new Frenchkiss disc, Hospice. As you may remember, the Volume featured the local indie-folk trio back in May. Below is a repost of that performance, in case you missed it. Note that the Music Hall of Williamsburg show plugged at the beginning of the video has long passed—you can catch the Antlers at their CD-release show August 21 at Mercury Lounge.

Sticking around town this weekend? Well, have no fear—we’ve got you covered. (For Thursday’s recommended shows, head here.)

Let there be fireworks:

The Entrance Band

Friday

The show of the night might just be the electro-heavy Here We Go Magic and Bachelorette South Street Seaport gig. It’s the first one of the year for the beloved summer series.

If you want a little guitar noise in your life, the always-solid vets Sonic Youth are playing uptown—at the United Palace—with an excellent and aptly named opener, the Entrance Band. (The Entrance Band also plays Southpaw Sunday.)

The Woodsist/Captured Tracks fest at 979 Broadway features Crystal Stilts tonight. (And tomorrow, starting in the day, bands like Thee Oh Sees, Vivian Girls and Woods play.)

For a jazzy night, hit the Highline Ballroom for a set from the Charles Lloyd Quartet.

Saturday - Independence Day

The annual free River to River show at Battery Park is always hit. This year, the indie crowd can collectively orgasm for the double bill of Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band and Jenny Lewis.

Also on this Fourth of July, the ever-popular Afro-Punk Festival kicks off at BAM. It lasts through Monday.

Sunday

Nothing says America like a metal show with bands like Anal Cunt and Fuck the Facts. Show No Mercy presents the affair at Public Assembly.

Close your long weekend out with some unparalleled free jazz at Local 269. The highlight is the pairing of Jon Irabagon and Mike Pride, who just garnered a five-star review in Time Out New York. (The duo also plays Cornelia Street Café Monday.)

Nordic people with similar names: artist Olafur Eliasson, who made The New York City Waterfalls; Ólafur Arnalds, the neoclassical composer; and Ólöf Arnalds. All of these are grand talents, and in fact, the last two are cousins—but only one is playing the extraordinary Housing Works benefit with Björk and Dirty Projectors on Friday, and that’s Ólöf Arnalds.

Take a listen to “Klara” and it’s easy to hear why Arnalds’s work has drawn such distinguished fans. Her playing—all soft, insistent little plucks and strums—and her clear, high voice recall Joanna Newsom’s Milk-Eyed Mender. But where Newsom’s record is all fairy-tale mystery, Arnalds’s Við og Við debut conjures something more ancient-seeming.

Playing behind her forthcoming second album (recorded with Kjartan Sveinsson from Sigur Rós), you can catch Arnalds live tonight at Union Hall, then tomorrow at Sycamore and the day after at Scandinavia House.

Click on to see Ólöf talking about Klara in interview. “It’s a silly little song,” she says.

Read more »

Last year, the sensational Barb Jungr took the top spot on our top-ten list of the year’s best cabaret shows. Her new set gives her an excellent shot at repeating that distinction in December. Simply put, this English chanteuse—whom TONY has written about several times in the past, including in this 2008 profile—is one of the very best nightclub singers in the world, and she knocks the genteel Café Carlyle on its pearl-studded ear.

Jungr’s engagement ends this Saturday, March 28. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a cabaret person, you must see this show. And here’s why (after the jump):

Read more »