The Majak Mixtape: The Majak Mixtape

Morning Mixtapers! Welcome to another stunning, flawless, amazing, SNATCHING THE MICROPHONE FROM YOUR FAVORITE edition of the Majak Mixtape, where pop culture goes for vocal lessons. After extraordinarily amazing three-day weekend filled with brats, booze, and beer hunt aka Pabst Blue Ribbon Roulette, we're back to ye olde grindstone this Tuesday. And of course, being that it is Tuesday, it's time for another round of TUNESDAY, that special day of the week when we dish all the dirt about the newest releases. Today, we're tackling new albums from Death Cab For Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Kate Bush, Jordan Knight, Flogging Molly and many more music acts. As always, before we get to the tunes, though, it's time for us to what?

First up, Britney Spears stans are facing off with Lady GaGa's lil monsters over the controversial decision of Amazon.com to sell Lady GaGa's second album "Born This Way" at the astoundingly cheap price of 99 cents as a way to try to compete with the likes of iTunes.

For two days or so, Amazon.com offered Lady GaGa's album for some 99 cents, selling some 440,000 downloads of the album and helping to contribute to GaGa's rumored over one million albums sold in its first week. Amazon.com lost some 3.2 million dollars on this deal. According to Billboard, "Amazon will lose money on each 99-cent sale because it is paying Interscope/Universal Music Group the standard rate for each unit sold." For every album it sold, Amazon.com lost around $7.40 per album. Why has this gotten some Britney fans all up in a twist? Were they secretly investors in Amazon.com? Not that we're aware of. Some Brit-Brit fans are annoyed that Billboard has chosen not revise its policy on the charts to discount these sales from Amazon.com as Billboard revised some of its policies when Brit put out "Blackout," finding herself having her first album that didn't debut at number one. Needless to say, this vocal minority of Britney Spears fans should save their anger at Britney, who can't even wield a freakin' pillow with passion at this point.

In other sad news, in a sad blow to all those who believe in eternal lasting love for Z-list celebs who meet on reality shows, "America's Next Top Model" Adrianne Curry and "The Brady Bunch" star Christopher Knight have decided to divorce, announcing the split on their fifth anniversary of all dates. Anyway, their publicist put out a statement for the duo, hilariously stating, "After starting a relationship with what seemed to be irreconcilable differences, the couple has reached a period where those differences are no longer appreciated." We assume irreconcilable differences is code for "We can't get a reality show ANYWHERE."

Now jog yourself into the rest of the Mixtape!

Thanks for continuing reading Mixtapers! Welcome to another edition of TUNESDAY! We've got plenty of things to get to so let us not waste time. First up, Seth Cohen's favorite band, Death Cab for Cutie, is back with a brand new album "Codes and Keys." You have to appreciate that Death Cab for Cutie is so hipster of a musical outfit that their lead singer, Ben Gibbard, has been married to hipster darling du jour Zooey Deschanel. We had a lot of friends, particularly in college, who were absolutely obsessed with the band and especially adored a lot of the sad tunes that Ben used to plaintively sing into the microphone. Apparently, being married to the touch, the feel of cotton has made Ben a little more chipper in his attitude as "Codes and Keys" is a happier album from the group with tracks like "Home is a Fire."

We personally love the track "Some Boys," a stinging send-up of douchebags.

And we have to say, we never thought the day would come that Death Cab would ever have a song titled "Stay Young, Go Dancing." It's the closing number on the album and our favorite track. It's something to whirl around a room with Joseph Gordon Levitt to. And really, isn't that all you can ask for in this life? Exactly.

Also putting out a new album week is indie outfit My Morning Jacket with their album "Circuital." Below, the title track:

Next up, Flogging Molly is back with a new album called "Speed of Darkness." We wouldn't ever call ourselves fans of Flogging Molly, but we do have a slight affection for the Irish-American punk band ever since we were introduced to their music while we were at university. St. Patrick's Day just doesn't feel the same without hearing them being played obnoxiously loud at various parties while avoiding green beer being spilled on our shoes. Below, first single "Don't Shut 'Em Down."

Completely shifting things 180 degrees, Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block fame has put out a new solo album titled "Unfinished." Mr. Knight is in the midst of a tour with NKOTB as well as the Backstreets Boys, helping to promote their recent album they did together so you'd think it'd be a little odd to put out a solo album out now of all times. Well, one must strike when the iron is hot and nothing like tapping into nostalgia from people who loved him when he was singing "I'll Be Loving You" while in NKOTB OR when we was talking about how he could give it to you.

You have to love that period in the late 1990s when TRL was ruling pop culture and every music video could EASILY double for an ad for Old Navy. Below, "Let's Go Higher" from the album.

Is this song clearly cut from that Usher/Taio Cruz mold that has come to strangle all of pop music, especially that done by male singers? Most definitely. Does Jordan Knight look hella tired in the close-ups? No diggity, no doubt. But we can't throw the full amount of shade because we'll give him credit for this. We just hope this means this will stoke Joey McIntyre to make another single that comes close to the cheesy pop goodness of "I Love You Came Too Late."

And finally Kate Bush is back with a new album titled "Director's Cut." Here's the thing about Ms. Bush. We don't mind her and her music. It's often times that we just hate the people that like her. She just belongs to that special group of artists who have some of the most annoying people in their fanbase. (LOOKING AT YOU TORI AMOS AND ANI DIFRANCO). But, being the people we are, we've tried to separate the artist from her fangirls. If you know of Kate Bush at all, it's probably for her classic tune "Running Up That Hill."