Yes. You did read the headline correctly: Mark Wahlberg just compared Justin Bieber to Tupac Shakur. Since you -- like us -- probably can't quite believe that just happened, here's the actual (ridiculous) quote:

"The world needs Justin Bieber," Wahlberg opined. "Justin Bieber is like the white Tupac. Compared to a lot of people."

Is he, Wahlberg? Really? That's a bit like saying Lady Gaga is like the white Aretha Franklin -- compared to a lot of people (who've never held microphones). Or that Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch were like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five -- compared to a lot of people (who've never made any music at all).

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Wildly popular yet uncompromisingly traditional local party-brass band Brass Menazeri got into a jam with Boston's Mr. Lif. The result is so beautiful it changed our brains just to hear a little bit. Brain different now! Different and better.

Wonderful brain-changing video after the jump.

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Campa

​After a 2010 in which they made a name for themselves in the pop/electronic/hip-hop sphere (having produced the chart-topping "Like A G6" for the Far East Movement), Berkeley natives The Cataracs are primed to blow up in 2011.

And though they've moved to L.A., they still haven't forgotten their Bay Area roots, as member Campa links up with Nic-Nac (of the Bay Area party-rap group Starting Six) on a new track called "Little Devil."

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How apropos: Indie singer-songwriter-guitarist who only goes by her first name meets other indie singer-songwriter-guitarist who only goes by her first name. They go on tour -- and then decide to record an album together.

Yes: What began as a single set at San Francisco's Noise Pop festival this past spring has blossomed into a full-blown musical relationship. Kill Rock Stars announced this week that Thao Nguyen and Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn's month-long summer tour together was no fling -- they next plan to record together. Said the label: "The two fast friends will cook up an entirely new batch of songs at San Francisco's famed Tiny Telephone Studios with as many Bay Area friends as can be gathered." The album is due out next spring.

So Thao is going to, um, Get Down and Stay Down with Mirah? For an idea of what the partnership will sound like, check out a video of Thao and Mirah working out some kinks on the song "How Dare You" at Thao's house in San Francisco after the jump.

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