The Knife, “Silent Shout”

They say the five stages of grief begin with denial. What better way to begin your grieving process than with a track off of The Knife’s 2006 album of the same name? The throbbing bass, melodic beeps and blips and eerie vocals of the Dreijer siblings will reveal your feelings: “I never knew this could happen to me/I know now fragility…”

Band of Horses, “No One’s Gonna Love You”

You may still be reeling from the effects of denial, but there’s some bitterness starting to creep in. Grab some tissues as Ben Bridwell’s voice swoons deliriously over the shimmery, ethereal guitars in this tune off the band’s 2007 album Cease to Begin, about an unwinding relationship.

Ida Maria, “Forgive Me”

Ida Maria probably says it best in this song off her 2008 album Fortress Round My Heart: “And you had me for days and you had me for months/And I hope you enjoyed your time of fun.” Sound angry? Well, it is. This is break-up music, complete with powerful guitars and a woman on the brink.

The Walkmen, “The Rat”

At this point you are probably savoring your anger. This is a good thing, and we’ve got just the soundtrack. Off the band’s 2004 album, Bows + Arrows, the urgent drums, driving guitars, organ and Hamilton Leithauser’s wailing vocals are what you need to stew over that lost love.

Jose Gonzalez, “Lovestain”

As Jose Gonzalez says, “blood comes off easily.” Lovestains are another matter completely. Continue the cleanse with this song off of his 2003 debut album, Veneer, featuring Gonzalez’s soulful vocals, talented acoustic classical guitar skills and evocative imagery.

Bon Iver, “Skinny Love”

In 2007 Justin Vernon released an album called For Emma, Forever Ago. The rumor was that it was about a break-up. Observe his lonely pain as he uses his voice as a bruised instrument, steadied by the hushed strumming of an acoustic guitar. Does this sound like bargaining to you? “Come on skinny love just last the year.”

Feist, “Let It Die”

Off of her 2004 album of the same name, this wistful tune complete with lilting saxophones and subtle drum and organ lines, will help you move from depression to begrudging acceptance.

Tunng, “Woodcat”

Oh, that your love affair were just a fairy tale! Instead of wishing, listen to this tune from the band’s 2006 album Comments of the Inner Chorus. Here, Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay joyfully finger-pick their guitars and sing about a deep, peculiar forest, where people are turned into hares and everyone agrees that they “all had a lovely time.”

Love is All, “Last Choice”

This tune, off of the band’s 2008 album A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night, reflects on going to a party and taking home whoever is left at the end of the night. This may not be the healthiest message, but Josephine Olausson’s energetic voice, mixed with garage rock guitars and blaring saxophones, is sure to cheer you up and help you accept your situation.

The Avalanches, “Since I Left You”

Featuring thousands of samples from disco to lazy guitar riffs to an intro to a Club Med commercial, The Avalanches “Since I Left You” — off of their 2001 album of the same name — is the perfect song to get you in the mood to move on.

With a great light show and a dress that must’ve been made out of confetti, Ms. Hesketh strode and jumped back and forth on gravity defying pumps bathed in pinks and blues, and white spotlights. (This, after filling in for Ida Maria, who recently dropped off of the Perez Hilton Presents Tour, uptown at the Fillmore.) The male-dominated front row — a rarity — with a few girls lost in the midst, was giddy with the nearness of a beloved performer. It all took off with “Meddle” and only slowed down for the futuristic, non-album track “Magical.” A crowd sing-along was the highlight for latest single “Remedy,” the final “oh oh” surprisingly in tune. “New In Town” held its own and “Remedy” got the biggest cheer; too bad Philip Oakey of The Human League couldn’t make a guest appearance for a mind-blowing duet.

The encore wowed with a cover of Freddie Mercury‘s “Love Kills” and the undeniably catchy “Stuck on Repeat.” The set was short and sweet. In the end, Little Boots, all smiles, left the stage with a wave.

After the release of her eponymous debut album, New Zealand musician Phillipa Brown, known as Ladyhawke, enjoyed near-unanimous critical acclaim and the development of a steadily-growing international fan base. She’s co-headlining a tour with Semi Precious Weapons, Julian Perretta, and Frankmusick sponsored by gossip blogger Perez Hilton (which kicked off yesterday in Atlanta) and is currently working on the follow up to her debut. Her singles “Paris Is Burning” and “My Delirium” are slick throwbacks to the glory days of ’80s synth pop and have both been hits overseas.

After the jump, read our complete interview with Brown, where we chat about meeting Perez, Christina Aguilera’s rumored cover of one of her hits, and why she’s really grunge at heart.

Flavorpill: You’re about to embark on a co-headline tour of North America sponsored by Perez Hilton. Have you met him? What was that like?

Phillipa Brown: I met him once briefly at a show I played in Austin. It was quick, but he was very nice to me.

FP: What would you say the main difference is between the American audience and your fans back in Sydney?

PB: Ha, that sounds like my fans are completely localized to Sydney! I’m from New Zealand but my biggest fan base is actually in the UK. I haven’t yet experienced the full on American tour scenario like I’m about to, so I’m not sure yet, what, and if, there will be any differences between American audiences and Australasian and English ones. So far the response from American people has been really warm and positive.

FP: Ladytron is producing a cover of “My Delirium” that will appear on Christina Aguilera’s upcoming album. What are your thoughts on that?

PB: I actually don’t know anything about this, but people keep bringing it up. I think there’s a conspiracy!

FP: Your debut has been described as “a throwback to eighties electro pop” — do you see it that way? Who have been the greatest influences on your work?

PB: It’s hard for me to see my music as throwback eighties pop, but I completely understand why people think that. I do wear a lot of my influences on my sleeve, but the ones I don’t are often the ones that mean the most to me and I wish would shine through more. I’m massively influenced by seventies music, and nineties rock and grunge (which obviously doesn’t come through in the album, ha). ELO, David Bowie and Fleetwood Mac are probably three of the biggest influences on my album.

FP: Your name comes from the title of an ’80s film starring Michele Pfeiffer. Does film (or any other art forms for that that matter) influence your work in other ways?

PB: Yeah I get hugely inspired by films, I usually feel my most inspired to write music after seeing a really good movie. My name wasn’t inspired by the movie itself though. I just really dug the name and thought it suited me.

FP: What was it like playing at CBGB with your band Two Lane Blacktop?

PB: That was amazing, a huge moment for me! The rich history of that venue is awe-inspiring and completely oozes from the walls the second you step inside. It’s such a shame it doesn’t exist anymore!

FP: There’s a rumor that you’re in the process of writing material for the follow-up to your debut album — is there anything you can tell us about it?

PB: Yeah I’m attempting to get a little start on it. It’s so early in the day though I’m not sure where I’m gonna go with it. All I know is that I want to try something a bit different, be a lot more flamboyant and experimental with the sounds I make.

FP: You’re stuck on an island with only two albums — which ones would they be and why?

PB: This question always gets me! David Bowie – Hunky Dory, because I can listen to this album over and over, and have done for years. It has everything you want in an album! Hmm… and, this is a tough one – I’m gonna say Fleetwood Mac – Rumours, because, pretty much the same reason as Hunky Dory. I can always come back to this record on not feel sick of it. Now I’m just wondering what I’m gonna play these on if I’m on a deserted Island with only two records!

Ladyhawke will be playing the Fillmore in NYC on September 16, Metro in Chicago on September 19, the Fillmore in San Francisco on the 30th, and LA’s Avalon on October 3. Leave a comment on this post with your city for your chance to win a pair of tickets to the show!

Sure, we’ve been talking about her for a while, but this week was a special one for our number-one Scandinavian sweetheart: at long last, Ida Maria’s debut record has arrived (it’s been out abroad for ages!). On the power-popping album, Maria makes good on the promise of her demos, ingeniously revamping summer party anthems like “Queen of the World,” “Better When You’re Naked,” and the unassailable “Oh My God.” And live she’s even more inspired: Whether rolling around the stage, slopping blood all over her strings, or just howling like a madwoman, Maria imparts her tales of sex and insecurity with unhinged emotion. In the wake of her long-coming ascendancy, we rang Maria up in her native Norway to talk sexual liberation, synestisia, and sore throats.

Flavorwire: You’ve been kicking around for awhile, playing the same songs for several years in other countries. With the US release, has the pace suddenly increased?

Ida Maria: It just gets more and more and more really… I was planning on having my second record out by now, but it just hasn’t happened.

FW: How’s your voice holding up? People said the last time you were in the US that your voice got a little rawer with each show. Is that something you worry about?

IM: I try not to do more than three days in a row. On the fourth day my voice is always a bit broken. Also, I wrote all my songs in the wrong key. They’re all way too high.

FW: How do you prepare for the live show? I’ve seen you rolling on the floor, screaming, going crazy… I don’t understand how it’s possible to do that every night.

IM: I think I was born with a certain amount of natural energy…

FW: It’s certainly party music. Are you a late night person?

IM: Yeah, sometimes. I don’t think all the songs are pop music. I think some of them are much more than that, but they are all different sides. I wouldn’t say I’m a more late-night person. Basically, when I’m in my natural habitat, in Norway, I’m more of an outdoor person. I love to climb mountains and be an extreme sports person.

FW: Personas are really interesting. In the US especially we’re overrun by female rockers in mini-skirts. You’re not one of the Pussycat Dolls, but, on the other hand, a song like “Better When You’re Naked” isn’t entirely different on its face than what they do. How do you think about that type of sexuality?

IM: When I wrote “Naked” that was very much a comment on all this objectification of the female body. I’ve been over to the UK a couple of times and seen the Page 3 girls with the boobs. There’s always so much hysterical media around the female naked body. I am very much interested in the male nakedness. I felt like someone needs to point that out: It’s not only guys that like to see people naked. I just wanted to clown it around, just make it very loud and clear, that I’m not necessarily the object. I’m actually the subject; I’m actually observing you.

FW: Do you worry about a tendency to paint you into a category?

IM: That’s a big issue in the music business. I’ve been fighting so many fights to be able to keep my integrity on that point. There are so many expectations, even though I’m actually a songwriter. You can get that: “You should put more make-up on; you should wear this; you look better with you hair like that.” I’ve just gotten to the point where I don’t take any crap from anyone. I want to be part of a female league that’s actually making a bigger space for female musicians… I think a lot of girls are doing that, actually taking our space. With more or less luck; it’s a hard business, a very cold and finicky business.

FW: Has anyone asked you to do anything that you said “no” to?

IM: When I do my show, I always go by the feeling. If I want to put some make-up on, I put some make-up on. I’m not doing it to be sexy. Sometimes, I like to wear lots and lots of make-up, but do it in a more artsy way. Not to be prettier or sexier, but to actually represent something.

FW: I’ve heard you have synestisia [a brain abnormality where the senses become intertwined]. Is it just an overwhelming emotion?

IM: Yeah, you see shapes and backgrounds and things in the air all the time, in transparent sort of vision.

FW: Do you feel effects on stage?

IM: I suppose it affects my stage performance. But at the same time, music effects people. Music makes people want to move I can’t really figure out the difference between how I experience music and you do.

Those of you lucky enough to hit up Coachella this weekend will have the chance to see Ida Maria perform on the 18th.