GL Wood

Nicky Minaj

By: Katrina Nattress

Summer is just around the corner (June 20, to be exact), and with that comes summer mixtapes. There's nothing better than the sunshiny bliss that comes from driving with your windows rolled down, wind whipping through your hair, and upbeat, buoyant music blasting through your stereo. So what will be on your 2012 Summer Jams mix? According to Shazam, the world's leading media discovery company, there are 10 tracks that will more than likely be the most popular songs of the summer. 

You may ask: how is the UK-based company coming up with these predictions? Well, it's quite simple, really. The list includes songs that are currently at the top of the chart and are expected to remain at the top over the summer months, as well as newly released hit singles and some global surprises that are expected to break into the UK and U.S. markets. Among other factors, the list is ranked based on the number of tags--the amount of times people use the mobile app to find the name or artist of a song they hear--that the song is currently receiving. Check out Shazam's predictions below and tell us what's on your

summer mix this year!

10. Alabama Shakes- "Hold On"

This soulful tune has been one of the most-tagged indie/alt tracks in the UK this year and

is starting to pick up in the U.S. market as well. Not to mention, the Atlanta-based quintet led by Brittany Howard is making its rounds through the summer festival circuit, with stops at Sasquatch and Bonnaroo under its belt and Lollapalooza and Outside Lands performances in August.  

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Models and dancing usually don't mix. Something about gangly arms and legs flailing all over the place is just ... awkward. It's kind of like when you were little and made your Barbie dolls dance. Whatever mobility their limbs have ends up looking mechanical.

But Kate Upton, the incredibly hot Sports Illustrated cover model who was lambasted for being too thick (um, OKAY crazy people), pretty much kills L.A. group the Rej3ctz's "Cat Daddy" dance.

Pro tip: Fast-forward through the first few seconds to avoid being grossed out by Captain Creepster/Photographer Terry Richardson.

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Google

​Millions of sites are protesting the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, two bills that purport to censor the Web and, according to Google, "impose harmful regulations on American business." Internet users across the world wide web are opposing the legislation; we took to Twitter to see what celebrities were saying about it. Everyone--from venture capitalist Ashton Kutcher to harem-pants purveyor MC Hammer--had something to say.

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​See also: KROQ Acoustic Christmas Night One

The Intranets (it's a series of tubes -- look it up) is reporting that Sublime With Rome drummer Floyd "Bud" Gaugh has quit the band. Now, before anyone freaks out and burns all their Sublime With Rome merchandise, there is a sweeter, softer side to this story that has nothing to do with turmoil or the unnecessary alliteration I just used.

For starters, in this here video taken at the KROCorporateRockStation Christmas party where they pretend to be all down for the bands and shit while not paying them a dime (little known fact -- bands often get the ol' "play our concerts or we won't play your records" treatment at these shows), Gaugh explains that he's about to have a child and he wants to spend more time with his family. You can't hate a guy for that, right? I mean, I guess you could, but you'd look like a total asshole if you did.

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Stephen Eckert's Flickr

​Bing.com, Microsoft's search engine, recently compiled its 2011 search trends for musicians and came up with some interesting results.

Their list of the top ten most searched musicians is entirely made up of femme powerhouses (Who run da world?), save for the top slot, which was nabbed by Justin Bieber (get it, girl). Biebs stole No. 1 from Lady Gaga, who has fallen to fifth place over the course of the past year.

Whether these results indicate a shift in the power dynamic within music industry or Bing's girl-heavy consumer base remains a mystery. Regardless, we hope JB is celebrating his new title as top bitch, and the fact that his baby mama drama seems to finally be coming to a close.

The full list is after the jump.

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David Meowie

​Cats with rock stars is an undeniably awesome combination--we told you so with our first set of kitten covers, made in-house at OC Weekly in August. Now, we bring you another awesome set from the blog The Kitten Covers inspired by ours, so here you have it, some of the cutest kittens in the world on legendary albums by your favorite artists.

Thanks, Internet!

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​Gosh, how great is the internet for music geeks? As if YouTube + Wikipedia wasn't enough to research virtually any band that mattered, there's also other great database-y sources like Allmusic.com and last.fm. And now there's this: Albumlinernotes.com. Here, site contributors have transcribed verbatim liner notes from thousands of albums across time and genre--why, you might ask? 
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​Jimmy Page will be launching a new website on July 14. The site, JimmyPage.com, currently features a sand hourglass and a link for subscription, as well as the number of days (in Roman numerals) until the launch of the site's full content on July 14.

Because it's so cryptic, everyone's theorizing on what the hourglass and the roman numerals mean; last month, Page told Ultimate Classic Rock that his new site "will bring a few surprises to how thing[s] normally are." He added, "Once that's done, then I'm going to start working on some new music." The Led Zeppelin guitarist's last solo album, Outrider, was released in 1988. 

After the jump, check out what the interwebz is saying about the site.

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