​I'm going to open this post with a disclaimer: I get a lot of tickets to concerts for free. But I also know that the hotter the ticket, the tighter the guest list, and if I don't want to get shut out (or if I want to attend with a friend) of a particular concert, buying tickets is in my best interest. The second-most-annoying thing about the ticket-purchasing process in 2012, though—after the instasellouts enabled by the Internet, that is—is the "presale," the nefarious password-protected bit of sanctioned line-jumping that winds up making me feel bad about not being "in the know" or not credit-score-worthy enough to get preferential treatment. So kudos to John Mayer, who has announced that his upcoming tour (which will not hit New York City, but which will stop in West Point on April 19) will have paperless ticketing at any venue that can accommodate it and won't have presales. I probably will not take advantage of these policies, but man do I hope that others out there take his lead, because the "presale" development that has overtaken way too many shows is just a great big fun-sucking fun-sucker, not to mention that the manner in which certain sponsored presales reinforce class stratification in ticket buying is pretty disheartening. (Note, too, that he's selling tickets to his shows via Ticketmaster, so it's not like he's completely operating against standard procedure here.) The statement accompanying his tour announcement below.

More >>

You know it's the real one this time, among other reasons, because she actually shouts out two out of three Le Tigres--plus Peaches--on the song. Funny how Xtina run through the Kathleen Hanna filter ends up sounding something like fake patois; "female friendship, strength," and partying may be what these five have in common, but that's kind of it. We might even like the fake Le Tigre song better? Either way, don't hold your breath about this getting recreated live anytime soon: Bionic is still coming out June 9, but Aguilera's summer tour just got pushed all the back to 2011. [Maura]

​Right, mea culpa: that Xtina song that leaked earlier today, supposedly co-written by downtown New York femme punks Le Tigre? Not actually co-written by Le Tigre! This according to someone who has seen the liner notes to Christina's new record. Nor does the song feature Canadian electro-pornstress Peaches, as has also been bandied about today; instead, both guest on "My Girls," which you'll know when you hear it, because Peaches raps on it, and Christina shouts out all three members of Le Tigre, by name. This is something else--a vaguely Bikini Kill-sounding something else, but something else nonetheless. Apologies for adding to the internet disinformation vortex!

In the battle between Xtina's titantic, firehose voice and the 2010 zeitgeist--in the persons of Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, and now Le Tigre, whose songwriting shows up on Aguilera's newest, "I Hate Boys" [cancel that: see below]--her singular bellow is winning handily, but that's not a bad thing. Regardless of what you think of her, recognize that it takes a strong artist indeed to make Kathleen Hanna sound like window-dressing. "Together we tailored themes and specific references to her personality and image," is how Le Tigre explained writing for Xtina, back in February, "but found a ton of common ground in our aim to make upbeat danceable tracks celebrating female friendship, strength, and of course, PARTYING." The first two, definitely; the third, well--if you can brave a scene anything like the one in her "Not Myself Tonight" video, you are a braver human than we are. [Stereogum]

Update: Correction: Christina Aguilera's "I Hate Boys" Is Not Co-Written By Le Tigre (Or Peaches, For That Matter)

First things first: credit where credit is due. From Perez Hilton rumor to Pitchfork speculative item to Le Tigre official confirmation--Xtina's album, when (er, if) it comes out in April, will feature songwriting contributions from NYC's most badass electro-feminist OGs. "Needless to say," writes the group on their official website, "for a feminist band obsessed with pop music, it was pretty much a dream come true." The trio's account of how the collaboration came to be is alternately harrowing and fascinating:

More >>

-- Usually when a band announces an "extended break," it means they are too afraid to say they broke up. Not the case with Le Tigre. The electro-punk trio are back in the studio working with Christina Aguilera, though there isn't much more information available than that. The group has been quiet since touring off 2005's This Island. In the interim, members J.D. Samson and Johnna Fateman formed a new project, Men, while frontwoman Kathleen Hanna taught an art class at N.Y.U.

-- Touch and Go Fanzine, the classic punk publication out of which the record label evolved, is set to publish all of its 22 issues in book form in 2010. The low-budget rag was started in 1979 in Lansing, Michigan by Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson. It kept punk fanatics up to date on the scenes in New York, Philly, D.C. and abroad while promoting bands like Black Flag, Minor Threat, and the Misfits. At its peak, Touch and Go only pressed 1,000 copies, so the long-overdue book is good news for anyone who wants a glimpse at punk's formative years.

-- New York singer-songwriter Kenny Rankin died of lung cancer Sunday at age 69. Rankin signed to Decca Records as a teenager and later moved to Columbia. He played on Bob Dylan's first electric album, 1965's Bringing it all Back Home, and was a favorite of Paul McCartney's, who liked his version of "Blackbird" so much he asked him to perform it when McCartney and Lennon were inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 1987.