Sharon Jones

The new record from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings is less than one month away. I Learned It the Hard Way is their first full-length since the record-breaking (but by no means debut) album 100 Days, 100 Nights which catapulted Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings into indie stardom. And their latest proves their musical momentum is just as strong as ever. Due April 6th (Jones' birthday), it's another solid album of songs that sounds decades-old but for some reason feels anything but anachronistic, and is equally fit for a cocktail party as your headphones. Stream the title track, "I Learned It the Hard Way" after the jump!

Pepa of Salt'n'Pepa's Let's Talk about Pep, a new VH1 reality show billed as a "Black Sex & the City," debuted last night. Here's Pepa's take on it, did anyone else catch it? (In way less-glamourous news about hip-hop women being on reality tv, Lady Soveriegn is slated for Celebrity Big Brother. She will be housemates with Sisqo. [Stereogum]). • Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings will have a new album, I Learned it the Hard Way, ready for May. [BeatCrave] • You can watch an entire Thao and the Get Down Stay Down concert at Baeblemusic.com [KRS]. • M.I.A., who's always been outspoken about political unrest in her birthplace of Sri Lanka, has bashed the New York Times on Twitter (screenshot) for listing the country as the #1 "place to go" in 2010. (Pitchfork]. • Solange Knowles, the Dirty-Projectors-covering, safe-sex promoting, little sister of Beyonce is going to be on the upcoming Of Montreal album. [Pitchfork] • And music recs after the jump!

The underground rock scene used to be something of a "boys only" club, despite the efforts and talents of a great many amazing female musicians. Even as late as the mid-nineties, the all-female Lilith Fair rock festival seemed necessary as a showcase for the women who managed to shred their way through the flannel-swaddled man-zone of grunge. But after attending Sunday night's Dark Was the Night show at Radio City Music Hall, it seems to me that maybe women are approaching parity at the top of the indie rock scene. (More, plus a video of the amazing finale, after the jump.)