VAMPIRE WEEKEND: The first single from their upcoming debut, "A-Punk," is a little bit world beat, a little bit Feelies.

DESTROYER frontman Dan Bejar talks to Billboard about the Trouble In Dreams album, due this spring.

KIMYA DAWSON of Moldy Peaches talks to Spinner about the Juno soundtrack, with six streaming tracks.

THE SHINS:  Criminal charges were dropped against keyboardist Martin Crandall and his ex-girfriend (and former ANTM contestant) Elyse Sewell due to insufficient evidence in an alleged incident of domestic violence.

AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB:  You can download or stream an advance track, "All The Lost Souls Welcome You To San Francisco," from the club's upcoming LP, The Golden Age, via the 'Gum.  There's also the band's notes about the lighter tone of the new stuff, plus an amusing bio, in which Mark Eitzel reminds us AMC has been around since my college days.

THAT PETROL EMOTION:  I had to put on "Big Decision" while the primary returns came in from New Hampshire.  Whatcha gotta do in this day and age?  You gotta agitate and educate and organize...

THE KINKS:  In news sure to depress my former housemate Dale, Dave Davies is denying brother Ray's claim that the original lineup would reunite this year.

YEASAYER guitarist Anand Wilder talks to Pitchfork about the much-anticipated debut album, the band's varied musical influences, technological solutions to global warming, and more.  You can stream a few (and download one) via YeaSpace.

XIU XIU, an experimental band with a sound that's hard to peg -- but has elements of mid-period Peter Gabriel, Sonic Youth, Joy Division and more -- is advance streaming the upcoming Women As Lovers album at XiuSpace through Friday.

TED NUGENT:  The limited edition of his latest disc has a cover to rival Spinal Tap's infamous Smell The Glove.

BRITNEY SPEARS spoke with a British accent during her mental lockdown at Cedars-Sinai hospital last Friday.  The popwreck abruptly pulled the plug on her weekend with paparazzo Adnan Ghalib and returned alone Monday to her Beverly Hills abode, a source close to Brit exclusively told Ryan Seacrest.  Her family feared that Ghalib, is going to leak provocative pictures of the pop star to news outlets.  But after Spears had her Mercedes towed and impounded by police Monday night after abandoning it on L.A.'s busy Sunset Boulevard due to a flat tire, she went home with a different photog.  BONUS:  Best Week Ever has "10 Easy Steps to Turn Around Britney Spears' Reputation."

JAMIE LYNN SPEARS, Britney's knocked-up 16-year-old sister, scored huge ratings for Nickelodeon's Zoey 101.  George Clooney will be miffed.

EMINEM, whose weight has reportedly ballooned to over 200 lbs, was rushed to the hospital for a serious heart condition and severe pneumonia.

KETHERINE HEIGL would like to start a family within the next year to year in a half, though her past comments suggest she'll adopt.

SEAN PENN was served with divorce papers after wife Robin Wright Penn allegedly found him in bed with two other women during an intended romantic getaway in Lake Tahoe, according to the ever-reliable Star magazine.

MR. BLACKWELL releases his 48th Annual Worst-Dressed Women list.  Britney Spears wuz robbed!

BRADGELINA:  Pitt apparently still sneaks the ganja, accoring to the ever-reliable Star magazine, but has been reduced to bogarting from Steve-O from MTV's Jacka**, because Jolie likes her men clean.  Zahara turned three yesterday.

JESSICA ALBA tells Elle magazine that High School Musical's Zac Efron "looks like a child with a lot of makeup."  Of course, Efron's co-star/gf Vanessa Hudgens has called him a sissy and a little girl, so maybe Alba meant it in a good way.

AWARDS SEASON:  The Directors' Guild of America Award nominees are announced.  Movies nominated for the DGA tend to be the ones that make Oscar's best-picture list.  Moreover, only six times since 1948 has the winner not gone on to win the corresponding Oscar.  CHUD lists the notable snubs.

CLOVERFIELD:  The mystery moster movie unleashes the viral video with faux Italian, Spanish and German news clips.  /Film has the clips and translations.

PAKISTAN:  The US is pushing Pakistan to cut the supply lines of the Taliban and al-Qaeda between Pakistan and Afghanistan by squeezing them between coalition forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan forces across the border.

WHY WE'RE IN THE GULF:  Historian Walter Russell Mead writes that it's all about the oil... and would be, even if the US left the Persian Gulf.

IRAN:  The US Navy released dramatic video and audio of this weekend's stand-off with Iran. The video shows Iranian speedboats swarming around three American warships going through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.  Meanwhile, five convicted criminals in southeastern Iran have received the seldom-used form of punishment of amputation.  The five men were found guilty of armed robbery, hostage taking, and firing at police, though officially they were convicted of "acting against God" and "corruption upon this Earth."

IRAQ:  Another wave of action against AQI and Shiite "special groups" extremists  has been launched to build on the military success of the "surge" to date.  Iraqi and US forces kicked off Operation Phanton Phoenix, a major operation targeting the terror groups throughout Iraq.  Part of Phantom Phoenix entails nonlethal operations that will continue to put combat outposts and joint security stations into the areas cleared of extremists.  Operation Hero's Harvest is underway in Miqdadiyah, soon to spread throughout Diyala province.

A GORILLA tried to make off with a tourist in the Virunga mountain forests on the northern border of Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo.  Pics at the link.

TUSKER the ELEPHANT is dead, shot by rangers after New Year's revelers at a safari camp in Zimbabwe provoked the elephant into trampling several cars.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT:  A cat took out the power grid in Nampa, Idaho, blacking out more than 12000 homes and businesses.  But you know squirrels put the cat up to it.

A DOG was saved from a mountain lion by the dead aim of an 80-year-old in Fairburn, SD.

THE PYGMY RABBIT may get federal protection, new identity.