Yo La Tengo - Today Is The Day (Live on McEnroe, 2004)

Here are two sides of the same Yo La Tengo song. Listen to the mp3 of the album version first, even if you already know it, to set that peaceful tone. Then, for the video, just be ready to get out of Ira Kaplan's way.

Yo La Tengo - Today Is The Day (mp3)



Today Is The Day is on Summer Sun. Yo La Tengo's forthcoming Popular Songs is available for preorder.

Bat For Lashes - Sleep Alone (HD Vid)

Innocent, sinister, beautiful video.

Record Club - Heroin (Velvet Underground & Nico)

Not for the epileptic.

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "Heroin" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Beck - Modern Guilt (Acoustic)

Modern Guilt Acoustic "Modern Guilt" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

The Meantimes - Friday Kind Of Monday

May you, yes, YOU, have one of these. Maybe just listening to this will make Monday a little better...it's the Bubblegum Effect.

The Meantimes - Friday Kind of Monday (mp3)

From Where The Girls Are, Volume 4

Deep Sea Diver Live In-Studio, 7-31-2009

Deep Sea Diver played a stripped-down set for KXLU on Friday. Jessica Dobson, who played guitar and sang backing vocals on Beck's Modern Guilt tour, is mesmerizing.

Watch the in-studio performance here, and download it here (mp3).

The New Caves EP is available now.

Beck - Planned Obsolescence #4: Hello There

No. 4: Hello There by planned_obsolescence

Featuring:
John Cale- Hello There
Daniel Johnston- Hi, How Are You?
Indian Jewelry- Hello Africa
The Cars- Hello Again
Mu- Hello Bored Biz Man
Conway Twitty- Hello Darlin'
Loretta Lynn- Hello Darlin'
Jean-Jacques Perrey- Hello Dolly
Ricardo Villalobos- Hello Halo
!!!- Hello Is This Thing On?
Juicy Lucy- Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham
Neil Young & Comrie Smith - Hello Lonely Woman
Paul McCartney & Wings- Hello, How Do You Like The Lyrics
Junior Senior- Hello
J Dilla aka Jay Dee- Hi
Karen O. & Squeak E. Clean- Hello Tomorrow
Super Furry Animals- Hello Sunshine
The Doors- Hello To The Cities
Stephen Stills- Hello, I've Returned
The White Stripes- Hello Operator
Ginuwine - Hello
Harum- Hello
Willie Nelson- Hello Walls
The Doors- Hello, I Love You
The Carter Family- Hello Stranger
James Taylor- Hello Old Friend
Kate Bush- Hello Earth
Ernest Tubb- Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello

Philip Glass - Dead Things

I've been playing classical music on Pandora as I labor through homework problems. It was just background music, until this came on and stopped me.

Philip Glass - Dead Things (mp3)

From The Hours (Score)

7 Worlds Collide for Doctors Without Borders

7 WORLDS COLLIDE'S THE SUN CAME OUT TO BE RELEASED
SEPTEMBER 29 VIA SONY MUSIC

BAND FEATURES MEMBERS OF CROWDED HOUSE, RADIOHEAD, WILCO, THE SMITHS, KT TUNSTALL AMONG MANY OTHERS

The first 7 Worlds Collide album, a collection of amazing musical talents from across the globe in aid of Médecins Sans Frontières, was a unique live performance experience, fusing the varied talents of a stellar cast across a range of cover versions to create a series of shows that culminated in the live album of the same name. Seven years after that project, instigator Neil Finn has upped the ante with the new 7 Worlds Collide project, The Sun Came Out, a double album of original songs created and recorded by many of the original cast alongside notable new additions in an intense three weeks in his native New Zealand. This time the beneficiaries of this album will be Oxfam, as well as music lovers worldwide.

Familiar faces from the original album abound, Johnny Marr, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway of Radiohead but this album, first and foremost presents the listener with new songs rather than interpretations of old favourites. The Sun Came Out also features a whole host of new guest talents such as KT Tunstall and Wilco and heart stopping firsts, including Phil Selway's songwriting and vocal debut as well as dream collaborations such as those between Johnny Marr and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy; and KT Tunstall and Neil Finn .

At the heart of the record is Neil Finn. His enthusiasm and drive persuaded the likes of celebrated producer Jim Scott, Lisa Germano, Johnny Marr and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Pat Sansone, John Stirratt and Glenn Kotche (amongst others) to spend their Christmas holiday in New Zealand and even interrupted KT Tunstall's honeymoon in the process.

With families welcome, the studio became a constant whirl of creativity and energy throughout the three weeks allocated to create the record. Johnny Marr returned from a run on the beach with the basis of 'Too Blue', where Jeff Tweedy was waiting to add his talents; KT Tunstall stopped Neil retiring to his bed to complete 'Hazel Black'; a wandering Johnny Marr added a chorus melody to Liam Finn's 'Red Wine Bottle'; Ed O'Brien fashioned 'Bodhisattva Blues' from a Tibetan chant. In this atmosphere, anything was possible and Neil's wife Sharon found herself laying down her debut vocal on 'Little By Little' whilst Phil Selway also took his vocal bow and unveiled a hitherto unknown songwriting talent with his solo turn 'The Ties That Bind Us' in one take.

From Neil's original doubts over the idea, "I thought, what is this? Is it just an ego thing," came a double album of astounding collaborations for the listener and amazing memories for all those concerned in the recording. At the center of it all stands Neil Finn, too humble to take the glory himself, it is left to KT Tunstall to give the credit due to the man who made this happen: "It's Neil. It all comes from him. There's something about him that made everyone open up creatively."

Jeremy Hobbs, Director of Oxfam International said: "7 Worlds Collide is a great project. I hope The Sun Came Out is a huge success. Not just because it's a unique musical experience but because each CD sold will make a difference -- raising money to fund Oxfam's work to fight poverty."

The complete tracklisting and credits for the 2-CD set is below:

Disc 1

1. Too Blue - (Johnny Marr/Jeff Tweedy) - Johnny Marr and Neil Finn vocals
Elroy Finn & Glenn Kotche (drums), Phil Selway (percussion), John Stirratt (stand-up bass), Johnny Marr & Ed O'Brien (guitars), Pat Sansone (piano), Nile Marr & Neil Finn (acoustic guitars), and Lisa Germano (violins)

2. You Never Know - (Jeff Tweedy) - Jeff vocals
Jeff Tweedy (acoustic & electric guitars), Glenn Kotche (drums), Pat Sansone (acoustic 12 string guitar & piano), John Stirratt (bass), Neil Finn (Wurlitzer piano, fuzz guitar), Liam Finn (additional fuzz guitar), Nels Cline (electric/slide guitar), and Mikael Jorgensen (organ/synth)

3. Little By Little - (Sharon Finn/Neil Finn) - Neil and Sharon vocals
Glenn Kotche (drums & percussion), Liam Finn (additional drums), Sharon Finn (bass), and Neil Finn (guitars, Chamberlin, Jupiter 8, marimba)

4. Learn To Crawl - (Ed O'Brien/Johnny Marr/Liam Finn/Neil Finn) - Neil and Liam vocals
Glenn Kotche (drums), Ed O'Brien, Johnny Marr, Pat Sansone (acoustic guitar arpeggio), Neil Finn (bass), Pat Sansone (background harmonies), Jeff Tweedy (disembodied voice), and Lisa Germano (violin)

5. Black Silk Ribbon - (KT Tunstall/Bic Runga) - KT and Bic vocals
Luke Bullen (drums, thigh slap), KT Tunstall & Bic Runga (acoustic guitars), Sebastian Steinberg (stand up & bowed bass), and Lisa Germano (violin)

6. Girl, Make Your Own Mind Up - (Don McGlashan) - Don vocals
Don McGlashan (guitar), Glenn Kotche (drums), Ed O'Brien (electric guitar atmosphere), John Stirratt (bass), Ivy Rossiter (backing vocal), and Jeff Tweedy (electric guitar solo)

7. Run In The Dust - (Johnny Marr) - Johnny vocals
Phil Selway (drums), Sebastian Steinberg (bass), Johnny Marr (guitar), Ed O'Brien (electric guitar), Pat Sansone (Hammond organ), Jeff Tweedy (harmonica), Neil Finn, Lisa Germano, and Pat Sansone (harmonies)

8. Red Wine Bottle - (Liam Finn/Chris Garland/Johnny Marr) - Liam vocals
Glenn Kotche (drums), John Stirratt (bass), Liam Finn (acoustic guitars, guitar loops and solo, Hammond mash), Neil Finn (Hammond flourish), Johnny Marr (electric guitar), Eliza Jane Barnes & Cecilia Herbert (harmonies)

9. The Ties That Bind Us - (Phil Selway) - Phil vocals
Phil Selway (acoustic guitar), Glenn Kotche (drums, percussion), Pat Sansone (acoustic guitar, celeste), Sebastian Steinberg (standup & bowed bass), Lisa Germano (violin & whisper), Don McGlashan (euphium, flugelhorn), and Jeff Tweedy (additional arrangement)

10. Reptile - (Lisa Germano) - Lisa vocals
Lisa Germano (electric guitar, Theremin), Sebastian Steinberg (bass), Spencer Tweedy (drums), Glenn Kotche (toys and robots drumming), Pat Sansone (12 string guitar), Neil Finn (xylophone), Sonny Marr, Nile Marr, Sam Tweedy, Jeff Tweedy, Louise Callaghan, Emma Scott, Pearl McGlashan, mae Moreno, Sharon Finn, Julia Connolly, Sebastian Steinberg, and Milla (humans & dogs singing background vocals)

11. Bodhisattva Blues - (Ed O'Brien/Liam Finn) - Ed and Neil Finn vocals
Ed O'Brien (electric guitar), Elroy Finn (drums), Liam Finn (guitar), Neil Finn (Wurlizer piano, bass), Jeff Tweedy (guitar solo, vocal response & scream), and Johnny Marr (guitar solo)

12. What Could Have Been - (Jeff Tweedy) - Jeff vocals
Glenn Kotche (drums, percussion), Jeff Tweedy (acoustic guitar), John Stirratt (bass), Neil Finn (vibes, electric guitar, harmony), and Pat Sansone (piano, Wurlitzer organ)

Disc 2

1. All Comedians Suffer - (Neil Finn) - Neil vocals
Glenn Kotche (drums), Neil Finn (electric guitar), Pat Sansone (acoustic guitar), Liam Finn (bass, electric guitar, harmonies), and Jeff Tweedy (chorus fuzz, electric guitar solo)

2. Duxton Blues - (Glenn Richards) - Glenn vocals
Glenn Richards (guitar), Liam Finn (drums, guitar & vocal loops), Johnny Marr (electric guitar), Sebastian Steinberg (bass), Bic Runga & Neil Finn (background vocals)

3. Hazel Black - (KT Tunstall/Neil Finn) - KT and Neil vocals
KT Tunstall (acoustic guitar, handclaps, background vocals), Luke Bullen (drums, handclaps), John Stirratt (bass), Johnny Marr & Pat Sansone (electric guitars), Neil Finn (piano, harmony), Glenn Kotche (handclaps), Sonny Marr & Bic Runga (back-
ground vocals)

4. Riding The Wave - (Tim Finn) - Tim vocals
Tim Finn (piano), Elroy Finn (drums), Neil Finn (acoustic guitar, slide guitar, harmony), Liam Finn (harmonies), Sebastian Steinberg (bass), Johnny Marr (electric guitar), and Pat Sansone (Hammond organ)

5. The Witching Hour - (Phil Selway) - Phil vocals
Phil Selway (acoustic guitar), Bic Runga & KT Tunstall (background vocals), Lisa Germano (violin), and Jeff Tweedy (Optigan organ, piano)

6. Over And Done - (John Stirratt) - John vocals
John Stirratt (guitar), Glenn Kotche (drums), Pat Sansone (bass, piano), Don McGlashan (Euphonium, Flugelhorn), and Neil Finn & Pat Sansone (harmonies)

7. A Change Of Heart - (Bic Runga/Dan Wilson) - Bic vocals
Bic Runga (acoustic guitar), Glenn Kotche (drums), John Stirratt (bass), Neil Finn (piano), Pat Sansone (Hammond organ), and Don McGlashan (humming)

8. Don't Forget Me - (Pat Sansone) - Pat vocals
Pat Sansone (guitar), Glenn Kotche (drums), John Stirratt (bass), and Johnny Marr (electric guitar)

9. Long Time Gone - (Don McGlashan) - Don vocals
Don McGlashan (guitar), Phil Selway (drums), Pat Sansone (bass), Ed O'Brien (electric guitar), and Johnny Marr (12 string & 6 string acoustic guitars, backing vocals)

10. The Cobbler - (Elroy Finn) - Elroy vocals
Elroy Finn (guitar), Lisa Germano (violin), and Sebastian Steinberg (bowed bass)

11. 3 Worlds Collide - (Glenn Kotche/Phil Selway/Neil Baldock)
Glenn Kotche & Phil Selway (drums, percussion)

12. The Water - (Sebastian Steinberg) - Sebastian vocals
Sebastian Steinberg (guitars, bass), Neil Finn (piano), Glenn Kotche (drums), and Johnny Marr (ghost guitar)

Produced by Jim Scott and Neil Finn, additional production Neil Baldock

About Oxfam America
Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Together with individuals and local groups in more than 100 countries, Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice. We are an affiliate of Oxfam International.

www.oxfamamerica.org

(Big Hassle Media)

Ramona Falls - Russia

The first time I played this Ramona Falls' Intuit, it brought back a mood that I haven't felt since the first time I listened to Menomena's Friend And Foe. It was like some days when you step outside, and as you're walking you're overcome with a sense of general familiarity, you've had this sensation before, at some time and place in the past. I felt this, without even knowing that Ramona Falls is a project of Menomena's Brent Knopf. Ramona Falls and Menomena share several things - those eerie keyboard atmospheres, the within-song starts and stutters, and a palpable sense of drama.

The strange thing that happened here, though, is that I love Menomena, and did not expect to like Ramona Falls even more. Here's the fourth track from Intuit, which starts as a gently strummed folk song, enhanced with lush layers of plucked strings, and then an abrupt interruption of percussion, bass, and high-octave piano pulses, which is overcome by a rush of electricity, a breathtaking climax, built by a sonic wave swelling underneath you, rising with a hurricane of momentum, and at the height of it, it's pulled out from under you, gone, just like that, leaving you falling off, and wanting more. It's kind of like a first kiss.

Ramona Falls - Russia (mp3)

Intuit,, out August 18th on Barsuk.

Ramona Falls, by the way, is a real waterfall in Oregon:

Beck - Chemtrails (Acoustic)

Jessica Dobson (Deep Sea Diver) and Beck have a dream-state voice-meld in an abstract plane that you don't get in the album version.

Modern Guilt Acoustic "Chem Trails" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

William Shatner Reads Sarah Palin Farewell Speech as Spoken Word.

First, go shake yourself a martini. Then watch.

Philly Soul Girls

Rare, sweet fingersnapping girl group soul, from Philly Soul Girls, Vol. 1 I don't think there was a Vol. 2.

Fannie and the Varcells - Inside Of Me (mp3)
Cindy Scott and the Persianettes - What Are You Doin' To Me (mp3)

Grease, $2.99

It's the third best selling "album" of all time, behind Thriller and Dark Side of the Moon, so you probably already have it. Still, Amazon.com is offering Greaseas an mp3 album for less than 3 bucks, today only.

Beck.com: Jacuzzi Dissertations in Beige.

"This week's mix was made by guest Brian Lebarton of international keyboard fame."

No. 3: Jacuzzi Dissertations In Beige by planned_obsolescence

contents:
Buraka Som Sistema
Peter, Bjorn and John
The Juan MacLean
Ruth
Matthew Dear
Studio
Dear Nora & Casiotone
The Pharcyde
Suicide

from beck.com/planned_obsolescence

Sonic Youth, Live on The Current

Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo played three songs for Minnesota Public Radio's The Current yesterday. You haven't heard the songs like this - it's just the two of them, no percussion, one acoustic and one electric, but it still scorches and sounds larger than the music. Like this:

Sonic Youth - Poison Arrow (Live on The Current, 7-22-2009)(mp3)

The interview, which includes discussions of singing alone vs. together, lyrics, and the cereal box 45, is fantastic.

Black Lips - Drugs (first cut)

Atlanta bubblegum-garage rockers The Black Lips recently fired up their email machine to find a fan-made video for 200 Million Thousand stand-out “Drugs” awaiting them. Like the unsolicited clip for Good Bad Not Evil’s “Bad Kids” -- a sly vid that juxtaposed images from The Troubles in Northern Ireland with a bouncing-ball onscreen display of the song’s anarchic lyrics -- “Drugs” finds footage from cautionary 70’s Health Class videos playing behind the band’s celebration of youthful hedonism. The Lips gave an eager NME the chance to run the clip early last week. Somehow they already considered it controversial. Guess that’s just par for the course with these guys.

...

In other news, The Hood Internet recently posted a stellar reworking of GZA-assisted Lips single “Drop I Hold.” However, Genuis is absent from this version, in which the Chicago-based mashup artists append Cole’s caterwauling rap with quality Pharoahe Monch verses from “The Mayor.” And finally, the band’s Filter-sponsored remix contest for “Drop” is currently underway. Remember: submission deadline is August 7th.

(from press release)

Bored Stiff.

Hey, kids! Summer is going to drag on for another miserable month. Thirty more days of your forehead sweating all over itself in front of hot fry grease as you toil away at the fast food joint where you wear a uniform that hasn't breathed since February, as those zits cultivate in that gooey forehead grease-sweat cocktail. Thirty summer nights driving around thinking of everything but the future, or maybe thinking about the future, which is a big hazy cloud of whatever in the distance, somewhere beyond the ceiling that you can't see past. But for now the future is tomorrow, and tomorrow you will hand a middle manager his lunch, while thinking "Dude. Every day? This is killing you," knowing that the burger is going to be cold and limp by the time he bites into it, and you will visualize the solidified grease depositing directly into a rare nook in his arteries. Your job is to serve mediocrity. You will then go home and play video games, killing something with superhuman efficiency with your weapon of choice, but the blood and gore does not fulfill, because you're not really saving anything. If you're feeling social, you will txt ur friends. To top it all off, someone will complain that you don't have a good attitude. Someone expects you to smile. But about the only thing that makes you smile is your tunes.

Sharon Tate's Baby - Bored Stiff (mp3)

From We Went And Recorded It Anyway

The Road To Twatt

from an Altsounds.com email.

Beck With Record Club - Run, Run, Run (Velvet Underground)

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "Run Run Run" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Serena Ryder - Racing In The Street (Springsteen)

Have you seen this? Serena Ryder sings like she means it, and more impressively, like she gets it.

Tori Amos on KCRW

Tori Amos played an in-studio set on Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday. Check it out:



This version of Silent All These Years arrests me:

Tori Amos - Silent All These Years (Live KCRW 7-16-2009)(mp3)

Download a lossless audio torrent of the entire show here.

And a bonus: Amazon.com has Tori Amos' new album, Abnormally Attracted To Sin, for only $2.99, today only!

Costantines, live on CBC Radio 3

Live Constanties, from Phog Phest, at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre.

Costantines - Hard Feelings (Live)(mp3)

Listen to more CBC Sessions from Phog Phest here.

The Dead Weather - Live at the 9:30 Club

On Tuesday, The Dead Weather played a blistering show at the 9:30 Club, and NPR webcasted the event. You can still stream the concert, as well as the entire Horehound album, on the NPR Live Concerts page, but it might be a while before the concert podcast is available for download.

The Dead Weather - Treat Me Like Your Mother (Live)(mp3)

The Dead Weather - Treat Me Like Your Mother

Black Francis on The Current

However we pine for our Pixies, we always have Frank Black/Black Francis. He was recently on MPR's The Current, where he played things like this.

Anyone else planning on catching the Doolittle tour?




Black Francis - Velouria (Pixies)(Live on The Current, 7-10-2009)(mp3)

Dinosaur Jr. - Just Like Heaven (The Cure)

Watch Dinosaur Jr. perform The Cure's Just Like Heaven on Playboy.com (no worries - it's a nudity-free page). No, I did not find this whilst websurfing.

The Uncovered series will feature new videos, exclusively created for Playboy.com, on the second Monday of each month for 10 consecutive months. Featured musicians include Black Lips, A Camp, The Dears, Drive-By Truckers, Phosphorescent and more.

The complete lineup, which will be available August 1, will include the following exclusive covers:
A Camp (Nina Persson of The Cardigans) performing “Psycho” by Leon Payne
Murray Lightburn of The Dears performing “Doctor Blind” by Emily Haines of Metric
Dinosaur Jr. performing “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure
Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers performing “Range War” by Todd Rundgren

- Playboy.com press release

Sonic Youth 9:30 Club mp3 broadcast is up.

Sonic Youth, live at the 9:30 Club, 7 July 09 (mp3 podcast) - via NPR.org.

Stream the concert here.

Sonic Youth, Death Valley 69, 9:30 Club.

The Eternal.

Das Mitch went to the Sonic Youth show at the the 9:30 Club last night as the rest of us followed along on NPR's online broadcast. He took the shot above with his cell phone. Kim looks ghostly and ethereal, and that looks like some sort of torn-open blood portal behind her. Forget the piper. I'm following the rock specter, the phantom of dissonance.

Here are two mp3s from that performance, in all their stream-ripped glory.
Sonic Youth - Death Valley 69 (live)
Sonic Youth - Anti-Orgasm (live)

The Do.

The Do.

What do you do when your influences are "Bela Bartok, BECK, Jimi Hendrix, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Nico, Igor Stravinsky, Kiss The Change, Bird, The Last Poets, Coltrane, Bjork, Monte, Muddy Waters, Mingus, Eminem, The WuTangClan, Lauryn Hill, Betty Davis, Queen, The Beatles, Tom Waits, Art Pepper, Frank Zappa, Young marble giants, Duke Ellington, The White Stripes , Peaches, Michael Jackson, Joanna Newsom, Patti Smith..."? Perhaps a better question is, what don't you do?

Behold the range of The Do.

The Do - Tammie (mp3)

A Song About A Girl Who Went Shopping

...and also about obsession.



The Mr. T Experience - A Song About A Girl Who Went Shopping (mp3)

From The Mr. T Experience's Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood(1989).

R.E.M. - Reckoning (Deluxe)

R.E.M.'s debut album, Murmur, was Rolling Stone's 8th best album of the 80's, just behind Michael Jackson's Thriller, and was RS's best album of 1983. No wonder its Deluxe Edition release was so highly anticipated last year, and with its rousing live bonus disc, it earned a 10.0 on the notoriously stingy Pitchfork. Their sophomore record, Reckoning, was released as double disc Deluxe Edition last week, quiet as a murmur. If not Murmur's equivalent (Pitchfork will probably give this deluxe treatment a nine-point-something), Reckoning was still critically acclaimed, with the Washington Post declaring that the songwriting even exceeded that on Murmur, and its release was an affirmation that the band was far from a fluke. Some of R.E.M.'s most endearing and enduring songs are on Reckoning, including So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry), which was their first performance on national television, on Letterman, prior to the release of the album (see the video below), and (Don't Go Back To) Rockville, Mike Mills' plea to girlfriend Ingrid Schorr, of Rockville, Maryland.

As good as the early studio albums were, R.E.M. fans know that if you haven't seen them live, you don't know R.E.M. The second disc in Reckoning Deluxe is a live show from the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, in 1984, broadcast on Chicago radio station WXRT. Like the extra disc accompanying Murmur Deluxe, it's a revelation of the band in action in its earliest years. This is a live version of the second song on Reckoning.

R.E.M. - 7 Chinese Brothers (Live, Chicago, 1984)(mp3)



*update, 11:32 AM 7-2-2009: Fluxblog has the Deluxe disc version of Letter Never Sent, and a good paragraph about it. Also, Pitchfork's review just went up today. I was wrong. The reviewer gave Reckoning a 10.0, and flirted with calling it R.E.M.'s "best" album.

White Rabbits on The Current, 6-29-2009

The Dead Weather - Treat Me Like Your Mother (Live from The Basement, 6-22)

Astrud Gilberto - Bim Bom (1966)

Bat For Lashes - Sleep Alone (Live on Jools Holland)

Okkervil River on KCRW, 6-25-2009

Okkervil River is on tour through September, and were recently taped for an episode of Austin City Limits on PBS. If you're really lucky, you have tickets to see them with Wilco. Last week, they played an in-studio set for KCRW, and this was the second song from that set.

Okkervil River - Pop Lie (Live on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, 6-25-2009)(mp3)



Download the entire uncompressed FM recording here (.flac torrent), and impress your friends with the Pop Lie
single.

Phoenix, Live on KEXP, 6-26-2009

You can download (mp3 podcast) or stream the recent in-studio performance (recorded 4-23-2009) by Phoenix on KEXP here.

Amazon's Music Bestsellers: Pretty Much MJ...Off The Wall & Bad Special Editions - $7.97

Michael Jackson's albums are the Top Music Sellers on Amazon.com

If you follow The Smudge, you know that if you get just one (assuming that you already have Thriller), I recommend Off the Wall (Special Edition).

Norton Records Hates CDs (still.)

Those vinylphiles (or is it digiphobes?) at Norton Records have released another winning amalgam of 45 rpm rarities, digitized it, released it for our convenience, and ironically titled the epic collection I Still Hate CD's: Norton Records 45 RPM Singles Collection Vol. 2.

I get what drives purists to hate CDs and other digital formats - the same cold, hard metallic data storage devices that are also great for holding (egad!) work references, educational software, spreadsheets, databases, and infinite other forms of anti-art. There's the impersonality of bits, the miniaturization of cover art, the burnability of digitized information, the deprived lack of a needle contacting a grooved rotating surface, this digital monoculture in which everything is turned way up and subtlety is crushed like brittle vinyl under a boot, the absence of organicness, of analogness, of warmth and romance...and that annoying mettalic rainbow that obscures your reflection on the back of the thing.

And so progress makes you want to, as Ione Skye so elegantly declared in her graduation speech in Say Anything, "Go back." There was a time when music came on something more substantial. But you won't get the heft of vinyl with this collection.

Still, for all the disadvantages of the digital format, what you CAN do with this collection hooked into your hi-fi that you CAN'T do with the cool, dusty individual 45's from which they were born, is to simply push play. There's no need to "shuffle" these, as they are already pretty much placed in a beautifully random order by Norton. You can go on to entertaining your summer partygoers, manning the grill, and you're good: no standing by the record player unsleeving and resleeving your records, no dirty barbecued kids' hands flipping through your collection. And taking it a step backward, Norton has already taken the pleasure, and I say that without a needle tip's worth of irony, of saving you the time and money involved in sifting through the dustbin detritus to find the hidden gems - from Gino Washington's "Are You Ready?" introduction in the smoking "Out of This World," to the Pleasure Seekers' swaggering declaration "well, I may not make it past 21, but...whew! what a way to die!" to Charlie Feathers' trademark twang in "We're Getting Closer to Being Apart," and I could continue 42 more times, but that would just make this a lengthy this begat that begat that exercise. All 45 - ALL 45 - are worthy of your deck, back yard, balcony, or - sacrilege! - the earbuds of your iPod.

Long live Vinyl rips, and Norton - thanks for the Easy Button.

Pleasure Seekers - What A Way To Die (mp3)
Also, check out the I Still Hate CDs Vol. 2 Sampler (mp3)

R.I.P. Michael.

I hate, hate, hate to see you go. Thank you for the music and the memories that went with it. See you in the big Hitsville in the sky.

Jackson 5 - Never Can Say Goodbye (mp3)

Bat For Lashes, Live on the George Lamb show, 6-24-2009

Listen to the in-studio session here.

Also check out last night's performance of Daniel on Kimmel.

Phoenix, Live on The Current, 6-23-2009

Click here for popup streaming audio player.

Woe!

Beck - Woe On Me (mp3)

From One Foot in the Grave (Remastered)

Dean & Britta - I'll Keep It With Mine, Live in Studio (Dylan)

Dean & Britta - I'll Keep It With Mine (Live on KCRW, 6-18-2009)(mp3)

Watch streaming video of Dean & Britta's entire performance on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic site. The uncompressed audio is available as a torrent here.

Metric, Live at the 9:30 Club, 6-18-2009

NPR has Metric's Thursday performance at the 9:30 club available as a podcast here (mp3). Also, stream it here.

Metric, Live on The Current

Metric played a live set for Minnesota Public Radio's The Current this past weekend. Stream it here.

The Man Is Comin' Home.

Inspired piano soul from Aretha. Closing the week out right.

Aretha Franklin - It Won't Be Long (mp3)

Taken from the SoulSugar Vol. 3 compilation.

Beck sings Velvet Underground & Nico's "Sunday Morning"

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico 'Sunday Morning' from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Bat For Lashes KCRW session.

In this video, Natasha Khan mesmerizes me completely.

Download an uncompressed torrent of the show here.

Here's a sample:

Bat For Lashes - Sleep Alone (mp3)

Get Two Suns if you haven't yet. The rewards are lasting.

Today's Fi is Lo.

As is the fi of many a young mind on a Monday morning.

Leisure Class - Weekend Punk (mp3)
Lipstick - Powerslide (mp3)

From We Went And Recorded It Anyway.

Sharon Jones on meeting James Brown

She was a prison guard, she was a wedding singer, and she is the Queen of Funk. Tavis Smiley interviewed soul singer Sharon Jones earlier this week. You can watch or listen to the interview here.

Camera Obscura - Live in-studio at KCRW and KEXP

Camera Obscura have been getting around. They were recently in Minnesota Public Radio's studio for a performance on The Current, they were also at KEXP, and today, they performed on KCRW for a Morning Becomes Eclectic session, which should be available for streaming soon. Here's a Boss cover from their KEXP performance, which you can download as an uncompressed .flac torrent here (registration required).


Camera Obscura - Tougher Than The Rest (Bruce Springsteen)(Live KEXP 6-6-2009)(mp3)

Bat For Lashes, Live on KEXP, 6-10-2009

I wish I had Natasha Khan's muse. I imagine that she's the kind of a singer who might sit at the edge of some old stone wall and dip her feet into darker universes, where she hears and remembers faint lullabies and forbidden fairy tales, and as a medium between the two worlds, sings them to us. It's a dangerous thing, to sit on that precipice: the other side might yield creative inspiration, but in its absence, may also hold destruction.

Yesterday, Bat For Lashes played a spare in-studio set for KEXP. You can download the uncompressed (flac) torrent here (free membership required). Here's a sample:

Bat For Lashes - Daniel (Live on KEXP, 6-10-2009)(mp3)

Also, don't miss the fluxblog post on her new single, Pearl's Dream.

Download Two Suns

A Camp's Colonia - $1.99

A Camp's (The Cardigans' Nina Persson's new band) Colonia is available for $1.99 (and worth much more) as an mp3 album on Amazon.com right now.

Raveonettes - Last Dance Demo

The Raveonettes are posting demos from their forthcoming studio album via Twitter. The first mp3 is called Last Dance. As/of right now, they have 561 followers. Surely that number will explode over the next 24 hours.

Passion Pit, live at the Black Cat DC, 6-9-2009

NPR has Passion Pit's sold out Black Cat show, available for streaming here.

Federico Aubele - Otra Vez

Federico Aubele remains my favorite 'fro-topped Argentinian guitarist. This is from his latest release, Amatoria.

Federico Aubele - Otra Vez (mp3)

John Vanderslice Lounge Act

Don't miss the John Vanderslice Lounge Act, up today as an mp3 podcast on WOXY.

Grizzly Bear and Camera Obscura, Live on The Current.

Grizzly Bear and Camera Obscura in-studios, both made available on the same day...And the Camera Obscura set includes a cover of Springsteen's "Tougher Than The Rest," from 1987's bittersweet, beautiful Tunnel of Love. Long live The Current!

(from today)

(from Saturday)

Céu: Bubuia

Since her teaser Cangote EP was released last month, I've been eagerly awaiting anything new from the Brazilian bossa electropop artist Céu, so World's Fair's news that her forthcoming full-length, Vagarosa, will be released July 7th, got me in a true bossa mood. This is the fourth track from Vagarosa, and though not strictly bossa, it still carries that Brazilian sensuality, so strong that my headphones are spewing pheremones. Pardon me while I do my headphones.

Céu - Bubuia (mp3)

stellastarr* - Freak Out, New Release, Summer Tour

stellastarr* - Freak Out (mp3)

stellastarr*s new album is out July 7th. Fans who pre-order the album now get a Limited Edition package, including an autographed CD, a t-Shirt and a poster. They're on tour this summer, the first half of which they will share the stage with The Postmarks.

Jenny Lewis Live, The Current, 6-3-2009

Jenny Lewis tames Carpetbagger to a lazy, beautiful acoustic strum.

St. Vincent on The Current, 6-4-2009

What I love about Annie Clark is that in her songs, I never know what's coming next, and yet though it's always a surprise, it is also exactly the thing that should come next.

White Rabbits Lounge Act, 6-1-2009

There's enough percussive tension in this session to get a dead heart thumping.

White Rabbits - Live, WOXY Lounge Act, 6-1-2009 (mp3 podcast)

Big Leg Blues.

I know it's the blues, but ever since I was a teenager, I haven't walked away from listening to Mississippi John Hurt without a big smile on my face.

These are 1928 pre-Great Depression recordings - capital-V vintage. You'd think that the blues, if anything, would sell during the depression, but people didn't even have the money to buy these singles, released by Okeh records. The depression drove Okeh out of business, and Hurt returned to sharecropping, and fingerpicking for parties and dances, until rediscovered in the 60's. Read Mississippi John Hurt's wiki entry here.

Mississippi John Hurt - Big Leg Blues (mp3)
Mississippi John Hurt - Nobody's Dirty Business (mp3)

From Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings.

New Absolutely Kosher/Misra Sampler

Download the new 8-song Absolutely Kosher/Misra sampler here (zip) and get stunners like this:

Monahans - It's Enough To Leave You (mp3)
Chris Garneau - Fireflies (mp3)

Eels on KCRW, 6-2-2008

Au Revoir Simone Lounge Act

Au Revoir Simone played 25 glorious minutes of casiotone for WOXY yesterday, and voila, the mp3 of the performance is already up here.

Still Night, Still Light is their excellent third album.

I Sowed Love & Reaped A Heartache

James Carr makes the kind of songs that make you remember the first time you heard them - tough, and at the same time, tender, lingering songs like "The Dark End Of The Street," in which you can hear the man singing as both halves of his heart search for hope, redemption, or a companion. These have a quicker tempo than that song, with livelier bass lines, but still have the same underlying power.

James Carr - I Sowed Love And Reaped A Heartache (mp3)
James Carr - Stronger Than Love (mp3)

From the everlasting A Man Needs A Woman.

Theresa Andersson on KCRW.

Theresa Andersson's recent KCRW set, in which host Jason Bentley called her a "badass," is available as an mp3 download here. She proves that there is an "I" in teamwork.



Hummingbird Go! is like nothing you've heard.

Hayden - Let's Break Up (CBC Radio 3 Session)

CBC Radio 3 is offering Hayden's (not Panettiere) Let's Break Up (mp3), from next week's R3 Session. Thanks, CBC Radio 3! Love those podcasts!

Dark Was The Night at Radio City Music Hall (mp3 Podcast)

Yesterday's NPR broadcast of the Red Hot Dark Was The Night benefit concert is available as an mp3 podcast here (mp3).

Here's the impressive setlist:

The Dirty Projectors
"Useful Chamber"
"Stillness Is the Move"
"Ambulance Man" with David Byrne
"Knotty Pine" with David Byrne

My Brightest Diamond
"Feeling Good"

The National
"Vanderlylle Cry Baby"

Dave Sitek
"With a Girl Like You"

David Byrne
"Don't Fence Me In"
"Dreamworld: Marco de Canavezes" with Justin Vernon

Bon Iver
"Brackett, WI"
"Blood Bank"

Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner
"Big Red Machine" with Matt Berninger
"Flume"

Feist
"Train Song" with Justin Vernon
"Someday Baby"

Sharon Jones
"Not Gonna Cry"
"When I Come Home"
"Inspiration Information"
"100 Days, 100 Nights"

Ensemble Encore
"This Land Is Your Land"

Dark Was the Night remains my favorite compilation of this year.

That big volcano is about to blow.

Grand Duchy is Pixies frontman Black Francis (or Frank Black, or Charles Thompson IV, if you prefer) and his wife, Violet Clark. Their debut album, Petits Fours, which was quietly released last month, has lots of neat little surprises, and ends, appropriately, with an exclamation point.

Grand Duchy - Volcano! (mp3)

Ou est les balconies?

I recently read in a magazine article that, from a Frenchman's point of view, America lacks balconies. Exactly what that says about Americans, I don't know. Canada, at least, boasts The Balconies, and if their demos are an indication, you'll see them everywhere up there after they release their full-length this summer.

The Balconies - Battle Royale (mp4)
The Balconies - Rest Up (mp4)

St. Vincent Live at the Black Cat, 5-22-2009

The podcast of St. Vincent's spellbinding performance at my beloved Black Cat, as broadcast by NPR, is finally up. Download the mp3 here. Stream the show here.

Here's a fan vid of Marrow:



And this is rock euphoria.



Everyone's talking about Actor.

My Heart-Shaped Heart

I receive many more hits than comments, and so I often wonder who's reading me. Do you ever wonder who's reading you?

And those whom I read - am I reading them right?

Hanne Hukkelberg - Bandy Riddles (mp3)

From Blood from a Stone, the latest album from the most intriguing Hanne Hukkelberg.