On the heels of its debut LP Eyelid Movies (on Barsuk), Phantogram – the Saratoga Springs, NY, duo of Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel – is setting course on a national headlining tour, including an Oct. 8 stop in Phoenix at Sanctum, a Central Phoenix bar/nightclub/venue I admittedly know nothing about.

I have precious little information about the show, other than Josiah Wolf of WHY? appears to be the opener.

What I do know is that Eyelid Movies is a great album, bringing electronic elements and live instrumentation together in warm and tripped-out fashion. Barthel spelled out her hip-hop influence for us in April, and you can hear it come through on the record (especially on a track like As Far As I Can See)

• Phantogram | When I’m Small

The duo performed a quite seductive version of When I’m Small in a Toro Magazine studio session. Watch below:

I had a whirlwind weekend in Chicago that included a flight there with Mark Grace (he was in first class, of course), a canceled flight on Sunday, missing luggage that was eventually secured (eff you, American Airlines) and other assorted annoyances. Chicago, the great city, remains amazing.

So I’m still sorting through some emails and wanted to post this new video from New York-by-way-of-Phoenix brothers Lymbyc Systym. It’s for the song Shutter Release, off the 2009 album of the same name.

The video was directed and animated by St John Mckay Smith, and it contains some slight NSFW images. And if, for some reason, you missed out on the album Shutter Release – another epic collection of sweeping instrumentals from the Brothers Bell – you should most definitely stream it at Mush Records.

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After I was blown away – mostly my eardrums – by The Twilight Sad in Tucson last September, I was excited at the chance to see them again in Tempe in May. Sadly, the band canceled because it picked up support dates for Biffy Clyro in the UK. I mean, if it’s not one thing keeping Scottish bands from the Valley, like, say, volcanic ash, it’s another.

But when you put out my favorite album of 2009, I’m more inclined to forgive, for which I’m sure The Twilight Sad will be quite grateful. Anyway, the band is “happy as Larry” to be releasing The Wrong Car EP on July 26 (Surfing on Steam has the four-song tracklist).

In the meantime, the folks at Bandstand Busking posted four videos from the band’s session in November, a less deafening – but no less powerful – acoustic performance. James Graham’s voice is splendid.

Frightened Rabbit made its national TV debut on Tuesday on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (making a believer out of ?uestlove), and just a few days before that the band stopped by KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic for an in-studio session.

We’re treated to eight songs in a somewhat restrained full-band performance and a fun interview in which singer Scott Hutchison talks about his hometown of Selkirk, Scotland (“It’s a wonderful place to grow up and it’s a wonderful place to leave”) and reveals the inspiration behind the song Swim Until You Can’t See Land (the 2008 film The Wackness).

Check out the entire performance above or a stand-alone clip for Swim Until You Can’t See Land below.

1. Swim Until You Can’t See Land
2. Living in Colour
3. The Wrestle
4. Old Old Fashioned
5. Good Arms vs. Bad Arms
6. Foot Shooter
7. The Twist
8. Nothing Like You

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Frightened Rabbit: Stream Living in Colour alt. version/remix
Q&A with Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit
Frightened Rabbit: Swim Until You Can’t See Land (acoustic video)
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Frightened Rabbit on Daytrotter
Frightened Rabbit: Swim Until You Can’t See Land (video)

A reunited Far is at Rhythm Room on Monday night, so I spent some quality time on YouTube tracking down video from this tour and streaming the new album, At Night We Live (out on Tuesday), on MySpace.

I found one user that had just about the entire May 21 show from the Troubadour in West Hollywood, Calif. It was enough to convince me that my first Far show will be worth the wait after all these years.

I’m also excited to see Man Overboard – my favorite Far song that I unabashedly requested Jonah Matranga play during an acoustic set three years ago – has made the set list. Well, it did at least on this night. Check it out below, with pretty great audience participation.

I’ve been transported to freshman year of high school. Honestly, that might be the last time I’ve listened to the self-titled Temple of the Dog album – but I listened to it a lot. In fact, I continually pushed it on this one girl, who 13 years later would become my wife. Crazy how that works.

So Friday night at Madison Square Garden in New York, Pearl Jam invites Ben Bridwell, whose Band of Horses opened the show, to play the part of (a less shrilly) Chris Cornell in a live revival of Hunger Strike.

What a great moment – sincere and free of pretension. Bridwell continues to be one of just the seemingly coolest and most endearing dudes in rock. Witness his parting line to the crowd after an “adorable” (my wife’s word) hug with Eddie Vedder: “Pearl Jam’s the best band!”

Did you watch the webcast of The National show from the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Saturday night? It was, predictably, amazing and made me long for an Arizona tour stop. The band hasn’t been to Arizona since October 2005, when it came to Modified on a co-headlining tour with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in support of Alligator (a show I regrettably missed because of work). And to think: People were apparently leaving after CYHSY on nights The National played last – the same band that’s now selling out shows in mere minutes.

Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to see The National on a High Violet tour – either in this state or elsewhere – if only so I can see beauty of England in person. I hardly hesitate to say this is my favorite song of the year, a track that immediately grabbed me after the first few listens of the new album.

Like most great National songs, England swells slowly into a triumphant climax. Even then, it shows some wonderful restraint – never quite coming unhinged the way singer Matt Berninger now famously does during Mr. November. England takes you to the edge, but never jumps, and just the suggestion of a frenetic culmination is sometimes sexier than actually realizing it.

I’m not even sure what to make of the lyrics – someone please explain them to me – but for the time being they seem secondary to the glory of the music, aided here by strings, horns and Doveman on the piano.

I’m not even going to attempt to decipher this new video for the song Albatross by The Besnard Lakes, who are coming to Sail Inn on Friday night for a show I’ve long been anticipating.

There are spies and secret code, the sort of noir-like visual mystery you’d expect from this band. The video was directed by Kara Blake, who also gave us the Devastation video.

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