Almost forgot all about this session from Bon Iver and MySpace. Justin Vernon and Co. performed four tracks, which are available on video and as a free download (zip file).
Check the main MySpace Transmissions page for more sessions, including Rogue Wave and Cold War Kids.
Here’s Bon Iver performing For Emma.
Q-Tip is making the rounds, and I’m happy to follow his every move. I am loving The Renaissance. Here he performs the Dilla-produced Move on the Late Show with David Letterman (via Nah Right).
It’s a nice taste of what to expect on Nov. 17 at the Marquee Theatre with the Cool Kids and the Knux.
If you missed Frightened Rabbit the last time, then I fully expect you to get out to the Rhythm Room on Thursday night for the band’s return to Phoenix with Spinto Band and Phoenix’s own Miniature Tigers.
As an added bonus, Frightened Rabbit is playing an in-store session at Stinkweeds at 5:30 p.m.
And, surely, you’ve picked up the live, acoustic album, Liver! Lung! FR! at eMusic.
Travis’ new album, Ode to J. Smith, has been out since late September in the United Kingdom, but it gets a U.S. release on Tuesday – which will be a pretty big day, if you ask me.
As a little incentive, the band is offering a full stream of the album at its MySpace page. It’s possible you’ve heard a small chunk of the album, thanks to the three videos the band already has released for Song to Self, Something Anything and J. Smith. And let’s not forget singer Fran Healy’s coming to my aid in a spot of copyright entanglement.
Lastly, the band is playing one U.S. date for the rest of 2008 – Nov. 11 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Get tickets (really wish I could go).
Stream Ode to J. Smith here.
Surely, you’re as obsessed with MTV’s new video site as I am. It’s got everything MTV used to … you know, videos and stuff.
Anyway, as I was wasting time on it, I got to thinking about Quicksand because of Rival Schools’ reunion. I like Rival Schools quite a bit, but Quicksand still rates as my favorite Walter Schreifels project.
Here’s a video for Dine Alone, off the fantastic Slip.
For no other reason than my pure joy at recently finding the No Knife/Nine Days Wonder split EP on vinyl, I give you the video for The Red Bedroom, a slightly slower version of which is on the EP. This version is from the fantastic album Riot for Romance!, No Knife’s 2002 swan song.
I never properly recapped last month’s San Diego Street Scene, though it would be easy to sum up briefly the highlights (the National, Del, Vampire Weekend), disappointments (GZA … half-hour late) and WTFs (DEVO … really?).
One of the great surprises had to be the Whigs, who had the misfortune of playing at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, the opening time slot. No matter. We took advantage of the late-arriving crowd and got close for their set – a move that made me think, hey, earplugs might just be a good idea the next time I decide to do this.
Yes, the Whigs are loud. Not overbearing loud. But powerful loud. You-can-feel-your-stomach-shaking-afterward loud. (Also, it’s the kind of loud that blasts to hell your digital camera playback sound if you tried to take a little video of the show … but nevermind that.) It’s all the more impressive that it comes from a trio, without the added benefit of a second guitar.
Check out the video for Like a Vibration, the leadoff track on the well-received Mission Control. (Still, this remains my favorite Mission Control.)
If there’s one album I haven’t given the full attention it most likely deserves, it has to be Calexico’s Carried to Dust. I’ve really only listened in parts or used it as companion music while I work.
Mostly, I’ve been waiting to get it on vinyl (Stinkweeds was sold out when I went for it, which is great news for the band).
The band – well, frontman Joey Burns, anyway – stopped in for a session at LiveDaily and played three songs off the new album, including Writer’s Minor Holiday, which has stood out as an early favorite.
On the heels of Q-Tip’s new video comes even better news: Q-Tip and the Cool Kids are coming to Marquee Theatre on Nov. 17 as part of the 2K Sports Bounce Tour.
Tickets ($27 advance; $30 day of show) are on sale here.
That’ll give everyone here a good 13 days to soak up Q-Tip’s new album, The Renaissance, due out Nov. 4.
Here’s the video for Gettin’ Up:
As for the Cool Kids, you can grab a free download of Delivery Man on Green Label Sound — where music meets Mountain Dew (does this make the Dew-sponsored Dale Earnhardt Jr. a fan of the Cool Kids?).
Here is the video for the same song:
Having spent a week with the new Murs album, Murs for President, I still haven’t formed a solid opinion on it. I do know that it’s no Murray’s Revenge (such a snob thing to say, I know).
Warner Bros. certainly opened up the purse strings on the promotional/production budget for this album, Murs’ major-label debut. Because Murs has embodied the underground everyman — God’s Work sums it up — it’s hard to reconcile a couple of the guest spots on President: will.i.am and Snoop Dogg. (I won’t even mention sampling James Blunt on Everything.) I know, the underground vs. mainstream argument is tired, but the very inclusion of at least will.i.am might turn off the most stubborn indie heads; after all, it’s hard to forgive the direction to which he helped lead Black Eyed Peas. (Sidenote: Not included on the album was the supposed first single, Dreadlocks, that was not well received.)
If that sounds like I don’t like President, that’s not really true. I do like it. I don’t love it. Not like I love Murray’s Revenge. Tracks like Can It Be (video below), though, keep me coming back, for the blue-collar style that always defined Murs: “I could have done a Nas and screamed hip-hop is dead / I got up off my ass and did something instead.”