Robyn takes Manhattan

As you may know, Robyn is a Radio V2.0 preferred artist and she's making something of a North American comeback behind a self-titled disc due out stateside in April.

The Swedish pop diva performed her first live show in New York City EVER on Tuesday and Radio V2.0 has the video. This is a clip of her performing her smash UK No. 1 hit "With Every Heartbeat."

BONUS: Robyn performs the single that propelled her back into Radio V2.0's favor after a long absence, 2002's R&B-leaning "Keep This Fire Burning"

Radio V Classic - Bran Van 3000 "Montreal"

The music business can be a rather cold, fickle world, so it's always heartening to see one of our favorite bands (who hasn't sold a bucketload of records) returning to active duty.

It's been more than a hot minute--in fact six years plus--since the last time Montreal's greatest export since the lap dance threw it down on wax. In honor of Bran Van 3000's third album, "Rosé" getting released on Tuesday, we honor a Radio V Classic from their prior album, Discosis, "Montreal."

Discosis saw the Bran Clan returning with a sophomore album that went miles beyond the almost in-crowd feel of their debut record, Glee. Discosis was Bran Van leader Jamie DiSalvio using the social capital of his UK No. 1 single "Drinking In LA" to turn his heroes into comrades. The album featured the last vocal of Curtis Mayfield's life; a rap from long dormant 80s rapper Big Daddy Kane and legendary reggae artist Eek-A-Mouse.

In a strange twist, the newly deepened pockets and bigger little black book didn't destroy the music. In fact (since we in all honesty joined the party late) Discosis was the best pop album we heard in 2002.

Three tracks deep lies the album's masterpiece, "Montreal." Though never plucked as a single, perhaps due to the eventual closure of their label (the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal imprint), the track had all the earmarks of a massive summer hit. "Montreal" is a sun-saturated, electro-kissed, slice of hip-pop that blasts out of the speakers and hooks itself right into the brain. Kermit The Frog even gets a shout out! The slick, somewhat propulsive groove is the constant that guides you from DiSalvio's relaxed flow to his interplay with the sugary female vocals, to the Youssou N'Dour led tribal singalong that closes the proceedings. As Jamie sings later on the record "Ain't no party like a Bran Van party, cuz a Bran Van party don't stop." The beauty of this band is that you really never know exactly where you're going, but it's always a helluva ride.

Discosis takes a little work to find, but it is more than worth the effort. Rosé gets a Canadian release October 30.

Stereophonics - Maybe Tomorrow

When V2 Records shuttered as a new music outpost, among the bands left homeless was Welsh rock trio Stereophonics. Despite only pocketing one UK number 1 single ("Dakota"), they've released a steady stream of top-shelf singles and even have two albums among the UK's Top 100 all-time best sellers...but alas, so do the Spice Girls.

Stereophonics' biggest moment stateside, aside from opening a cache of dates on U2's Vertigo tour was this track, "Maybe Tomorrow," playing over the credits of Oscar-winner Crash. It's however, criminal, that this sparkling single (and frankly, this band) didn't have more than that one shining moment.

As with every Stereophonics track, so much of the heft is carried by singer Kelly Jones' bourbon-soaked vocals. His gravelly tone is so pivotal to carrying off the record, it's truly an instrument in itself. Kelly's voice paints a battered, world-weary contrast to the faint sunshine through the stained glass optimism of the gospel-inflected instrumentation and backing vocals. The entire 4½ minutes works so cohesively from the lyrics to the music to the backing vocals to Kelly's yearning lead vocal that you have to wonder if, for all their output, this wasn't the song Stereophonics existed to record.

Not only their finest work, but perhaps one of the finest recordings of this entire decade.

Radio V Classic - Muse - Muscle Museum (Maverick Records 1999)

This marks the debut of a new, but long-promised feature promoting some of my favorite older tracks. Often these will be fan favorites that never made a major impact on the greater consciousness. Sometimes, they will be posts about the roots of Radio V's music tastes. In short, Radio V Classics.

Long before they were honored with Radio V's not-quite prestigious "Single Of The Year 2006" award for "Supermassive Black Hole," and Q Magazine's slightly more important Best Live Act trophy, Muse were defining the dramatic rock sound that would go on to be their trademark.

Astride a chugging bassline, a skittering guitar line and Matt Bellamy's gilded tenor, the single "Muscle Museum," led off their debut full-length Showbiz. Sonically bipolar, the verses cast the trio as timid, fragile proto-emo poets, before the adrenaline rush of the chorus foreshadows the world-straddling rock gods the Devon, UK-based trio would become.

Despite early support from highly influential Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq, this standout single would only peak at No. 25 (in its re-release) on the UK charts. Even though the boys failed to light up the charts initially, the track set the stage for subsequent successes including 2003's electrifying breakthrough single "Time Is Running Out" and current US rock radio hit "Starlight."

Check out Muse's "Muscle Museum," a Radio V Classic