With its new Orient Apple flavor, Absolut combines crisp apple sweetness with ginger spice. It’s a fusion we’re so enamored with that we created a soundtrack for it. Our Perfect Fusion compilation features an equally inspired blend of artists and sounds — and the whole thing is yours for free.

It includes UK folk-pop darling Emmy the Great, Aussie psych upstarts Cloud Control, and our latest tropical crushes, ChuCha Santamaria y Usted, plus mainstays like TV on the Radio, Bon Iver, and UNKLE. Check out the mixtape now and treat yourself to a taste of Orient Apple. Click through for the full track list and your free download.

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1. There are some troubling rumors that Amy and Rory (played by Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill) will be leaving Doctor Who at the end of the current season. More details (along with a few spoilers) here.

2. A slightly squashed down version of famous French architect Jean Nouvel’s hotly-debated MoMA tower has been approved, and construction on the project — which is 1,050 feet, 200 feet shorter than the original design — is expected to start soon. [via The Measure]

3. The lineup for this year’s New York Comedy Festival has been announced, and it includes big names like Louis C.K., Tracy Morgan, Sarah Silverman, Ricky Gervais, Bill Maher, Wanda Sykes, Russell Peters, Kathy Griffin, and Norm Macdonald. Schedule information and locations are still TBD, but mark your calendars for November 9 to 13. [via ArtsBeat]

4. Stay classy: According to The Sun, Amy Winehouse’s former husband Blake Fielder-Civil — who is currently serving a two-year prison sentence in Leeds for armed robbery and firearm offenses — is planning to write a tell-all book about his relationship with the singer. [via NME]

5. If the original cut of Drew Barrymore’s video for Best Coast left you wanting more Donald Glover, you can check out the 10-minute extended version of “Our Deal” here.

Bonus Buzz: 25 Reasons Your Childhood Self Hates You

You know the story: Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story. Romeo Must Die. Yes, Drew Barrymore’s much-publicized, Chloë Moretz-starring video for Best Coast’s “Our Deal” is yet another of those star-crossed teenage love stories that happen to involve rival gangs, leather jackets, and sculptural hairdos. MTV has posted the first 30-second snippet, which reveals a cast including Donald Glover, Alia Shawkat, and Tyler Posey. It’s a fun, if familiar, clip that has us hoping Barrymore will throw in a wicked curve ball of an ending. Catch a glimpse of “Our Deal” after the jump and, if you like what you see, mark your calendar for its August 2nd premiere.

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These days, it’s quite the thing to be in a band and, like, make sweet music with your spouse. But crucially, couples are doing so without a hint of Abba-shaped novelty. Even King Hippy himself, Devendra Banhart, is in on it all: just look at him frolicking around in the nude with his girlfriend in this new “love-in” promo video for Olivers Peoples sunglasses, unafraid of being called a soppy, willy-brandishing hipster. The next thing you know they’ll be writing songs together under an Ayahuasca-inspired moniker and asking for organic massage oil on their tour rider.

OK, we get it. We know you’ve had enough of Valentine’s Day schmaltz already and you’d rather stare into Sarah Palin’s cold, dead eyes than face another playlist to get you in the mood, baby. But these kinds of couples make the cutest kinds of love songs because, well, they really wanna jump each other’s bones all the time. Hopefully our video playlist will make you want to sway from side to side — or at least e-mail it to your object of woo-dom — rather than bend over and retch.

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Today at Flavorpill, we couldn’t believe how adorable elementary school-age Kanye was. Don’t you just want to pinch his cheeks? We got inside of Sarah Palin’s head thanks to New Yorker editor Ben Greenman and the pseudo science of phrenology. We saw proof that Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino is the savviest cat lady of all time. We liked Splitsider’s list of comedies that people need to stop quoting from forever immediately. We looked at teeny tiny versions of some of our favorite TV series. We were totally impressed by Hasegawa Yosuke’s money portrait origami — particularly his Abraham Lincoln. We got a kick out of this holiday-appropriate supercut of all of the Ned scenes from Groundhog Day. We reviewed the album covers of Britney Spears only to discover a common thread: they’re all poorly designed. We got excited about the trailer for Win Win, a new film from the director of The Station Agent that stars Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan. We cooed over photos of animals in the snow. And finally, we got our hands on the 2011 SXSW Film Festival lineup — or at least of most of it. Are you planning to head to Austin this year?

On their third album, UK-based schoolyard-pop collective the Go! Team call on the frontwomen from Best Coast and Deerhoof for an extra blast of personality.

Rolling Blackouts features Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino on the sunny ’60s-meets-shoegaze gem “Buy Nothing Day,” while Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki handles the mic for “Secretary Song,” a track that could easily inspire an Austin Powers dance montage.

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Singing, rapping, speaking, and chanting are all part of the same animal, made from the greatest of all instruments. There’s no one formula for a compelling vocal; some great singers and rappers sound bored, some sound utterly transfixed. Personality is the key, and if you can get that through Auto-Tune, great. The results are what matter. Here are 10 performances that hit us particularly hard, listed alphabetically by name.

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The holidays are upon us, with their frantic wrapping, decorating, shopping, backing, and general pine-scented commotion. But, of course, you need some music to listen to while you’re yuling those logs and decking those halls. Luckily, this year we’ve got a handful of new holiday gems from artists like Beach House, Best Coast, and — of course — Kanye West. Crank these nouveau carols, and don’t forget to right click + save as to download them, or scroll to the bottom for the whole mix.

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This week brings fresh tracks from bigwigs like the Arcade Fire and Kele Okereke of Bloc Party, as well as familiar indie favorites such as Deerhunter and Best Coast.  And, as per usual, we’ve also showcased a slew of great, new bands that are impatiently waiting to top your summer queue (Active Child, First Rate People). The bounty abounds! Be sure to Right Click + Save As your next ten after the cut.

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When we asked readers yesterday if Gwyneth Paltrow was the mainstream’s Zooey Deschanel, we got an interesting response: a yawn. It turns out, many of you are sick of hearing about Zooey at this point. And frankly, we’re beginning to agree. Which begs another question: Who has enough style and substance to become the next Queen of the Indies? We’ve got 10 solid nominees after the jump.

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