My friends, it's time for another Pop Culture Political Update (PCPU)! With campaigns entering the final month, the musical happenings are heating up. As always, That One is the beneficiary of pretty much every arts-related political benefit out there. Here's the latest:

• Three of New York's avant-indie, New Music-esque artists will gather at, where else, the Horticultural Society of New York to perform 'brief sets' at an event being called Bingo For Obama. Tickets are $100 and organizers hope to raise twenty thousand smackers. Besides, presumably, bingo, Grizzly Bear, Beirut's Zach Condon and Nico Muhly will all do musical things. It all goes down this Friday, October 17th.
• Yesterday saw Vampire Weekend and the non-Stills two-thirds of Crosby, Stills and Nash play Music For Democracy's event at St. Raphael's church in Hell's Kitchen, NYC.
• The Beastie Boys are leading a mini-tour in support of Barack Obama that will hit the battleground areas of Richmond, VA, St. Paul, MN and Milwaukee, WI. Joining them on various sops will be Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Jack Johnson and Santogold (Richmond), Ben Harper and Tenacious D (St. Paul and Milwaukee) and David Crosby and Graham Nash (Milwaukee).
• This Thursday is the Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel shindig at the Hammerstein in New York.
• Thursday is also the day for a CIncinnati rally, featuring locals The National and The Breeders.
• More Ohio: Friday will see Devo play its first hometown show in years, at the Akron Civic Theatre.

And yes, there are countless other small bills around the country. And if you're wondering why Crosby and Nash haven't been joined by Stephen Stills at these shows, it's likely due to Stills' continuing battle with prostate cancer.

Twenty two days until Election Day.

- So, Apple's iPod commercials are the Oprah's book club of indie music? We buy it. Well, technically we don't; we download it, but you get the point. [New York Times]

<< Yet another reason to pinch Sarah Palin¹s cheeks: her flute performance during the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant. Can we get some Jethro Tull at the debate tonight? [You Tube]
 
+ Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 is due out in December and is said to include tastes of Cee-Lo, Santogold and a generous helping of Kanye West. Also, If you're in Detroit or Miami this weekend let Jay register you to vote. [Please Don't Stare]

+ Denmark may be the happiest country in the world, but now the Danish coastal town of Horsens is the rockin¹est: a real live city built on rock'n'roll. [Spinner]
 
+ Flea is using his downtime to get a head start on his homework. The 45-year-old Chili Pepper enrolled at USC to study music theory, composition, and jazz trumpet. No word on what fraternity he's planning to pledge. [MTV]

Are you feeling the video for "My Drive Thru"?

Madonna
Hard Candy

Warner Bros.

Portishead
Third

Mercury/Island
Beautifully sad Brits turn truly woeful.
By Sia Michel

>> Read the full review here.

Santogold
Santogold

Downtown/Lizard King
Hip-hop hipster mocks hipsters, gets even hipper.
By Jon Dolan

>> Read the full review here.

The Roots
Rising Down

Def Jam
Snakebitten rappers quit grumbling, make their best LP in years.
By Hua Hsu

>> Read the full review here.

Bun B
Trill II

Rap-A-Lot/Asylum
A trunk-rattling bulletin from the wise old bard of Southern rap.
By Josh Eells

>> Read the full review here.

Lil Mama
VYP: Voice of the Young People

Jive
Nearly a year after her great summer hit “Lip Gloss,” Harlem-born Niatia Kirkland denies she’ll be a one-hit wonder.
By Tal Rosenberg

>> Read the full review here.

Robert Forster
The Evangelist

Yep Roc
Surviving half of indelible Australian songwriting combo is still collaborating, even after death.
By Robert Christgau

>> Read the full review here.

Jamie Lidell
Jim

Warp
The hipster Robin Thicke mines blue-eyed gold
By Ryan Dombal

>> Read the full review here.
>> Watch our recent video interview with Jamie Lidell here.

Greetings from sunny Indio, California! We're broadcasting live from the 2008 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the cool big brother of the U.S. rock-fest circuit. 50,000+ heat-stroke-defying music fans have flocked to this desert oasis for three days of tunes, tans and overpriced Heinekens. So far it's been even more laid-back than usual: Maybe Day 1 headliner Jack Johnson put everyone in a chillaxin' mood, but the bathroom lines were short and civilized, the notoriously hellish parking lot was the smoothest it's ever been, and even the weather was feeling generous, as the temperature topped out at around 95, which for Coachella counts as a cool spell.

The best set of the day belonged to '90s U.K. faves The Verve, reunited and touring for the first time in nearly a decade. Their soaring Brit-rock anthems like "The Drugs Don't Work" and "Sonnet" sounded magnificent in the desert night, and frontman Richard Ashcroft (pictured) looked like he'd never been away, bounding around the main stage barefoot (word to Jack Johnson!) and doing this cool thing where he held the microphone to his chest so the crowd could hear his heartbeat. When they launched into "Bittersweet Symphony" we could have sworn it was sophomore year all over again.

Other Friday highlights? Brooklyn genre-jumbler Santogold dazzled a jam-packed Gobi Tent as her pal/sister-in-awesomeness M.I.A. watched from the wings. (She also dedicated a song to "my friends in Spank Rock for giving me lots of wonderful special drugs I'd never heard of before" — which may explain why Spank Rock were a no-show for their set later that night.) Blog heroes Vampire Weekend, playing their first-ever festival gig, turned in a fun, winning performance to an audience including Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis and Pink(?!). Über-cool DJ Diplo slayed the Sahara Tent with an inspired M.I.A./"Smells Like Teen Spirit" mashup, then took us back to the mid-'90s yet again with Ini Kamoze's "Here Come the Hotstepper." Jack White and his Raconteurs were solid but unremarkable, The Breeders were unremarkable but solid, and we gave up on Fatboy Slim when he still hadn't materialized nearly 30 minutes after his scheduled start time. No praise for you, sir!

Check back tomorrow for more updates (PRINCE!!!!!!!) and/or Pink sightings.

<< This Year's Breathless Hyperbole Award goes to genre-busting Brooklynite Santogold. [L.A. Times] 

+ If her SXSW showcase (featuring vegetarian macaroni and cheese!) is any indication, Rachel Ray just may be indie music's hottest new tastemaker. [AP] 

+ The Most Dangerous Show Award goes to F***ed Up, who incited a hectic mosh pit and nearly took down a shaky Austin bridge during an impromptu gig early Saturday morning. [NME] 

WHO: Santogold
WHAT: "L.E.S. Artistes" [Director: Nima Nourizadeh]
WHY: Taking visual cues from cult artist Alejandro Jodorowsky, genre-proof Brooklyn upstart Santogold somehow skewers overt pretentiousness while sitting atop a black horse in a fake forest in this arresting clip. Santo has been pegged by many as one of 2008's most promising new acts and it's easy to see why — she emanates an unquestionable cool that manages to bridge highbrow style with rainbow-colored silliness (see: people throwing-up bright green liquid and getting nailed with day glo paint balls). As if that wasn't enough, she's got the Kanye stamp of approval ... what else could a talented, über-fashionable, hype-friendly artist need?