Honestly, Kanye West is an undeniable genius. Before anyone has even hashed out whether his VMA mic-snatch from Taylor Swift was a stunt or bona fide drunken meltdown, Kanye is already making new news with this video promo for he and Lady Gaga’s upcoming Fame Kills tour, which promises to be a subtle and classy affair from start to finish, no doubt. What is a little dubious is whether the two will actually alternate top-billing throughout the tour, as they have claimed they will, and who will have the first temper tantrum over haute couture. Over/under is Kanye by Saskatoon. Make your picks in the comments, and view the full tour dates after the jump.

Fame Kills Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga
Nov. 10 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center
Nov. 11 – San Diego, CA @ Vegas Arena
Nov. 13 – Las Vegas, NV @ Madalay Bay Events Center
Nov. 15 – Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
Nov. 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
Nov. 18 – Sacramento, CA @ ARCO Arena
Nov. 19 – San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion
Nov. 24 – Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
Nov. 26 – Calgary, AB @ Pengrowth Saddledome
Nov. 28 – Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
Nov. 29 – Saskatoon, SK @ Credit Union Centre
Dec. 2 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
Dec. 4 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
Dec. 9 – Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena
Dec. 11 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
Dec. 12 – Greensboro, NC @ Greensboro Coliseum Complex
Dec. 13 – Norfolk, VA @ Scope
Dec. 16 – Worcester, MA @ DCU Center
Dec. 18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center
Dec. 19 – Baltimore, MD @ 1st Mariner Arena
Dec. 20 – Buffalo, NY @ HSBC Arena
Dec. 22 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ IZOD Center
Dec. 26 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center
Dec. 30 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
Jan. 3 – Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Coliseum
Jan. 6 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
Jan. 8 – Kanata, ON@ Scotiabank Place
Jan. 11 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
Jan. 14 – Auburn Hills, MI @ Palace of Auburn Hills
Jan. 16 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
Jan. 19 – New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Arena
Jan. 21 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
Jan. 22 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
Jan. 24 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center

First, they played the Velvet Underground in that movie on the Factory with Sienna Miller that nobody saw. Now, to demonstrate how absolutely cutting edge they are, Weezer have decided to simultaneously cover MGMT’s “Kids” and Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface.” Another sign of the apocalypse, and yet another of the many signs of Weezer’s complete slide into absolute irrelevance. Confidential to Rivers Cuomo: rapping “I am bluffin’ with my muffin” may cause your audience’s ears to bleed. Just a heads up.

Since we have a tendency to look below the radar for our music, we decided to take a weekly look at The Populist View. We’ll stop short of calling our tastes underground, let’s just say we’re pop-culturally inept. So we’ve devised a way to keep up to date.

Its quite simple actually. We’re just going to give side by side comparisons of top ten U.S. singles from Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and the Official top ten UK singles of every week. This way we’ll always know what’s spreading the cheese for radio programmers and people who still buy music in the two most influential music markets in the world. And if this week’s list is any indication, the people want their Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga on both sides of the Atlantic!

Billboard’s top ten U.S. singles for the week of 05.28.09
#01. “Boom Boom Pow” – The Black Eyed Peas
#02. “Poker Face” – Lady Gaga
#03. “Blame It” – Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain
#04. “Don’t Stop Believin’” – Glee Cast
#05. “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” – Pitbull
#06. “New Divide” – Linkin Park
#07. “Day ‘N’ Nite” – Kid Cudi
#08. “Halo” – Beyonce
#09. “Birthday Sex” – Jeremih
#10. “Waking Up In Vegas” – Katy Perry

The Official top ten UK singles for the week of 05.28.09
#01. “Bonkers” – Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden
#02. “Boom Boom Pow” – The Black Eyed Peas
#03. “Number 1″ – Tinchy Stryder feat. N-Dubz
#04. “We Made You” – Eminem
#05. “Red” – Daniel Merriweather
#06. “In For The Kill” – La Roux
#07. “Not Fair” – Lily Allen
#08. “Kiss Me Thru The Phone” – Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em feat. Sammie
#09. “Poker Face” – Lady Gaga
#10. “Fairytale” – Alexander Rybak

We’ve been scrambling to keep you up-to-date as Glastonbury’s slowly leaked megaconfirmation after megaconfirmation in the past few months. But today’s full lineup announcement is something to behold, the headlining package of Neil Young, the Boss and a reunited Blur now propped up by a roster so behemoth and iron-clad, it’s equal parts intimidating and enticing. Also playing: Bloc Party, Lady Gaga, Jarvis Cocker, Regina Spektor, Maximo Park, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Lily Allen, Tom Jones, Pete Doherty, Q-Tip, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Streets, Ray Davies and and and and…

There will be mud.

Just a few days after the iTunes variable pricing scale was introduced, Apple rumors are flying again — but this time, they’ve got nothing to do with how much it’ll cost you to download Lady GaGa. The latest buzz surrounds major potential upgrades to the iPhone and iPod touch that could leave satellite radio gasping for its last breath.

Computer World blogger Mike Elgan hypothesized that the death of not-long-ago merged Sirius XM will begin this summer, when Apple is rumored to introduce a new iPhone and iPod touch containing a new Broadcom BCM4329 chip that would give them 802.11n wireless. This would allow the devices to broadcast music to any car stereo using FM radio waves. This, in addition to a second rumor which has both the iPhone and the iPod touch being equipped with Bluetooth capabilities for audio streaming, could provide the final, fatal blow to a satellite radio system that relies on subscribers who may now see the service as superfluous.

Elgan said Sirius XM’s subscriber numbers have already been on the decline, and in the face of a struggling economy where few people are buying new cars (and thus few people are choosing to add the satellite radio feature) it only looks to worsen. And though the iPhone/iPod users might not be playing legally purchased $1.29 downloads on their car radios — the pricing scale has been called a “PR nightmare” by some in the industry — they can use that handy wireless feature to access online streaming music sites like Pandora, a stream far more specific to user tastes than satellite radio could hope to be.

Though this technology has been available in the past — typically as an add-on dock for the iPod — Elgan said this time it will be different.

My argument is that because the iPhone is so dominant (by far the largest-selling single cell phone model ever), and its user base so active (half of all mobile Web traffic, for example, comes from iPhones), that it’s the addition of one convenience feature (wireless audio streaming) combined with another cultural shift that has already happened (cell phone-based audio) that will change the culture.

A while back, when we found out that Apple would finally be removing digitial rights management (DRM) protections from its tracks, we were clearly pretty stoked. But there’s always a catch, and this time it’s a price hike on the most popular iTunes downloads — insiders say the increase to $1.29 will go into effect April 7.

The date for the change-over to variable pricing has not officially been announced, but industry executives say that Apple has been notifying the labels that it would happen on that date.

Some see the increase as another blow to a struggling industry, wondering if consumers will be willing to fork over more than $1 for a single song. But on the ever-present other hand you have the fact that in the new pricing scheme, users will be able to download older songs at .69 cents and the previous standard, .99 cents.

Interestingly, not just brand new tracks will receive the $1.29 price stamp. The cost of a particular song will depend on the artist’s popularity. Brand-new tracks from lesser-known artists could receive a lower price while a hugely popular classic track, like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run”, could go for top dollar. Or top dollar-twenty-nine. It is important to note, though, that most of the 10 million songs in the iTunes catalog are expected to remain at .99 cents.

So you’ll have to pay $1.29 for Lady GaGa. But if you’re like us, chances are there a lot of artists you listen to that aren’t so high on the international popularity chart. And if that means we get to download those songs for .69 cents? DRM-free? Count us in.