Bloc Party Live on KCRW 1-29-2009

On tour now. Yeah, you'll be looking for tickets after watching this.

Bloc Party - Halo (Morning Becomes Eclectic 1-29-2009)(mp3)

Sometimes a little 'tude hits just the right spot.

The Stolen Minks - Stop Talking:

Everybody.

True.

Bunny Sigler - Everybody Needs Good Lovin' (mp3)

Take them bowling.

In the spirit of keeping things heavy, deep, and gravely serious, here's a profound earworm from Camper Van Beethoven, who I listened to a lot back in college, in my what-else-is-there-to-do days. Once it's in there, there's no getting rid of it.

Camper Van Beethoven - Take The Skinheads Bowling (mp3)

Taken from Popular Songs of Great Enduring Strength and Beauty

TV On The Radio - Heroes (Bowie)

Posted at Stereogum just a few hours ago.

And here's Arcade Fire playing it in Cleveland, last March.

Tuatara & The Minus 5 Live on KEXP 10 Dec 2008

Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck, Barrett Martin, and Dave Carter in the KEXP studio to perform 4 songs: The Old Carving Knife, Missionary Death Song, Rage On Regardless, Ambulance Dance Hall

Download here.

Andrew Bird - Fitz & Dizzyspells

I spent this weekend with Andrew Bird's Noble Beast , lost in its lyrical and harmonic density, carried over the craggy cliffs in wild euphoric bursts of violin, whistles, and other surprises hidden around and between troubling verses. Grounded, groundless, dizzying.

Andrew Bird - Fitz & Dizzyspells (mp3)

Andrew Bird widget by 6L & Daxii

Also, check out this article on Andrew Bird from the NY Times Magazine. Excerpt:

Andrew Bird hates rehearsing. He counts on the sense of peril that he gets onstage — that feeling that everything can unravel in an instant — to keep him inside his music and prevent him from succumbing to self-doubt. So last month, when Bird was preparing to go on tour with his new backing band, he decided that instead of practicing the songs from his new album, “Noble Beast,” they would play two surprise shows at the Hideout, a working-class-bar-cum-indie-rock-haven in a deserted industrial neighborhood in his hometown, Chicago.

It was a ridiculously small venue for Bird. In September, he drew some 13,000 people to the open-air auditorium in Chicago’s Millennium Park. The Hideout’s official seating capacity is listed at 73, though a few hours before the doors opened one of the bar’s owners told me, only half-jokingly, that the actual number depends on who’s onstage. “When Andrew plays,” she said, “we can squeeze in a lot more because so many of them are skinny girls with glasses.”
...

M. Ward - To Save Me

On Hold Time,M. Ward explores individual spirituality, philosophy, mortality, love, forgiveness, and the sweep of time.

That's all.

The usual. But in addition to the usual universal themes, and the familiar techniques in his unique songwriting style, there's a new swagger in his songs, a new danceability to them. Maybe his collaboration with Zooey Deschanel sparked something in his creative center. I know it's early to start naming best-of's for 2009, but of all of this year's releases so far, and there have been some good ones already, I'm stuck on this one.

Here's a song that I imagine the great Daniel Johnston would appreciate.

M. Ward - To Save Me (mp3)

I'll be seeing him at the Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia on Feb 20th (one of the few U.S. shows that is not sold out), with the Vivian Girls opening. How good is that going to be. If you'll be there too, let me know.

Tone Loc's Loc'ed After Dark Gets Deluxe Treatment

That's right, on January 27th, Delicious Vinyl (thanks guys) will release the Deluxe Digital Edition of Tone Loc's classic, Loc-ed After Dark, with "Wild Thing," "Funky Cold Medina," and six rare bonus tracks...who saw this coming?? Not me. I'm thinking, though, that it would be even more delicious in vinyl.

Tone Loc - Wild Thing (Moguai Remix)(mp3)
***NOTE: Link removed after receiving a takedown notice. This track was noted as approved for posting in the promotional e-mail, with an "approved" link. Gotta love it.***

Also:

MYSPACE MUSIC EXCLUSIVELY PREMIERES NEW FRANZ FERDINAND ALBUM

From press release:

MySpace Music, the world's premiere online music portal, is proud to announce the world exclusive of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the 3rd album from the band Franz Ferdinand. Starting today, January 22nd, MySpace users across the world will be able to stream the highly-anticipated album for free, giving fans a chance to preview it before the official release on January 27.

For more on Franz Ferdinand and to stream Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, visit their MySpace Music profile at http://www.myspace.com/franzferdinand.

Lizzy Strikes Again

The skull mirror. Nice touch.

REM Live at Tyrone's, Athens, Georgia, 4-10-1981

A little context here: 11 Days before this show, President Reagan was shot by 25-year-old John Hinckley, the son of a wealthy oil exec, to impress Jodie Foster.

This live performance of Rockville has none of the drunken twang of the album version. Or should we say that the album version is nowhere near as much fun as this one?

There She Goes Again (Velvet Underground)
Little Girl (Syndicate of Sound)
Don't Go Back To Rockville

Also, here's Syndicate of Sound's version of Little Girl:

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS TOUR WITH FUJIYA & MIYAGI, RELEASE "IAMUNDERNODISGUISE" SINGLE AND ALPINISMS ON VINYL

SVIIB

Sign me up! School of Seven Bells press release:

If School of Seven Bells (Benjamin Curtis from the Secret Machines and the twin Deheza sisters from On! Air! Library!)' full-length debut, Alpinisms, is divided between two stylistic imprints - one consisting of heavenly drones and soaring melodies, the other built upon tribal beats and hypnotic, incantatory vocals - then "Iamundernodisguise," the album's second single, is most definitely the latter. Ghostly International will release School of Seven Bells' "Iamundernodisguise" on 7" vinyl and digital download on February 17th.

A sinister electronic calypso marked by ping-ponging percussion and one of the Deheza sisters' slinkier melodies, "Iamundernodisguise" teases out School of Seven Bells' darker side within the parameters of a concise, catchy pop song. Repetition is the key here, as the Dehezas sing breathy, cryptic promises ("I am neither walker nor sleeper / I am neither sister, brother, son, nor daughter") over and over as the beat goes on. B-side "Trance Figure (Nobody Remix)" takes the Dehezas' already-detached vocals into even more foreign territory with the help of West Coast producer Nobody.

In the wake of a recent cross-country tour with M83, School of Seven Bells will be joining Fujiya & Miyagi for a set of US dates in February before heading to Europe for the next few months. Alpinisms will also be available February 24th on 180-gram limited edition vinyl.

School of Seven Bells Tour Dates:
1/16 New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge (self-titled Magazine party w/Free Blood, The Juan MacLean)
2/06 Wellesley, MA - Wellesely College
2/07 Princeton, NJ - Terrace F. Club
2/11 Minneapolis, MN - 7th St Entry w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/12 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/13 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/14 Alfred, NY - Alfred University Knight Club w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/15 Boston, MA - The Paradise w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/18 Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/19 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/23 Dublin, Ireland - Whelans
2/24 Glasgow, Scotland - Captain's Rest
2/25 Leeds, UK - Cockpit
2/26 London, UK - Cargo
2/27 Manchester, UK - Night & Day
2/28 Bristol, UK - Start the Bus
3/01 Brighton, UK - Audio
3/04 Brussels, Belgium - AB Club
3/05 Paris, Ile-de-France - Le Point Ephemere
3/07 Munster, Germany - Gleis 22
3/08 Berlin, Germany - Bang Bang Club
3/09 Hamburg, Germany - Molotow
3/10 Cologne, Germany - Studio 672
3/12 Vienna, Austria - Flex
3/13 Munich, Germany - Atomic Cafe
3/14 Milan, Italy - La Casa
***SXSW***

The Walkmen on KCRW.

Video up now.

Neko Case - Blog for Charity

Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve (mp3)

Yes, I know that this song, the first single from Neko Case's forthcoming Middle Cyclone, has been out there for a week, which is like an mp3 blog year. Still, I'm getting in on it too, because for every blog that posts the song and/or iLike user who adds it to their profile, Neko Case and ANTI- will make a cash donation to Best Friends Animal Society.


The promotion runs up to February 3, 2009. Five dollars will be donated for every blog post and one dollar for every user of iLike that adds the song to his/her profile. More details here.

Today's Spam: Kiti S., who needs loving and true.

Subject: Looking for a nice guy, not a hearbreaker
Saturday, January 17, 2009 3:36 PM
From: "Kat S"
To: canowine@yahoo.com

My dear friend

I may not get to see you as often as I like. I may not get to hold you in
my arms all through the night. But deep in my heart I truly know, you're
the one that I love, and I can't let you go http://[url deleted]
I have not been dating for some time and though I am looking into it, I will be
somewhat particular. My first love is traveling and I love boating and water
activity. I've lost my life to bad circumstance, and I am learning to live all
over again possibly as a much more appreciative and better person. Family values,
morally correct, trustworthy, meaningful, loving and true are what I need.

Looking forward to hear from you
Kiti S

Ida Maria on KCRW

The rising Norwegian rock star was on Morning Becomes Eclectic last Monday. This young lady has some serious passion, and you'll see it come through below. Her album is called Fortress Around My Heart.



Also, the first song:
Ida Maria - Morning Light (mp3)

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa reflects on the social and political dimensions of skin color

In the Washington Post Magazine Obamanauguration issue.

excerpts:

Daddy Red's left eye was blue. His right eye was gray. They said in his youth that his hair had been blondish. It was still straight. His real name was Wesley Pittman, and he was my step-grandfather, a white-looking black man married to my black paternal grandmother, Elsie. People walked big circles around him because he was known to have killed a man when he was 20. The story went something like this: Both men were on horseback, circling each other with drawn knives, dusk falling on Red's pale skin and the other man's black skin. By the time the sun set, only Red was sitting upright in the saddle.

...

"Look a man in the eyes. Especially a white man. Always look him in the eyes."

"Yes, sir."

"Something else."

We held each other's gaze. He drew the words out of himself.

"Never work -- for no man -- who can't treat you with respect."

His words hung in the air. They felt like a rule or law that I had to obey. Now, words from an overheard story began to make sense. I could hear Mama Elsie saying, "My daddy don't work for no white man."

Today's Spam Message is from Sabina Love, a quiet and sincer girl who loves honesty and truth..

I just got this in my Yahoo inbox:

Hi
I am sabina by name a quiet and sincer girl. I love
honesty and truth. I trust people very much. I like
nature quiet walks in the parks holding hands
listening to the whispering breeze and the songs of
the birds; admiring the smiling eyes of my lover, I
hope to meet my true love, I will give him all
myself completely.i wait to hear from you.i whish
you will know me well and sew me on picture.i hope
to meet you soon,
sabina
sabinababy207@yahoo.com

David Byrne sounds like the future.

Where is David Byrne NOT these days? All the better for us.

David Byrne & Dirty Projectors - Knotty Pine (mp3)

From the Red Hot album Dark Was The Night, which ALSO includes, among others, Sufjan Stevens, Feist with Grizzly Bear, Feist with Ben Gibbard, the Decemberists, Grizzly Bear, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, The National, Bright Eyes, Spoon, The New Pornographers, Antony, The Books with Jose Gonzalez, Blonde Redhead, Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, My Brightest Diamond, Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio and Riceboy Sleeps (Jonsi from Sigur Ros).