Step aside Neon Indian, Memory Tapes and Washed Out, because DOM just might be your favourite new chillwave group with this obvious summer anthem.

The music video for “Living in America” is a tongue-in-cheek commentary on all the kitschy aspects of popular American culture that many misconstrue as being sexy.

Speaking of chillwave, I’m not sure who penned the sub-genre name, but it seems appropriate, or at the very least, appropriately dumb enough.

I imagine the name was spawn out of the following conversation between two college kids who were listening to Ariel Pink on their MacBook while taking tokes of Mother Earth’s finest:

Dude #1: Dude, this music is, like, transcendent. It’s like it’s traveling through our bodies.

Dude #2: That’s because it IS traveling through our bodies. Our pinnas collect the sound, after which the sound wave travels through the auditory canal which funnels the sound to the ear drum causing it to vibrate. The ear drum then amplifies the sound by vibration of bones, converting the sound energy into mechanical energy. The cochlea in the inner ear converts the vibrations into electrical impulses before sending signals to the brain, in which it interprets as sound.

Dude #1: Dude, I have no idea what you’re talking about. All’s I’m saying is that this music is, like, chill, you know? Like chill sound waves, you know, like chillwave? Yeah! Chillwave!

Dude #2: Fuck, I hate you and everything around me.

Memoryhouse is a dream-pop duo from Guelph, Ontario that could quite possibly be your favourite bedroom soundtrack this year.

On “Lately (Deuxième),” they sample Jon Brion’s “Phone Call” from the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack to create a comforting, ethereal ballad.

The outcome feels like the kind of lucid, melancholic dream you secretly wish you will never wake up from.

With an EP and a couple 7”s under their belt, the duo will tour Europe and North America extensively this summer before releasing their full-length debut, Looms of Youth this fall.

You can download Memoryhouse’s The Years EP for free here.

Miike Snow’s self-titled debut became the unofficial soundtrack of spring/summer 2009. With perky, feel-good anthems like “Animal”, “Black and Blue” and my personal favourite, “Song For No One”, the Swedish trio inevitably set the mood for beaches, bikinis and booze (and in that order).

Now, the group is about to release a deluxe version of the album, which in industry terms just means that the record label wants you to buy/steal the album twice for a handful of new songs and remixes.

And normally said new songs and remixes are nothing more than sloppy leftovers from the original recording session. Only in this case, the guys have saved one of their best singles and music videos yet with “The Rabbit”.

With its bearded druglord adolescent, a group of dancehall queens and a nod to 2 Live Crew, music videos don’t get more entertaining than this.

The gorgeously-shot video for “Time of the Assassins”, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s third single off IRM, revisits the wilderness that Gainsbourg’s character explored in her twisted film Antichrist.

But instead of Antichrist’s talking demonic foxes and female genital mutilation we see serene shots of the meadows, forest and water with Charlotte defying the laws of gravity thanks to some cool special effects.

The song itself is definitely one of the stand-outs of the album, with its sublime, dream-like melody and a dark lyrical edge.

For the past decade, Mark Ronson has been one of the most versatile figures of the music industry. The DJ/producer/musician has a penchant for seamlessly jumping from one genre to the next.

Producing and performing with everyone from Amy Winehouse to Lily Allen to the late-Ol’ Dirty Bastard, he’s proven himself to be a master both behind the boards and onstage.

On his follow-up to his brilliant 2007 covers album, Versions, Ronson has completely abandoned his covers-formula and brass section. In their place are… well, no one exactly knows. For the most part, dude’s been keeping things on the DL (that means down-low, mom).

What we do know is that Ronson has enlisted the help of Santigold, MNDR, Q-Tip, Rose Eleanor Dougall (formerly of The Pipettes), Spank Rock, Miike Snow and Scissor Sisters, which will all be featured on the album.

But finally we get our first taste from Record Collection, which will be out in stores in September. On the track “Circuit Breaker,” Galland and Gary Breslin pay homage to The Legend of Zelda in this nostalgic video, while turntablist Teeko provides some great cutting and scratching.

If the real Zelda had featured a final boss/DJ battle showdown, I would have never traded it in at my local video game store for a copy of A Boy And His Blob (which is, without a doubt, my favourite NES game of all-time).

*Via Stereogum

On the final day of Toronto’s Hot Docs festival, we checked out Josh Whiteman’s Shadow Play: The Making of Anton Corbijn.

The documentary gives an insider’s perspective into the work of renowned Dutch photographer/filmmaker, Anton Corbijn.

The man has shot and directed music videos for some of the biggest bands/artists in the world, such as Joy Division, David Bowie, Miles Davis, U2, Depeche Mode, REM, Nirvana, Elvis Costello, Björk, Johnny Cash and Echo & the Bunnymen.

Most recently, he made his directorial debut with the Ian Curtis biopic, Control. (If you haven’t seen this yet, shame on you! Seriously though, you better watch it by the end of the week or you won’t be getting a Christmas card from me this year.)

Shadow Play, which takes its name from a Joy Division song, is a fascinating look at Corbijn’s high contrast style, his innate ability to capture on film larger-than-life figures in a moment of unmasked vulnerability, and the many friendships he’s developed with these famous subjects.

Footage of Corbijn’s shoots and the filming of Control are interspersed with interviews with Corbijn and his subjects, which include Bono, Michael Stipe, David Gahan, Bernard Sumner, Chris Martin, Kurt Cobain, Fran Healy and Samantha Morton.

Arguably, the film’s best line comes at the introduction when Bono says, “having your picture taken is like intimacy, it’s like having sex… I’ve been having sex with Anton for nearly 20 years now, since I was a boy.”

Maybe I’m just taking this all on an absurdly literal level, but it sounds like Bono is finally admitting he’s a gay… for Anton Corbijn?