She and Him - "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"

"She" is actress Zooey Deschanel. "Him" is musician M. Ward. They've recorded a wonderful album together comprised of 2 covers (The Beatles & The Miracles) and 9 of Zooey's originals. If you're wondering how these two ever got together, their Merge Records bio explains:

"Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward first met to record a version of Richard and Linda Thompson’s “When I Get To The Border” for a movie soundtrack. Immediately struck by one another’s talents and finding an instant rapport, Zooey let slip that she wrote her own songs which she recorded alone at home on her computer. Somewhat shy about anyone hearing these musical morsels she eventually sent the demos to Matt who was instantly impressed. They soon reconvened at his Portland studio to begin work."

The first single from the album, "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?", blew me away. I'm not sure what I was expecting - maybe a simple, M. Ward-like tune with a girl singing? This is not the case. This track strums and struts like White Album-era Beatles and Zooey has got some pipes on her. I would place her voice somewhere between Neko Case and Chan Marshall. Color me impressed - I hope these two keep making music together.

Download MP3: "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"

Beck - "Timebomb"

Beck described this 2007 single as "a song for bonfires, blackouts, and the last hurrah of summer." He is a man of his word. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to this song when it was initially released because, let's face it, Beck's grown increasingly irrelevant (and he's a scientologist). I finally heard "Timebomb" (and acknowledged it's excellence) in a ridiculously awesome comedy clip on Funny or Die. I posted the video, "High-Five Hollywood," below. Hold your sides.

Download MP3: "Timebomb"

Sebastien Tellier - "Divine"

If it isn't obvious from the above picture, Sebastien Tellier has been working with Daft Punk - well at least one half of them. Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo produced Sebastien's new album, Sexuality, which will be out next month. "Divine" is a sleek slice of French-disco-pop that should please fans of Air, Serge Gainsbourg, The Beach Boys and, yes, Daft Punk. Tellier himself proclaimed that Sexuality is a tribute to The Beach Boys - except, you know, French and sexy. I, for one, cannot wait to hear the rest of the album. (Thx, GvsB)

Download MP3: "Divine"

Also, you should really check out the video for "Sexual Sportswear" which starts off like the credits from a James Bond movie and ends with the nude female dancer getting hot and heavy with a Dan Flavin piece.

Thom Yorke - Live on BBC Radio 2 (Jonathan Ross)

Thom Yorke made an appearance on the Jonathan Ross show yesterday and performed stunning versions of "Reckoner" and "Everything In Its Right Place." The acoustic take on "Reckoner" is especially gorgeous.

Download MP3: "Reckoner"
Download MP3: "Everything In Its Right Place"

Lightning Dust - "Listened On"

Lightning Dust is a side-project of Black Mountaineers Amber Webber and Joshua Wells. Their self-titled debut was released last June, but I only recently became aware of it. Built up with little more than vocals, keys and guitar, Lightning Dust's music effortlessly taps into the deep, winding vein of gothic-Americana (despite them being Canadian). The main selling-point here is Amber Webber's voice which packs the bluster of PJ Harvey and the tenderness of Hope Sandoval. Musically, they bring to mind Marissa Nadler, Mazzy Star, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and older Cat Power. Album opener "Listened On" pretty much sets the tone for the album with Amber's haunting vocals cresting atop lonely organ lines.

Download MP3: "Listened On"

Arcade Fire - "Black Mirror" video

The video for "Black Mirror" can be viewed here in all its phantasmagoric glory. Similar to the online video they did for "Neon Bible," you can use your cursor to toggle the audio in the video - adding and subtracting different elements of the song at your leisure.

Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue

The youngest Wilson brother, Dennis, released only one solo album before his tragic death by drowning in 1983, but it was a magnificent one. Since its 1977 release, Pacific Ocean Blue has achieved cult classic status, but has been out-of-print for the last 15 years due to copyright disputes. Thankfully, the album will be released in an expanded edition on May 13. Along with the 12 original album tracks and unreleased bonus songs, a second disc will contain the songs intended for "Bambu" (the never-released follow-up to Pacific Ocean Blue). Pacific Ocean Blue was written and recorded over a 7 year period, and serves as ample proof that Dennis had matured into a formidable songwriter, producer and vocalist. Obviously, his music recalls the Beach Boys, but, what's remarkable, is how far he had moved past the sound of his previous band. His gruff vocals and booming arrangements bring to mind Harry Nilsson at many points, but the California vibe is unmistakable. Album-opener "River Song" is a gospel-tinged eco-anthem that has stood the test of time remarkably well.

Download MP3: "River Song"

Hot Chip - "Ready for the Floor"

"Ready for the Floor" has been playing nonstop on the Cephalopod's headphones for the last 48 hours. I cannot stress enough what an infectious, joyous slice of dance-pop it truly is - a blissful union of Junior Boys and Kraftwerk that is filled with slithering, dreamy beats and beating heart. I would go so far as to put it on par with The Knife's "Heartbeats." Download, dance and give people hugs.

Hot Chip's new album Made in the Dark will be out in two weeks (February 5th).

Download MP3: "Ready for the Floor"

Feist - "I Feel It All" video

Here's the video for my favorite song off of last year's The Reminder.

Heath Ledger: RIP (1979-2008)

La Blogotheque Presents: Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut is one of my favorite albums of this very young year. The fine La Blogotheque folks shot the band performing "Mansard Roof" and "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance" in a van and a parking lot, respectively.

#80.1 - VAMPIRE WEEKEND - Mansard Roof
Uploaded by lablogotheque

#80.2 - VAMPIRE WEEKEND - The Kids don't stand a chance
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - "Real Emotional Trash"

Real Emotional Trash won't be available for about 2 more months (March 18th), but I wanted to share the title track in the meantime, and it is a monster. Clocking in at 10 minutes, it's an intoxicating blend of Television, the Grateful Dead and Sonic Youth that expertly glides from a languid pace into a tangled web of knotty guitar solos and back again. This shit is going to slay live.

Download MP3: "Real Emotional Trash"

Heavy Rotation: Fleet Foxes

It was just announced yesterday that this Seattle-based quintet have signed with hometown label Sub Pop. They've been around for a short amount of time - touring with the likes of David Bazan and Blitzen Trapper. Their sound is obviously influenced by beard-rock patron saints Neil Young, Bob Dylan and The Band, but comes closest to peers like My Morning Jacket and Grizzly Bear. Singer/guitarist Robin Pecknold commands a soaring, plains-sweeping voice often steeped in echo much like MMJ's Jim James. Their myspace page has two new songs from the Sun Giant EP (due in late February) which are even more impressive than the songs I've posted below. Their debut LP, Ragged Woods, will be out sometime this summer. Both the EP and LP are being produced by the amazing Phil Ek (Built To Spill, Modest Mouse, Les Savy Fav, The Shins).

Download MP3: "Oliver James"
Download MP3: "White Winter Hymnal"

Les Savy Fav - "What Would Wolves Do" video

Here is the fantastically weird animated clip for Les Savy Fav's "What Would Wolves Do." Thanks, Pitchfork.

Destroyer - "Shooting Rockets (From the Desk of Night's Ape)"

I don't know if I'm qualified to call Destroyer's forthcoming album, Trouble in Dreams, his best album, but it is already my favorite Destroyer album. "Shooting Rockets (From the Desk of Night's Ape)" is a slow-burning, 8-minute epic that serves as one of the album's many highlights. "Shooting Rockets" was originally released on Swan Lake's Beast Moans - albeit in a drastically different and shorter version. The new version is a much more engrossing beast - filled with stately piano, serpentine guitar lines (eerily Robert Fripp-like) and moog strings. The song's 8 minutes seem to fly by, and you sort of want the song to keep going. I've lost track of how many times I've played it today.

Download MP3: "Shooting Rockets (From the Desk of Night's Ape)"

Cut Copy - "Lights & Music"

My good friend living in the land down under made me aware of this Australian trio. As recent openers for Daft Punk, it shouldn't be a surprise that Cut Copy concocts an amalgam of synth-pop, electronic & disco music with stunning results. In a lot of ways, their sound is comparable to LCD Soundsystem. "Lights & Music," from their forthcoming album In Ghost Colours, throbs and shimmers like an ace mash-up of New Order and Daft Punk. The chorus even sports a lyrical allusion to those French robots: "Lights and music, on my mind/Be my baby, one more time."

Download MP3: "Lights & Music"

Black Mountain - "Tyrants"

Black Mountain's new album, In The Future, will be hitting shelves in about a week (January 22nd to be precise). "Tyrants" is the weighty appetizer - 8 rollercoaster minutes or dark, trippy Pink Floydian synths, folksy interludes, and sludgy, stoner riffage. For all the band's instrumental prowess, leader Stephen McBean has acknowledged that the band's secret weapon is Amber Webber - a spine-tingling siren if there ever was one. Imagine PJ Harvey at her best or the dulcet duet of Sandy Denny and Robert Plant on "The Battle of Evermore" carried over to "Black Dog" and you're getting close. Commence air-guitars and air -drums.

Download MP3: "Tyrants"

Heavy Rotation: Santogold

Philly-native Santogold's official bio declares that she is "the lovechild of submarine sonar and low frequency midnight moans," and I have no reason to contest that statement. From what little I've heard from/know of Santogold, her music is a seamless meld of new wave, dub, hip-hop, punk and electronica. She also claims her two biggest music influences are Nina Simone and Bad Brains. Obviously, Santogold has more than a little bit in common with M.I.A. and the two are actually friends (they just completed a British tour together). Santogold's music does display some obvious stylistic debt to M.I.A. and she has been working with Diplo and Switch (M.I.A.'s producers/collaborators). However, it would be both reductive and false to label her an M.I.A. clone. "Shove It" is mercury-smooth dub completely devoid of the chaos present in most of M.I.A's songs. "LES Artistes" could almost pass for a club remix of a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song, not to mention Santogold sounds quite a bit like Karen O. Don't be surprised if 2008 is Santogold's year once her debut full-length drops in April.

Download MP3: "Shove It (Switch remix)"
Download MP3: "LES Artistes"

Boris with Michio Kurihara: Rainbow

Here I am, late to the game again. Rainbow is another 2007 release that I really didn't get into until the last quarter of the year, and it is a true mind-blower. Japanese experimental rock band Boris set up shop with Michio Kurihara (21st century Japan's Jimi Hendrix) for a more song-based, but no less brain-melting, psych-rock odyssey. Rainbow conjures up any number of canonized rock giants: the aforementioned Jimi Hendrix, Can, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, and even some Gish-era Smashing Pumpkins. I imagine album opener "Rafflesia" is similar to the sensation of watching a volcano erupt in slow motion - huge swaths of droning white noise pump out in tumbling waves and manage to approach serenity. "Sweet No. 1" is probably the most straight-forward song on the album, and the one begging hardest for the Hendrix reference. It's a forest-flattening, shit-stomping goliath. It's like hearing "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" for the very first time (all over again).

Download MP3: "Rafflesia"
Download MP3: "Sweet No. 1"

Heavy Rotation: Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend is a New York-based quartet that excels at writing short, punchy songs filled with jittery rhythms and spiky African-guitar lines. Obvious reference points include Paul Simon, Spoon, Talking Heads, Dirty Projectors and the Walkmen. When I first heard one of Vampire Weekend's EP's last year, it didn't click with me much, but hearing their forthcoming, full-length debut made me a fan. The songs and their signature sound are very much the same, but the debut boasts a fuller sound, warmer production and subtle studio trickery. Singer Ezra Koenig could easily be mistaken for Britt Daniel or Paul Simon. In fact, one of the band's best tunes, "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," sounds exactly like Graceland. It's an absolutely perfect facsimile of that album's sound (for better or for worse). Elsewhere, Vampire Weekend reveal a not-so-subtle love of Wes Anderson's soundtracks (Rushmore in particular). The harpsichord and strings intro on "M79" is lifted right from a Mark Mothersbaugh score, and "Mansard Roof" nicks bits and pieces of Unit Four Plus Two's "Concrete and Clay" which was featured in Rushmore. If you need other reasons to give them a chance, David Byrne is a big fan and they opened for Animal Collective (if you care about those sorts of things).

I've included a download of their brilliant, afro-beat version of Radiohead's "Exit Music (For a Film)" which was recorded for a recent Stereogum tribute to OK Computer.

Download MP3: "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
Download MP3: "Exit Music (For a Film)"
Download the 4-song Daytrotter Session

Hercules & Love Affair - "Blind (feat. Antony Hegarty)"

Hercules & Love Affair are the hot new thing from DFA Records. Like labelmates LCD Soundsystem, Hercules & Love Affair craft epic dance tracks that seamlessly meld the organic and the synthetic. On "Blind," elastic basslines, hand percussion and staccato horn bursts weave into an undulating, driving funk-monster that feels all the more human with Antony Hegarty's luxurious vocals riding atop. Your ass will shake uncontrollably while you sing: "As a child I knew/that the stars could only get brighter/that we could get closer/leaving this darkness behind."

Download MP3: "Blind"

Wolf Parade - "Things I Don't Know (live)"

The word on the street is that Wolf Parade's new album, tentatively titled Pardon My Blues, will be out in March or April (fingers-crossed). I can say with little hesitation that this is probably my most anticipated album right now. Since I don't have any new studio recordings to post yet, I wanted to share a live recording of a fantastic new song that the band has been playing on recent tours. I have no idea if it will end up on the new album or not, but it's a stunner nonetheless. "Things I Don't Know" is a Spencer Krug-sung track that shoots for the stars in ways that their debut never did. Over 6 breathless minutes, the band proves they've become more sophisticated composers with a complex piece that unspools like a rollercoaster. Here's hoping this is the sound of things to come.

Download MP3: "Things I Don't Know (live)"

British Sea Power - "Atom"

I can't tell you how heartening it is to be writing about a band that I initially loved (the debut), lost faith in (the sophmore effort), and fell back in love with in a matter of seconds (the new stuff). Yes, it took less than a minute of "Atom" for me to love British Sea Power again. "Atom" comes at you like gale-force Clash with a splash of Pixiesque glee. It's the first great single of 2008 (yeah, I said it). Although "Atom" was technically released on the Krankenhaus? EP at the end of 2007, it's taken from their forthcoming full-length - so I'm counting it on this side. Now, about those two releases: both were produced in Montreal by Efrim Menuck (co-leader of Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and Howard Bilerman (Funeral's producer) - so you know British Sea Power is in good hands. "Atom," and the entirety of the Krankenhaus? EP, is BSP's return to the anarchic glee of their debut, The Decline of British Sea Power. Their new LP, Do You Like Rock Music? (due later this month) follows in suit, but also finds the band taking steps forward.

Download MP3: "Atom"

The Magnetic Fields - "Too Drunk To Dream"

With Stephin Merritt's newest opus hitting shelves in a couple of weeks, it's time for another taste of things to come. I've had a copy of Distortion for about a month now, and "Too Drunk To Dream" is definitely one of the standout tracks on the album. The song begins with a brief A cappella part that quickly bleeds into a racket that validates the title of the album. Don't worry too much - this is Stephin Merritt we're talking about, and melody is always king. Over rippling, surf-guitar riffage and piano feedback, he emphatically intones sentiments that are common to just about anyone with a beating heart:

"I gotta get too drunk to dream
'cause dreaming only makes me blue.
I gotta get too drunk to dream
because I only dream of you."

"I gotta get too pissed to miss you
or I'll never get to sleep.
I gotta drink wine not to pine for you
and god knows that ain't cheap."

Download MP3: "Too Drunk To Dream"

Juno: The Soundtrack

I finally got to see Juno over the Christmas holiday, and, unsurprisingly, it exceeded all my expectations. It may just be my favorite film of 2007. One of the many things that made Juno work so well was its impeccable soundtrack. The film's director, Jason Reitman, was smart enough to get music recommendations from his hip, young cast-members Ellen Page and Michael Cera. The Moldy Peaches' touching "Anyone Else But You" serves as the unofficial "theme song" of the film - Ellen Page and Michael Cera even close the film by performing the song together on a porch. Moldy Peach Kimya Dawson was also commissioned to compose original songs for the film. In case anyone thought Anglophile Wes Anderson had the market cornered on obscure Kinks and VU tunes, Juno pulls out a couple of gems: The Kinks' "A Well Respected Man" and The Velvet Underground's "I'm Sticking With You" (one of my favorite VU tracks). The final two songs I've included from the film are both covers. Mott the Hoople supplies their hit take on David Bowie's "All The Young Dudes" and Cat Power chimes in with a joyous version of prewar country-blues ballad "Sea of Love."

Download MP3: The Moldy Peaches - "Anyone Else But You"
Download MP3: The Kinks - "A Well Respected Man"
Download MP3: Cat Power - "Sea of Love"
Download MP3: The Velvet Underground - "I'm Sticking With You"
Download MP3: Mott the Hoople - "All the Young Dudes"

La Blogotheque presents: Handsome Furs

The guys at La Blogotheque never let me down. They captured Handsome Furs on a recent stop in San Francisco and even got fellow Wolf Parader, Dante DeCaro, to bang on a tin can for "Dead + Rural." That song was shot in what appears to be an empty construction site, and "The Radio's Hot Sun" was done at a table in a little cafe. Alexei plays a tiny piano that sounds like it has a xylophone inside of it. Enjoy.

# SPLIT - HANDSOME FURS - DEAD RURAL
Uploaded by lablogotheque

# SPLIT - HANDSOME FURS - THE RADIO'S HOT SUN
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Daft Punk - "One More Time/Aerodynamic"

You can't celebrate without a little Daft Punk!

Radiohead - "Scotch Mist" Webcast

In case you missed it, here is Radiohead's full New Year's Eve webcast. It includes the band performing every one of the songs from In Rainbows.