Chinatown Bus

Hot Panda calls this song "Chinatown Bus," a title that rallies the senses to a conjured downtown evening image - that old crowded bus smell, the feel of skin on cheap fabric, the accidental touch of a stranger, and all the strange noises. The song is an escape fantasy, and what an odd vehicle for the journey of one's dreams.

Hot Panda - Chinatown Bus (mp3)

From Volcano...Bloody Volcano.

A.C. Newman on KCRW today.

A.C. Newman will be playing a live set at KCRW this morning at 11:15 (Pacific).

Beast

Beast - Mr. Hurricane

French boy-girl duo Beast give us this song, which tickled my novelty-seeking gene for the embedded gospel choir-like parts, and the drums, the drums.

Beast is out March 3rd, for less than 8 bucks on Amazon.com.

Neko Case: Exclusive First Listen on NPR

Listen to Neko Case's forthcoming Middle Cyclone in its entirety here.

Pomegranates

The muted strings, the ringing strings! Also, the descending notes - a reminder of the cosmic moments from The Church's Starfish.

Pomegranates - Corriander (mp3)

From the forthcoming April 14th release Everybody Come Outside.

From The Harlem Shakes' Debut LP

I'm sick of slow rock
I'm sick of quick quips
I'm sick of holdin' on to nothin'
When I just want to hold your hips

This will be a better year.
This will be a better year.

The Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game (mp3)

From Technicolor Health, out March 24th.

M. Ward, Live, Solo Acoustic on WNYC, Feb 17, 2009

The songs sound so good. Listen here.

Hold Timeis out now.

Looking for Beck's "Leopard-Skin Pill-box Hat?"

It seems that a lot of people are coming here looking for this...It was the song that closed the Academy Awards last night during the summer 2009 preview, and it was just. the. thing. I posted it forever ago, and it's long gone. Good news is, you can and should get it from the new War Child presents Heroes
compilation, out tomorrow, and help provide humanitarian assistance to war-affected children in some of the most devastated regions of the world.

Check out the track listing:

1. Beck (Bob Dylan - "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat")
2. The Kooks (The Kinks - "Victoria")
3. The Hold Steady (Bruce Springsteen - "Atlantic City")
4. Hot Chip (Joy Division - "Transmission")
5. Lily Allen feat. Mick Jones (The Clash - "Straight To Hell")
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs (The Ramones - "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker")
7. Franz Ferdinand (Blondie - "Call Me")
8. Duffy (Paul McCartney - "Live And Let Die")
9. Estelle (Stevie Wonder - "Superstition")
10. Rufus Wainwright (Brian Wilson -" Wonderful & Song For Children")
11. Scissor Sisters (Roxy Music - "Do The Strand")
12. Peaches (Iggy Pop - "Search And Destroy")
13. Adam Cohen (Leonard Cohen - "Take This Waltz")
14. Elbow (U2 - "Running To Stand Still")
15. The Like (Elvis Costello - "You Belong To Me")
16. TV On The Radio (David Bowie - "Heroes")

Andrew Bird, Live on KEXP, 1-22-2009

Download here (mp3).

Hey Mr. Big!!

This is wrong.



And of course we have just the song.

The Dils - Mr. Big (mp3)

from Class War

Antony & The Johnsons, Live on The Current, earlier today.

And from last night's Letterman:

Neko Case - The Next Time You Say Forever

It's a minute and 46 seconds of Neko Case, and I know, I know, it's not enough. But Middle Cyclone is out in less than 2 weeks. Even better - she's probably coming to a town near you, soon.

Neko Case - The Next Time You Say Forever (mp3)

Lily Allen, Live on KCRW, Earlier Today

You can't not love Lily Allen, can you?

Calvino & Millhauser in The New Yorker

The moon is old, Qfwfq agreed, pitted with holes, worn out. Rolling naked through the skies, it erodes and loses its flesh like a bone that’s been gnawed. This is not the first time that such a thing has happened. I remember moons that were even older and more battered than this one; I’ve seen loads of these moons, seen them being born and running across the sky and dying out, one punctured by hail from shooting stars, another exploding from all its craters, and yet another oozing drops of topaz-colored sweat that evaporated immediately, then being covered by greenish clouds and reduced to a dried-up, spongy shell.

What happens on the earth when a moon dies is not easy to describe; I’ll try to do it by referring to the last instance I can remember. Following a lengthy period of evolution, the earth had more or less reached the point where we are now; in other words, it had entered the phase when cars wear out more quickly than the soles of shoes. Beings that were barely human manufactured and bought and sold things, and cities covered the continents with luminous color. These cities grew in approximately the same places as our cities do now, however different the shape of the continents was. There was even a New York that in some way resembled the New York familiar to all of you, but was much newer, or, rather, more awash with new products, new toothbrushes, a New York with its own Manhattan that stretched out dense with skyscrapers gleaming like the nylon bristles of a brand-new toothbrush.

- from The Daughters of The Moon, by Italo Calvino, on TheNewYorker.com

From the beginning we were prepared, we knew just what to do, for hadn’t we seen it all a hundred times?—the good people of the town going about their business, the suddenly interrupted TV programs, the faces in the crowd looking up, the little girl pointing in the air, the mouths opening, the dog yapping, the traffic stopped, the shopping bag falling to the sidewalk, and there, in the sky, coming closer . . . And so, when it finally happened, because it was bound to happen, we all knew it was only a matter of time, we felt, in the midst of our curiosity and terror, a certain calm, the calm of familiarity, we knew what was expected of us, at such a moment. The story broke a little after ten in the morning...

- from The Invasion From Outer Space, by Steven Millhauser, from last week's TheNewYorker.com.

Juana Molina, Live on KEXP 2-10-2009

It's a "multilayered folktronic meditation," in the words of the KEXP feedwriters. Download here.

She'll be on KCRW today.

1,000,000.

You might think that upon 1,000,000 hits (TODAY), TSOAF's author(s) might write a piece exceeding 50 words. Nope. Still, thanks for visiting! TSOAF soldiers on for you, dear downloader, piece-free.

R.E.M. - 1,000,000 (Live at Tyrones, Athens GA 9-23-1981)(mp3)

A conversation from last night:

Me: The Smudge will reach a million hits tomorrow.
Julie: Congratulations.
Me: I wonder what's next.
Julie: 1,000,001.

Andrew Bird, live on KCRW, today.

Listen here:


Video should be up tomorrow.

Amazon offers Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" FREE for V.T.'s Day

Clicky.

School of Seven Bells, Live on The Current, 2-10-2009

If I Work 'Til The Close Of Day, Lord (TGIF)

If I walk in the pathway of duty
If I work 'til the close of day, Lord
I shall see the great king in all his beauty
When I've gone the last mile of the way, Lord, yes sir

When I've gone the last mile of the way, oh yeah
I shall rest at the close of day
For I know there are joy awaiting
When I've gone the last mile of the way

The Soul Stirrers - The Last Mile of the Way (mp3)
Troy Ramey and the Soul Searchers - By The Power Of God (mp3)

New on the yPod

Y-Rock on XPN has a podcast, and the beautiful XPNers recently made the following in-studio performances available for download:

Phantom Planet (2-6-2009)(originally recorded in Jun 08)(mp3)
Ra Ra Riot (1-23-2009)(mp3)

After reading the news on The Rentals' latest project, you might be itching for something like this:

The Rentals (1-25-2008)(mp3)

Puritanically Yours.

The Kool-Aid is so drinkable.

Parenthetical Girls - Puritanically Yours (mp3)
Kanda - In Celebration of Karaoke (mp3)

The shortest one word post ever.

Oi!

Sab Gray & The Royal Americans - Wasted in D.C. (mp3)
Brassknuckle Boys - Day After Day (mp3)

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (Live on KEXP 2-9-2009)

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart played a live in-studio set for KEXP, broadcast today. They also played the Black Cat tonight, on the other coast...if you were there, let us know how it was.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (Live on KEXP 2-9-2009)(mp3s):

Doing All The Things That Wouldn't Make Your Parents Proud
Come Saturday
Kurt Cobain's Cardigan
The Tenure Itch

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart was released last Tuesday.

Franz Ferdinand - Live, Koeln, 2-4-2009 (FM)

Here's one thing on my list of things to do before I, well, you know: Go to a rock concert in Germany. With Germans.

Franz Ferdinand - Live, Koeln (Cologne), Kulturkirche, 2-4-2009 (mp3s):

No You Girls
Send Him Away
Live Alone
Take Me Out
Ulysses

From this set.

It's a recession-friendly 10 bucks for Tonight:Franz Ferdinandon Amazon.com.

Andrew Bird, Live at the 9:30 Club, 2-3-2009

NPR broadcast Andrew Bird's performance at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday. You can listen to the entire concert here.

Andrew Bird - Live at the 9:30 Club, 3 February 2009 (mp3s):

Oh No
Effigy
Not A Robot, But A Ghost

Also, download Loney Dear's entire opening set here, or stream it here.

Oxford Americana

Here are a few bits of Americana from a couple of Oxford American Southern Music samplers. The first two, taken from the same compilation (Vol. 6), are polar opposites.


Ann Savoy & Linda Ronstadt - La Chanson d'une Fille de Quinze Ans (Song of a Fifteen Year Old Girl)(mp3)

The Collins Kids - Hot Rod (mp3)

The Staple Singers - Will The Circle Be Unbroken (mp3)

Perfect Unpop

Copies of Peel Show Hits and Long-Lost lo Fi Favourites, Vol. 1
are getting rare: one in stock at Amazon.

Beneath lo-fi, these are Ludd-fi, and it's mighty ironic that you're going to listen to these songs on your computer and/or iPod.

The Monochrome Set - He's Frank (Slight Return)(mp3)
Language School - Tours (mp3)
The Vibrators - Whips and Furs (mp3)

A.C. Newman - Live on WFMU 1-31-2009

The New Pornographers' A.C. Newman recently visited Terre T's Cherry Blossom Clinic show on WFMU and played 6 songs in-studio, broadcast on Saturday, in support of his new album, Get Guilty.
'Twas glorious. Listen to the entire performance here.

Palace at 4 AM
The Heartbreak Rides