DJ Z-Trip, probably one of the most-posted-about artists on this site, visited Jason Bentley and KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic for an interview and a couple of great mixes.

Z promised on Twitter and his forum that he’d make the sets available on his Web site … soon, I hope.

In the meantime, KCRW is offering an archived video of the set. Kudos to Bentley for name-checking Phoenix and the Bombshelter DJ days.

Also, Z-Trip just made a new mix track available on his site called Work It or Leave It, which offers a taste of what he played on KCRW. It’s one of a slew of free downloads he offers.

[ZIP]: DJ Z-Trip | Work It or Leave It

Jeremy Enigk is sharing a second song – Life’s Too Short – off his forthcoming album OK Bear (due out May 12 on his Lewis Hollow label).

You might remember Mind Idea from a couple months ago. If categorizing a singer’s solo work in the context of his former band is your thing, then I’d say Life’s Too Short fits somewhere between How It Feels to Be Something On and The Rising Tide (which I always felt was a bit underrated).

• Jeremy Enigk | Life’s Too Short
• Jeremy Enigk | Mind Idea

As I was reminiscing about Sunny Day Real Estate the other night, I stumbled across this fantastic live video of one of my favorite SDRE songs, In Circles. (Does Jeremy Enigk have his nose pierced here? There’s also that dark side to the nose ring).

I also discovered that William Goldsmith – one of my favorite drummers – suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome, which threatened his career. I really hope to see him surface with a band soon. One of my fondest memories of SDRE is seeing them in Scottsdale at the Cajun House and being mesmerized by Goldsmith knocking out the final fading pulses on Days Were Golden on his snare, the last man standing on stage (like he does here).

If there’s one album I’ve been turning to for repeat play in 2009, it’s the debut from Telekinesis (aka Michael Benjaman Lerner), appropriately titled Telekinesis!

The record, produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, is all quick and catchy power-pop but then ends with the pretty and somewhat fragile I Saw Lightning, a song that anyone would be wise to include for a sensitive/sentimental interlude on a homemade mix tape. (Stream the tune here.)

But one of the catchiest tracks is the energetic Tokyo. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more enjoyable two minutes, 54 seconds. Video is below.

Catch Telekinesis open for Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos on May 20 at Rhythm Room in Phoenix. Tickets are 10 bucks.

My wife was kind enough to record The Hold Steady’s appearance on Live from the Artists Den, a program on PBS that I’d never seen.

The band played to what looked like a fairly full house in the Old Emigrant Savings Bank Building in New York, a structure that has been granted landmark status by the city.

I was hoping to find embeddable video on the Artists Den site and, waddya know, there it was. Though the band’s rendition of Slapped Actress – my favorite song on Stay Positive – was tamer than I would have liked, this version of Constructive Summer gets a thumbs up.

Related:
Review: The Hold Steady, “A Positive Rage”
The Hold Steady, acoustic on KEXP
Favorite albums of 2008

After ignoring The Gaslight Anthem for practically all of 2008 for reasons unknown, I’m fully on the bandwagon and more than excited to see the Jersey band tonight at the Clubhouse in Tempe. (Day-of ticket prices are $15.)

Check the new-ish video for Great Expectations, the leadoff track from The ’59 Sound:

Also, the band – with singer Brian Fallon donning a Cold War Kids shirt – covered Pearl Jam’s State of Love and Trust at a show in Italy and pretty much nailed it (via):

After seeing Junior Boys on Sunday night at Rhythm Room, we are driving down to Tucson today to see The Kills at Club Congress. (The mini-marathon of concerts continues Tuesday night with The Gaslight Anthem at the Clubhouse in Tempe.)

I saw The Kills last year on their first trip out in support of Midnight Boom, a show that quashed some of my skepticism about using a laptop as a drummer. Though I still insist it probably restricts some creative impulses, Alison “VV” Mosshart has enough verve to make up for it.

Check out the video for U.R.A. Fever, one of my favorite songs of last year.

If there’s one song on Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix that can help wean me from my unhealthy obsession with 1901, it could be the leadoff track, Lisztomania.

Sadly, Phoenix’s North American tour dates do not include, um, Phoenix. Casey, take it away: “Come on! It’s your fucking name!” He’s got a point there.

I’m sort of ashamed to admit that we didn’t make it in time for Loney Dear’s set when Emil Svanangen and his band opened for Andrew Bird on Feb. 14 in Tucson.

We caught a couple songs and I’ve since downloaded the 2009 release Dear John on Polyvinyl (get it at eMusic).

Svanangen recently recorded a Daytrotter session and it includes one of the Dear John standouts, I Was Only Going Out, a slow-building, layered bit of goodness with some expert whistling (no wonder Andrew Bird likes him).

• Loney Dear | I Was Only Going Out (Daytrotter session)

Video for Airport Surroundings, the first song off Dear John: