New Music: Keane, Jay-Z, Annie & Sam Sparro, M.S.K.

| Thu Aug. 7, 2008 4:50 PM EDT


British popsters Keane have always seemed like Coldplay imitators, and since Coldplay are just U2 imitators, we're talking a pretty washed-out copy. But on Keane's new song "Spiralling," they take a crazy left turn towards '80s synth pop and Billy Squier beats, and it's kind of intriguing. They're offering up a 256kbps mp3 of the track on their website in exchange for your e-mail address, which isn't such a bad deal, I guess.

Jay-Z continues to use his recent feud with Noel Gallagher as creative fodder, dropping a line about "that bloke from Oasis" into a new song the rapper debuted last night in an appearance at Kanye West's show at Madison Square Garden. The track, "Blueprint 3," is pretty awesome, although it too sounds like it stole the rhythm from Billy Squire's "The Big Beat." What's going on?

After the jump: Australian pipes beat Norwegian pipes, and asteroids beat Earth

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Australian singer Sam Sparro is set to explode, with "21st Century Life" already getting tons of airplay. Here, he performs a disco-fied version of the more mellow "Black and Gold" on a UK TV show with Swedish pop starlet Annie, who sounds pretty thin next to the throaty Sparro. Ah well. (via XO's Middle Eight)

Finally, if you've always wished that those computer-animated depictions of asteroid impacts on the Discovery channel were accompanied by stomping Japanese techno, well, rejoice, since Tokyo's M.S.K. have made your wish come true with the new video for their track "Lunar." Poor Earth! (via RCRD LBL)