Iconic Drum Machine Has Kanye's Number

Eminem enjoys a comeback, too

(NEWSER) - Kanye West's comeback must be complete: Rolling Stone awarded him the top slot in its list of 2010's 30 best albums. The top 10:

1. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: "Music as sprawlingly messy as his life," these songs are "hip-hop epics ... full of the kind of grandiose gestures that only the foolish attempt and only the wildly talented pull off."
2. The Black Keys, Brothers: "Their best record yet: vivid tunes stripped bare and rubbed raw ... it's rock minimalism pushed to the max."
3. Elton John and Leon Russell, The Union: "Two rock giants ... rekindle a friendship and make music that ranks with their best."
4. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs: "An album of vast, orchestral rock that locates the battle for the human soul amid big houses and manicured lawns."

What will we still be talking about next decade? Britney, for one

(NEWSER) - The ‘00s were full of important contributions to culture, but which ones will we still be talking about in another decade? Here are some of New York ’s picks:

• TV: The Sopranos for inventing quality cable, American Idol for changing the music industry, and of course all things Oprah Winfrey.
• Books: The Da Vinci Code for singlehandedly sustaining the book industry, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay for blazing the trail of combining geek lit with high lit.

From Radiohead to Bon Iver, Paste hits the highlights

(NEWSER) - Paste takes a look back at the past decade—and its own 10-year history—with its list of the 50 best albums of the ‘00s:

• No. 1. Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise: “His music pushed boundaries between pop and classical.”
• No. 4. Radiohead, Kid A: Marked “the watershed artistic transition toward more electronic-based experimentation.”
• No. 8. OutKast, Stankonia: “OutKast’s edgiest and most inspired record.”
• No. 10. MIA, Arular: “Her thrilling, slang-tangled debut connected musical and political rebellion.”

(NEWSER) - Kanye West says Jay-Z’s new album, Blueprint 3, will not feature the Auto-Tune effects West himself has relied on in the past, MTV reports. “We actually removed all the songs with Auto-Tune off of his album to make the point that this is an anti-Auto-Tune album,” said West, who is producing the record. “Even though I released an album that has all Auto-Tune!” More»

He performed for National Press Club in 1971

(NEWSER) - One of the final live performances by Louis Armstrong will be released to the public for the first time. The recording is of a concert on January 28, 1971, at the National Press Club in Washington. The legendary trumpeter was a featured act at the concert, held less than six months before his death, reports AP . The new album will be titled Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours: Satchmo at the National Press Club. You can hear a snippet of him performing "Hello Dolly" via this Washington Post link. Details on the CD or digital download are here . More»