Audioclash

Live Music: Jenny Lewis at Bonnaroo '09

2009-06-18T10:17:00.002-05:00

There's a ton of content from Jenny Lewis' Bonnaroo performance, but my favorite was "Jack Killed Mom". How is there a music video for "Black Sand" (mediocre song, boring video), but not for this song? Awesomeness this song is.

Video: Courtney Love announces Hole "reunion"

2009-06-18T10:06:00.003-05:00

Oh Courtney, you crazy bitch. You know I love you, and yet you continue to screw me over. Apparently Courtney is re-editing her probably shitty solo album that's been brewing for around four years and calling it the fourth Hole album. Melissa Auf Der Maur's coming back to do some bass and backing vocals, and apparently that's enough to bring back the old name. Goddammit Billy Corgan, this is all your fault. Look, I'll follow "Live Through This" and "Celebrity Skin" to the ends of the earth and worship everything having anything to do with those albums, but Love has done nothing worth praising in the last 11 years, and at this point I can't imagine her releasing anything that won't fuck up Hole's near-perfect(at least in MY mind)discography.

Also, there's no Eric Erlandson, which officially makes this a 100% hollow, exploitative, Pumpkins-style non-reunion.

Here's a ten minute video where Courtney announces Hole's revival with new guitarrist Micko Larkin. She really is kind of amusing to listening to, especially when she gets to the bit about one-armed strippers towards the end. She also claims that Apocalyptica is coming in to overdub their cellos onto some of their tracks, and I'm not sure whether or not we should believe her yet.

New Music: Gossip's entire "Music For Men" now streaming

2009-06-16T19:38:00.002-05:00

Go here to listen to The Gossip's new album in its entirety:

http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/1

It's alright. I felt like "Heavy Cross" is the only truly kinetic song on the whole album, at least on the first listen. Beth and Co haven't completely lost their charm yet, but I feel like I'll never think about this album again after their next album is released.

"Heavy Cross" video. Pretty cool.

Covers: Arctic Monkees > Amy Winehouse

2009-06-15T18:11:00.003-05:00

I forgot that I found this and loved this forever ago. Arctic Monkeys owning the shit out of "You Know I'm No Good". Re-live it and re-love it.

Covers: Santigold/Santogold does Adele's "Hometown Glory"

2009-06-13T20:15:00.004-05:00

Told ya I'd accomplish five posts this week. I'm gonna get better at this, I swear.

Here's the thing about this version. You have to completely forget about the existence of the original, and only then can you appreciate how quietly, quirkily beautiful this cover is. She took the simplest drum/bass arrangement manageable and truly, genuinely made this song her own. Only recommended for Santogold fans; Adele fans who could give a shit about Sant(i/o)gold will get absolutely nothing out of this.

I don't care what the lawsuit says, she'll always be SantOgold to me.

Remixes: Franz Ferdinand Vs Kelis

2009-06-13T20:12:00.002-05:00

File this one under "flawed in a lot of places, but still entertaining as all hell":

Acoustic Covers: Of Montreal do David Bowie's "Starman"

2009-06-11T22:09:00.002-05:00

I did done fucked up yesterday and there was no post, so tomorrow there'll be a double post, because this time I AM COMMITTING TO THIS GODDAMMIT.

Anyway.

"Starman" is a genius piece of songwriting, so if you put anyway competent, likeable band behind it, I will probably love it, even if it doesn't have Bowie's flair backing it up. Of Montreal's covers of this song are fun, because they have their own individual quirky charm that captures the original's eccentricity without even coming close to doing a Bowie impersonation. Like in this acoustic version, Barnes does guitar and main vocals while his bandmate just stands there and actually makes the "DUH-DUHDUH-DUH-DUH" pre-chorus sounds with his voice, and then does some backing vocals for the chorus. And then goes back to just standing there. Weirdly awesome.

Music Videos: Newish Regina Spektor

2009-06-09T22:23:00.002-05:00

I'm a few weeks behind on this, but I'm posting it now because I'm just now starting to come around on this song. It's "Laughing With" by Regina Spektor, and it did next to nothing for me at first, but it's been growing me on me so much lately.

Live Covers: Amanda Palmer does Ben Folds

2009-06-08T20:30:00.002-05:00

My issue with Ben Folds was that I always had all the respect in the world for him as a songwriter, but I never could get that far into his music because his voice didn't do much for me. So here's Amanda Palmer performing the song in Boston. Problem solved for me! It's interesting, Amanda Palmer's voice isn't even that "nice" in the conventional sense in this video; it's probably about as rough as Ben's is in the original, but this just totally works for me so much more. Who knows why.

The Return of Audioclash

2009-06-08T20:29:00.001-05:00

After a nine-month hiatus that will be left mysteriously unexplained, we're back full-time. For real this time.

New Music: More Killers

2008-09-22T19:50:00.004-05:00

The first studio track from the new Killers' album is finally out in the open. Unfortunately, all that's out at this second is a lo-fi copy, but it gives you a good idea of what the song's like. The live videos of "Spaceman" were intriguing, but far from their best work, but this new song reminds of "Hot Fuss"'s best moments. It's HF's hi-fi, synthy, bombast with "Sam's Town"'s ambitious scope and sweep, but without ST's borderline pretentiousness. It's a best of both worlds compromise, even if the drums scream "electro dance song" just a little too loudly. The song's got a huge heart though to make up for however ridiculous it might be.

Human - The Killers

New Music: Jack White and Alicia Keys' James Bond song

2008-09-18T18:06:00.002-05:00

The much-hyped Jack White and Alicia Keys duet finally made it to the internet today. It's not quite what I expected... Jack White tried to take his messy, rambling, experimental, White Stripes style, then replaced his usual set of instruments for the traditional James-Bond-theme-song orchestra, threw Alicia's vocals over the top of it, and this acid trip of a song is the result. It has brilliant moments, weighed down by the completely aimless randomness of what surrounds those moments. Somebody will make an amazing cover or remix of this song one day.

Another Way To Die (Feat. Jack White) - Alicia Keys

I'll say this much, though-- it blows Chris Cornell's "Casino Royale" theme song out of the water.

Remixes: The Killers vs Muse

2008-09-17T17:28:00.003-05:00

I found a video mashup of "When You Were Young" and "Starlight", and it's... not great. It's a perfect example of a "good failure". It's a great idea, but the audio levels are off and the samples aren't handled very well. So, if you know remix things, consider this an idea for a challenge to go out and make this collaboration work, because there's a lot of potential hiding in this video.

Music Videos: New Rachel Yamagata

2008-09-16T17:08:00.002-05:00

Rachel Yamagata's long-awaited (for four years) second album is finally coming out in a few weeks, and now we have a first single. It's called "Elephants", and it doesn't quite fit in on "Happenstance", but it's unmistakably Yamagata's work. It's much more serious and doesn't focus on the giant hooks the way that "Happenstance"'s best songs did, but she's got enough talent to take herself this seriously, so it works. Here's hoping the rest of the album is as good.

Good Unknowns: Sipo

2008-09-15T20:31:00.002-05:00

Audioclash's Myspace got a friend request from a band called Sipo. They're a producer's band, focused on realistic-ish sounding electronic music that's miles better than what I usually get in my inbox. They're so under-the-radar at this point that I could only find one video in all of Youtube that has anything to do with them. It's a video of the drum takes in the studio on the recording of their upcoming album, "The White Rose". The real way to get into their work, though, is to go to their Myspace and listen to "In Skin", because it's fantastic.

Music Videos: Sia's "Soon We'll Be Found"

2008-09-10T21:52:00.003-05:00

I think I've officially decided that Sia is now my favorite source of weird music videos. You can always count on her to come up with some crazy-ass surreal video experience that you've never seen before. Her latest effort is her shadow puppet epic "Soon We'll Be Found".

Music Videos: Elbow's "The Bones of You"

2008-09-09T21:50:00.002-05:00

I doubted anything would top "Grounds For Divorce", but this single and video comes dangerously close.

Live Music: Broken Social Scene

2008-09-05T17:53:00.002-05:00

"It's All Gonna Break". San Diego. 8/22/08. Fucking perfect.

New Music: Jenny Lewis' "Next Messiah"

2008-09-04T19:47:00.002-05:00

Today, Jenny Lewis released the latest video in her sorta hilarious Youtube series in which Ben Gibbard keeps half-stalking her and bribing her with balloons to hear songs from her upcoming new record. This video keeps the Ben-related skit to a minimum, and jumps straight into another "Acid Tongue" song called "The Next Messiah". "Messiah" is completely different from AT's title track, this one being more soulful and upbeat and playful. It's a huge step-up from "Acid Tongue"'s somewhat disappointing and unfinished-sounding studio version, but still miles behind the phenomenal live version of "Acid Tongue". Enclosed: "Next Messiah", followed by the awesome live "Acid Tongue", followed by more Ben Gibbard's balloons.

Music Videos; Oasis' "Shock of the Lightning"

2008-09-03T20:39:00.002-05:00

The video for my favorite post-"Morning Glory" Oasis song has just showed up on Youtube, and visually, it's an acid trip worthy of "Champagne Supernova". If you're also one of the fans loyal enough to still love them after all the bullshit, then you need to take five minutes out of your day to watch this, because it's really exciting work.

More As Seen On TV: Decemberists on "Mad Men"

2008-09-02T17:49:00.002-05:00

WTF? A 2000s indie-sounding rock band on a 1960s period piece? Unexpected, but nice. A lot of people were annoyed by it, but I thought it was cool. If I were ever to direct a period piece, the music would be purely anachronistic from start to finish. Here's "Infanta" featured on the opening of "Mad Men":

As Seen On TV: Plastic Bertrand

2008-09-01T20:33:00.002-05:00

Summer's done, and we're back full time. Finally!

Anyway, "Gossip Girl" might be the only show on television that can put a 70s French pop song in their ads and it seems cool. "Ca Plane Pour Moi" has gotten tons of attention lately from being in that commercial, and they deserve it; the song gets trapped in your head like no other. And say what you will about that hilarious piece of trash show, but the people over there pick some amazing songs to feature. Here's the song+lyrics.

New Music: The Verve

2008-08-27T20:08:00.003-05:00

It's finally here. The Verve's long-awaited new album showed up yesterday, and it was worth the wait. The whole album is an enjoyable listen, but "Valium Skies", "Love Is Noise", and "Noise Epic" bring you right back to "Urban Hymns"-era greatness.

The Verve - Forth

Live Music: New Killers

2008-08-22T18:25:00.002-05:00

The new Killers single has surfaced in the form of a ton of live videos. It's called "Spaceman", and it sounds like it could be good in the right studio. Brandon always had great ideas and sounded fantastic in the studio (at least on Hot Fuss), but the bottom line is that his voice doesn't hold up well live AT ALL. But the song sounds like it's got a lot of potential behind it, so there's still hope for their new album "Day and Age".

New Music: Ra Ra Riot

2008-08-19T22:10:00.004-05:00

After being completely let down by the new Dandy Warhols album, I was lifted back up by a new album that could end up being one of my favorite records of the year: Ra Ra Riot's debut "The Rhumb Line". They're in the indie vein of Broken Social Scene and Rilo Kiley, but with more strings. It's gorgeous work, and they deserve all the indie hype that Vampire Weekend scooped up a few months ago.

Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line (Partial, 9/11)

Music Videos: Morningwood

2008-08-14T20:32:00.002-05:00

I know for a fact that many of you will hate this video. Do I care? Not really. Because I know half of you will love it, and I've never wasted my time shying away from polarizing music before anyway, so yall should be used to it by now. It's Morningwood's new video for "Sugarbaby", and it's as good as ridiculous obscure pop music can be. Warning: this video induces strokes in the brains of hipsters. You've been warned.

Although honestly, even I have to admit that the puppet turning into a real girl at the end was cheesy as fuck.

Live New Music: Jenny Lewis's "Acid Tongue"

2008-08-07T19:17:00.002-05:00

I'm already in love with this song and I've only heard the live version. It's called "Acid Tongue", and it's fucking gorgeous. You can call 888-717-2243 to hear the studio version, which I plan on doing as soon as I submit this post.

New Music: The Faint

2008-08-06T21:09:00.001-05:00

The best release of the week that you probably have heard nothing about: The Faint, whose new album "Fasciinatiion", is quirktastic all the way through. Check out "The Geeks Were Right" for instant dance rock goodness.

The Faint - Fasciinatiion

Live Music: RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

2008-08-05T20:36:00.002-05:00

You know a show's good when it requires three police interventions. Rage Against the Machine's Lollapalooza set, by all accounts, was phenomenal, and this vid of their opener ("Testify") should be all the proof you need.

Covers: Joe's "Before I Cheat"

2008-07-30T20:32:00.002-05:00

Recently, an R&B artist named Joe (just Joe, no last name of any kind) remixed up Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" to suit his point of view and covered it for Yahoo's music site. His version is called "Before I Cheat", and he sells the hell out of it. Mainstream R&B has been so watered down in recent years, so it's cool to hear an R&B singer with a strong enough voice to show some real depth and emotion.

Live Music: The Distillers

2008-07-28T22:05:00.003-05:00

Show of hands, who else misses The Distillers? Here's an old classic clip from a couple years ago of them playing "The Hunger" live at Reading.

"DON'T GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Live Covers: Clem Snide indie-fies "Beautiful"

2008-07-24T21:58:00.002-05:00

Clem Snide, one of the most clever, relatable, and honest songwriters making music right now, is firmly rooted in the world of indie and alternative, but he has no elitism towards mainstream music. Here he is putting his own loveable, quirky spin on Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" like he owns it.

Music Videos: Gnarls Barkley

2008-07-23T20:37:00.002-05:00

"Who's Gonna Save My Soul" was one of "The Odd Couple"'s instant standouts, and now it's got its very own video. The song is completely heartbreaking from start to finish (and 100% of the credit goes to Cee-Lo... it's not the instruments, it's not the lyrics, it's that VOICE), but they still manage to use their usual crazy-ass style in the video even under such tragic circumstances.

By the way, in case you were on the fence about taking time out of your day to watch the whole thing, the video features a human heart singing the blues on a countertop using a piece of broccoli as a microphone before giving up and stabbing itself and apparently giving birth to the person that the heart came from as it dies. I made none of that up, it's all in there.

Old Music Videos: PJ Harvey

2008-07-22T16:59:00.002-05:00

Since nothing I care about was released today, I'm going to dig into the archives of Youtube and pull up one of my all-time videos: the amazingly simple but completely badass video for PJ Harvey's "This Is Love". No effects or flashy edits to distract you from how fucking talented she is. The mp3 doesn't do the song justice; watching the artist herself do her thing with so much presence adds a hell of a lot to the song.

Random Track of the Day: Old 97s

2008-07-21T22:18:00.003-05:00

Welcome to one of the universe's most underrated songs. The Old 97's have a loyal but small following, and my favorite O97 song has always been "Adelaide", but it seems to have been forgotten by everyone else. It was nowhere on their best of album, and there's not a single clip of the song on Youtube outside of a scene on "Veronica Mars" that the song was used very well in. Check out the song and spread the word.

Adelaide - Old 97s

Instrumental Covers: "Time Is Running Out" by Four Cellos

2008-07-17T22:00:00.003-05:00

The title says it all. It's like Muse, but more fancy-sounding.

Live Music: The Black Angels

2008-07-16T19:02:00.002-05:00

The Black Angels can only make one specific type of song (Dark, trippy, psych-rock), but they're so amazing at producing that one sound that it's completely forgivable. Here's them performing "Black Grease" a couple days ago in New Orleans.

New Music: Nas

2008-07-16T18:45:00.002-05:00

Nas' new album is out, and was released with no title, to the surprise of no one. The title controversy, at this stage in his career, felt like a desperate ploy for attention and publicity, and it worked, since this is the most people have talked about him in years. His stunt gave me low expectations for the album (after all, if it was any good he wouldn't have to pull shit like this to get people to talk about it), but I was really surprised by how good it actually turned out.

Lyrically, he's as solid as ever. He's at his best when he's doing just solid poetry and not trying to write hooks, which why he falls apart during "Breathe" and "Make the World Go Round" (which features a WTF appearance of Chris Brown). The usual complaint about Nas remains valid: his beats are fucking useless. His beats are usually a couple bars long and looped endlessly through the track with no fills or variation. The real highlights are tracks like "Queens Get the Money" and "Project Roach", tracks that are all about the words and don't give a shit about pop hooks.

Nas Untitled

Covers: PJ Harvey and Bjork's "Satisfaction"

2008-07-14T20:03:00.004-05:00

PJ Harvey and Bjork covered Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" at something at some place and time. I don't really know anything about it, I just ran across it this morning. It starts and really slow and dumb and ridiculous, but it starts kicking ass at the 2.5 minute mark.

More Remixes: Danger Mouse Remixes Zero 7

2008-07-11T21:48:00.002-05:00

Since Danger Mouse has been involved in every album people care about lately, I thought I'd throw even more hype on the pile by posting his remix of Zero 7's "Somersault".

Remixes: Ting Tings Vs Garbage

2008-07-10T22:52:00.003-05:00

The vocal transitions need work, but the songs sound nice together and the video looks cool. "Shut Your Mouth" vs "Shut Up and Let Me Go" (with some Black Eyed Peas towards the end to up the cool trash factor). Many, many of you will despise this with a passion, but enough you will love most of it as much I do for posting it to be worth it.

Music Videos: "My Drive Thru" and The Verve

2008-07-09T20:43:00.002-05:00

Good day for music videos. The Santogold-Pharell-Julian Casablancas collaboration, "My Drive Thru", has a crazy-ass new video to match the crazy-ass song.

Santogold, Julian Casablancas, and N.E.R.D. Produced by Pharrell

Meanwhile, The Verve begins their comeback attempt with their new single and video "Love Is Noise". It takes a moment to get used to The Verve using loops, but the bottom line, the song just works, loops or no loops.

The Verve - Love Is Noise

New Music: Beck's "Modern Guilt"

2008-07-08T16:24:00.003-05:00

Beck is back, and this time he's good! Beck's work has had it's ups and downs through the last decade, but "Modern Guilt" is definitely one of his ups. It's sonically cool and pretty well written, and gives you plenty to enjoy after multiple listens. Although the last Gnarls Barkley album stalled commercially, Danger Mouse is rising to the top faster than ever; "Modern Guilt" is the latest of the many buzz-loaded albums that he's produced this year.

Beck "Modern Guilt"

Music Videos: Crazy-Ass New Bloc Party Vid

2008-07-07T21:56:00.003-05:00

Oh, Bloc Party. Why can't you ever live up to "Silent Alarm"'s greatness? They've been shockingly uneven ever since they were done with their first album, and the trend continues with their new song, "Mercury". The song is loaded with good ideas, and its devotion to being different is impressive, but in the end, the actual studio version sounds like a shitty remix of a potentially good song. Hopefully it gets workshopped before showing up on an album.

But that's just me. The song, and the video, have been extremely polarizing, so you're just going to have to judge for yourself.

Covers: Ben Gibbard (Death Cab) Does "Silver Lining"

2008-07-03T16:25:00.003-05:00

Ben Gibbard, aka "The Death Cab Guy", recently covered Rilo Kiley's underrated single "Silver Lining" at the Hiro Ballroom, along with a few other songs. It sounds fantastic, and you can see the un-embeddable video at:

http://stereogum.com/archives/concert/ben-gibbard-hiro-ballroom-nyc-63008_010793.html

Meanwhile, here's an embeddable video of Ben doing the some thing 10-ish months ago. It's not quite as good, but I love the humming solo that he uses in this one:

And for the other music nerds out there-- he shifts the song from G to E-Flat, which works so much better for the song.

Acoustic: The Duke Spirit and Leila's Tambourine

2008-07-01T08:19:00.003-05:00

It's no secret that The Duke Spirit is one of my favorite bands to break out in the last couple years, and I haven't posted about them in a while, so I'm gonna post one of their best acoustic performances. It's "The Step and The Walk", completely stripped down without losing any of the original's energy.

Live: Amy Winehouse punches a fan

2008-06-30T19:53:00.003-05:00

Jesus Christ. I can't even say anything about this mess. I was going to go into a whole rant about how hopeless she is, but really, what is there to say that hasn't already been said? The title says it all. Just watch the clip and sigh.

Music Videos: The Stars

2008-06-27T07:54:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the video for "Bitches in Tokyo". It's one of the most fun and creative videos in recent memory, and it's a total joy even when it's slightly dumb.

Bitches In Tokyo

Live Music: Sigur Ros

2008-06-26T20:41:00.002-05:00

Sigur Ros's new sound has gotten them more attention than ever, and they deserve every bit of it. "Gobbledigook" is rapidly becoming a new alt/indie classic, and is building up more and more of cult following every day. Every live performance I've seen online of this song has been lovable as hell, and every last one of them involves confetti in some capacity or another, which sounds so stupid, but is shockingly endearing when a fun little Icelandic band does it.

New Music: Ding Dong the Motherfucking Witch Is Dead

2008-06-25T22:19:00.003-05:00

Liz Phair's got a new song, and it's a little difficult to tell how good it is. You see, the only version of the song we have so far is a live performance from her "Exile" anniversary tour, and live? She's a little tone-deaf sometimes. It's a bitter, bitter song about the douchebag that ran the record label that she just escaped from, and it sounds like it could be really, really, good in a setting where she's a little more on-key. Seriously, there are some very upsetting high notes in this song that need to be worked on, but in general, it's her getting back to what she does best: genuine emotions (she really hates this fucker)and no radio-pop bullshit.

By the way, I like this song more and more every time I hear it. "Ding Dong, his crooked soul, hang yourself on ROCK AND ROLL!"

New Music: Verve comeback single

2008-06-24T18:54:00.002-05:00

The Verve, believe it or not, are coming back, and their new single popped up today. It's not officially released until August, but it's on their Myspace page now. It's really, really nice. It sounds like a Verve song without falling back on "Urban Hymns"'s sound. It grows on you more and more every time you hear it.

Love Is Noise - The Verve

Covers: Hole does Velvet Underground

2008-06-23T21:34:00.002-05:00

I was going through the Velvet Underground catalog during work today because my job is boring, and I ran across an old cover of Hole doing "Pale Blue Eyes". Is it ugly? Uh huh. Is it also raw, emotional, and completely genuine and real? Abso-fucking-lutely.

Pale Blue Eyes (velvet Underground Cover) - Hole

Introducing the New Audioclash Banner

2008-06-20T21:50:00.002-05:00

Now up is a rough edit of the new banner for the blog. It's tiled with "Fake paintings" (made with Corel Painter Essentials) of a diverse set of some of our favorite musicians (in order): Jeff Buckley, Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney), Kurt Cobain, M.I.A., Iggy Pop, Rivers Cuomo, PJ Harvey, Jenny Lewis, Jimi Hendrix, Karen O, and Henry Rollins. The idea here is diversity: different genres, styles, eras, mainstream success levels, on and on. We'll be back next with more content, and hopefully a banner with better resuolution.

Live Music: ELBOW

2008-06-19T21:00:00.002-05:00

It's capitalized because it's amazing. The audio quality isn't great, the camera is in a bad spot, and you can't see a whole lot, and you can still tell that this is an amazing performance. It's "Grounds For Divorce", a brilliantly raw blues-rock song in a style that these guys don't do nearly enough of, and they make the song a few thousand times more intense than the studio version at this show. Watching it makes you want to throw yourself at the stage on the screen as soon as he opens his mouth, and that only becomes more true as the guitars come out to attack you.

Music Videos: 13 Animated Radiohead Videos

2008-06-18T21:52:00.003-05:00

Radiohead continues to prove that it has no shortage of great promotional ideas by opening a contest where fans can submit their own animated video of any song from "In Rainbows". Here are the thirteen semifinalists that you can vote for. By far my favorite was "VDTP", the "Videotape" video with the paper birds.

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

New Music: Wolf Parade

2008-06-17T19:39:00.002-05:00

People are too busy with the arguably shitty new Coldplay album to notice that an awesome little band called Wolf Parade released a new album. It's a short but dense 9-track album that manages be very different and indie but still mostly accessible (except for a few spots towards the end). The clear standout is "Call It a Ritual", which hit the internet a few weeks ago.

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

As Seen on TV: State Radio

2008-06-16T20:38:00.003-05:00

I watched a repeat of the last season finale of "Weeds" this morning, and noticed something I didn't notice the first time I saw it: How unbelievably brilliant the song that played while Nancy burned her house down was. I'm actually a little outraged that the band that made it isn't more famous. That band is State Radio and the song is "Keepsake", the most heartbreaking yet strangely sweet song that you've never heard before. It's good enough to earn three versions embedded in this post: the original album version from "Peace Between Nations", a live version with nice audience claps, and a quieter, more acoustic performance.

Keepsake - State Radio

Keepsake (Acoustic 06) - State Radio

Keepsake (Acoustic 04) - State Radio

Covers: Orchestral Oasis

2008-06-13T12:14:00.003-05:00

Oasis always had the best melodies, so I've heard a lot of instrumental covers that work amazingly well. One of them is this violin-guitar cover of "Live Forever". You can visit the poster's profile to see "Wonderwall" get a similar treatment.

Music Videos: Goldfrapp

2008-06-13T11:51:00.002-05:00

Here's the most relaxing, calming video (and not in a boring way) to be released in the last few months. It's "Caravan Girl" by Goldfrapp, and it works that "Simple but endearing" angle to the best possible effect.

Covers: Klaxons do Timberlake

2008-06-11T21:22:00.003-05:00

Here's the Klaxons covering "My Love". The cover doesn't veer too far from the original, but the synths are more rooted in acoustic sounds, giving the new version more of an indie edge to it. Cool stuff.

My Love (Justin Timberlake Cover) - Klaxons

New Music: My Morning Jacket

2008-06-10T09:33:00.003-05:00

Wow. "Evil Urges" came out today and I'm not sure where to start talking about it. The first thing you need to know is that it's really uneven. Tracks range from riveting to horrifying. There's at least some good ideas in there, even if they go horribly horribly wrong. Standouts, for better or for worse: "Remnants" and "I'm Amazed" are fantastic; the title track and "Highly Suspicious" upset and disturb me on a very deep level, and not in a good way. Have they lost their minds? Probably. But in some places on the album, it's not a bad thing.

My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

New Music: The Pharell-Casablancas-Santogold collaboration

2008-06-09T20:24:00.002-05:00

IT'S HERE! Julian Casablancas, Pharell, and Santogold came together to make a song for a new Converse All-Stars campaign, and the result worked out brilliantly. "My Drive Thru" does a shockingly good job at being to fit in on both a Strokes album and a Santogold album, and will most likely remain my favorite pop song of the summer.

My Drive Thru - Santogold, Julian Casablancas, and Pharell

Live Music: The Black Keys

2008-06-06T08:25:00.003-05:00

I was apathetic about "Attack and Release" at first, but I love that album more and more everyday. The latest song off A&R that I've fallen in love with is "I Got Mine", and here's a vid of them performing that song at their AMAZING show at the Astoria last week:

Covers: Amy Winehouse and Goddaughter do Alicia Keys

2008-06-06T07:53:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since we posted about poor crazy-ass Amy Winehouse, so I decided to throw this clip up. Amy Winehouse filmed an acoustic performance of her and her goddaughter (who I've heard is 12, but I'm not completely sure) performing "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys. The Goddaughter's got a beautiful voice for her age, and Amy supportively playing the guitar next to her is really cool to watch for some reason. The person that posted the video on Youtube disabled embedding, but you can go to the clip at this URL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTQgo2amQLk

Leaks: Coldplay's "Viva La Vida"

2008-06-04T21:14:00.002-05:00

So, Coldplay's new album leaked today. It's... not great. It's not awful, but it's by far their weakest album yet. This was supposed to be the album where they stretch their limits, but 2/3 of the album is just so shockingly boring. And I was never one of the people that thought they were boring before. I thought "Parachutes" had a lot of great songwriting, "X&Y" was sonically flawless, and "Rush of Blood" was a nice balance of the two, but this new album just doesn't have anything worth connecting to. The only really surprising, intriguing, memorable song in the whole set was "Yes!/Chinese Sleep Chant". It's the only departure from the earlier work that's actually any good.

Yes!/Chinese Sleep Chant - Coldplay

New Music: Weezer

2008-06-03T19:41:00.002-05:00

New Weezer is out! "Because why not?" seems to be Rivers' motto as he skydives into this new set of songs. It's one of the most ambitious albums of the last few months, and it pays off well. It's instantly accessible, but you appreciate it more every time you hear it again.

Weezer - Weezer (The Red Album)

Covers: Watch Prince perform "Creep" before it gets deleted

2008-06-02T19:33:00.002-05:00

Prince's latest hissyfit has been about banning vids of his performance of Radiohead's "Creep" from Youtube, even though HE DOESN'T OWN THE SONG. I really wasn't that interested in this, but I watched it from beginning to end to spite him. It made me feel better somehow. It's not a bad performance. As of 7:36 CST on 6/2/08, this video was functional.

Acoustic: Carolina Liar

2008-05-30T20:06:00.002-05:00

I heard these guys in an interview with 105.7, the alt-rock station in St. Louis, and thought they were pretty cool. They did an acoustic version of their new single "I'm Not Over" and did a damn good job. I couldn't find that performance on the internet, but I found a similar version that they did for another radio station. Surprisingly, I thought that their acoustic version was better than the studio version.

Remixes: Santogold drunk on Bud Light

2008-05-27T19:52:00.002-05:00

Here's a phenomenal remix of Santogold's "Lights Out" that is being listed as "The Bud Light Remix", which is weird, because I'm almost 100% sure that the "Lights Out" that you hear in the Bud Light commercials is the studio version, so I have no idea why this remix exists. It doesn't matter though, because it's fantastic. It's my favorite kind of remix, as in a remix that doesn't sound like a remix. It's sped up a little, the pacing is toyed with, the synths are swapped out, and the result is a tighter, more energetic song that's on par with the original. And here it is:

Lights Out (Remix) - Santogold

Music Videos: "Flashing Lights", Part II

2008-05-26T20:15:00.002-05:00

So, Kanye West made another crazy-ass video for "Flashing Lights" because he wasn't getting enough attention this week. Apparently there's a third one coming too. I liked this one better than the first; there's less shock value, but it's so much more interesting visually. I hope this video trilogy stunt brings more attention to this song, because it really deserves be the hit that "Stronger" was.

Remixes: Radiohead, the Rainydayz mixes

2008-05-23T15:45:00.001-05:00

Quick Friday pre-weekend post 3 2 1 go...

Radiohead Rainydayz Remixes

Live Acoustic: Dustin Kensrue

2008-05-22T19:22:00.001-05:00

This is at least three years out of date and I have no idea why I'm posting it now, but it's nice and makes me happy, so here it is. Dustin Kensrue. '05 solo tour. "Stare At The Sun". Live. Acoustic. Completely loveable.

Music Videos: New Alanis

2008-05-21T21:43:00.002-05:00

I knew relationship drama would be the best thing to ever happen to Alanis Morisette. Artistically, anyway. The video for her new single, "Underneath", hit the internet today, and it's the coolest thing she's done in a while. The melody is nice and the lyrics settle in better each time you listen to it. It won't evoke the same response that "Jagged Little Pill" did, but this seriously might be the most interesting work she's done since then.

New Music: Foxboro Hot Tubs

2008-05-20T21:37:00.002-05:00

Green Day is back, but you might not notice at first. As a brilliant ploy to hide from the backlash of long-time critics and the restrictive expectations of long-time fans, Green Day has released an album under a completely different style and name: Foxboro Hot Tubs. FHT is wild experimental ride through old school rock that won't seem fresh for very long but is a hell of a lot of fun for the here and now. Check out the stream:

Foxboro Hot Tubs

Covers: Usher as classical music

2008-05-19T22:22:00.003-05:00

WE'RE BACK! Finally. Anyway, here's a vid of phenomenal pianist David Sides performing "Love In This Club" as a full-scale piano solo. It works so much more than you would ever expect it to.

New Music: Death Cab's "Narrow Stairs"

2008-05-14T21:19:00.002-05:00

OK, update: we're hoping to put up a couple more posts by the weekend, and then be back FULL TIME again starting Monday. Apologies for the sudden flatline in posting, but Best Buy customer service has been our worst enemy for the last couple weeks and internet access has been a challenge. But an end to the ridiculousness is in sight.

Anyway, new Death Cab is out. And it's fantastic. It doesn't have the same deep personal connection as "Plans" or "Transatlanticism", but it's still an amazing achievement. It's one of those albums you need to listen to a couple times to fully absorb it. Here's the iMeem stream of the whole brilliant thing:

New Music: Surprise NIN

2008-05-07T21:07:00.002-05:00

Massive apologies for the sudden lapse in posting. We're experiencing some extreme difficulties with our laptop's internet connection, and until that gets worked out, expect slightly more sporadic posting. Hopefully it'll all be resolved in the next couple weeks.

In the meantime, let's celebrate the fact that NIN followed in The Raconteurs footsteps and sprung a new album on us out of nowhere, and then followed in Radiohead's footsteps by giving away the album for free on their website. It's called "The Slip", and it's Trent's attempt at a healthy balance between the extreme-left-center experimental work from "Ghosts" and his Saul Williams productions and the (relatively) more accessible work of "With Teeth" "Year Zero". The album is uneven at best, but still has some good moments... namely "Echoplex", which we've uploaded to iMeem just for you.

Music Videos: Radiohead

2008-04-30T21:45:00.003-05:00

After starting the pay-what-you-want mini-revolution and a remix competition that gave them their highest-charting single in a decade, Radiohead is still getting attention. This time, it's for their new video for "All I Need", a video driven by the clever concept of a side-by-side comparison of a day in the life of children in the West and East hemispheres.

New Music: Nine Inch Nails and Coldplay

2008-04-29T20:43:00.002-05:00

New aingles by NIN and Coldplay are surfacing this week. Trent and Co's new track is called "Discipline", and it's from their next album which doesn't seem to have a title yet (if you downloaded the song from their official site, the ID3 album label reads "?"). After "Year Zero" and "Ghosts", it's a little surprising how much more accessible this track is, but the essential DNA of NIN is still all there.

Also, the first single from Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" is out. It's called "Violet Hill" and it's 10 degrees to the left of being exactly what you'd expect from them. They're trying to stretch, but not very far. The note-lacking guitar solo proves that they're outside their comfort zone, but they got a lot of potential here to work with.

Live Music: The Verve at Coachella

2008-04-28T20:30:00.005-05:00

We're baaaaaaaaack. And first up: The Verve, on the edge of a comeback. At least in the alt rock world. But how cool would it be if they got back on the radio? Anyway, The Verve played at Coachella '08, and their latest performance of "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is safe but really gets the nostalgia flowing. Here's hoping for some "Urban Hymn"-quality new material from them this year.

Mini-Hiatus

2008-04-21T21:53:00.002-05:00

Because of time constraints and technical issues, we're taking the week off for the first time since the holidays. We'll be back next Monday with more A/V finds. Until then, enjoy Elbow's new album ("The Seldom Seen Kid"), released tomorrow, because it's kinda amazing.

New Music: Weezer

2008-04-17T17:27:00.001-05:00

The full Weezer single is here! "Pork and Beans", the first released track from the upcoming self-titled Red Album, has been posted on Weezer's official website. The first thing we did when we saw it was turn on Audacity so we could post it here. It's what Weezer does best: loveable nerd rock juxtaposed with electric guitars that can kick your ass. Fans put off by Weezer's "Beverly Hills" era should be happy with this song, because it could have easily been on their first album.

Music Videos: Sia's New Single

2008-04-17T17:08:00.002-05:00

"The Girl You Lost to Cocaine" (Sometimes abbreviated to "The Girl You Lost", depending on where you see it) has been my favorite post-"Breathe Me" Sia song for months, and now I finally have a crazy-ass video to enjoy as well. The video's concept as simple enough (Sia singing the song with dozens of insane costume changes), but the videos still somehow more riveting than any "High-concept" video out there right now.

New Music: Phantom Planet

2008-04-15T21:35:00.002-05:00

Phantom Planet's new album "Raise the Dead" is the biggest surprise of 2008 so far. The album kicks off with a title track that takes Arcade Fire's sound and molds it into something more accessible (Not a bad thing to do at all), and every track that follows is an indie gem in some way or another. Unfortunately, these days, the mention of Phantom Planet's name leads to a lot of eyerolling among alt music fans, but hopefully this album will win them back some the respect that they deserve. Here's three standouts from the album:

Live Covers: Ted Leo performs Daft Punk

2008-04-14T17:51:00.002-05:00

Ted Leo is one of those indie musicians that has tons of extremely loyal fans and has been around forever, but has somehow managed to be spared from getting declared "The Next Big Thing" by alt music media, a gift and curse that inevitably ends in a bitter backlash and has-been status. Thankfully, he's still loveable with no judgement, and his funny covers are always entertaining to go through. If you read a lot of blogs like this, you've probably already seen his semi-joke hybrid of "Since You Been Gone" and "Maps", so we'll skip that one and post his Daft Punk cover in Austin last year.

Music Videos: New Steve Winwood

2008-04-11T16:53:00.002-05:00

And now for our usual 3-sentence Friday post before we rush out to start the weekend... New Steve Winwood! He's back, and his video for "Dirty City" is pretty good. He sounds as good now as he did in his Blind Faith days, and it's nice to still have him around.

Remixes: Non-blasphemous mixes of Johnny Cash's "Hurt"

2008-04-10T17:11:00.002-05:00

In my own opinion, Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" is the most heartbreaking song ever recorded. So when I found out that there are tons of remixes of the song, I was both horrified and intrigued. What could you POSSIBLY do to that song? Apparently, a lot. There are plenty of people who will hate these before even listening to them, and you know you are, so just move along and come back tomorrow. DJ MP3 (seriously, that's the most creative name you could think of?) has done some interesting things with the song, including a fantastic instrumental overhaul of the song, and a full-scale remix that piles the instruments over the original. The latter isn't perfect, but viewed as a demo, it holds up really well.

Covers: David Choi Again

2008-04-09T21:07:00.003-05:00

We raved about David Choi's subversive cover of "Gimme More" forever ago, and now we're throwing some love towards his less groundbreaking still loveable cover of "No One". The guy's voice has a ridiculous amount of soul per square inch, and it shows through in all 40 (!) covers that he's posted on his Youtube page. Honorable mention go to his covers of "Crazy", "Mixtape", and, yes, "Hit Me Baby One More Time".

New Music: Adele's "19"

2008-04-08T17:18:00.002-05:00

Adele's widely loved debut album, "19", was digitally released in the US today, with a physical release set to happen in another couple months. The album is impressively consistant, with even the weakest handful of songs still earning a solid "B". The best song on the album is the intensely emotional closer "Hometown Glory". She's coming to the US this summer to do a string of small acoustic shows, and you would be stupid to miss her if you have the chance to go-- she sounds just as good live as she does in the studio, if not better.

Music Videos: The New Blind Melon

2008-04-07T20:21:00.002-05:00

The new video for Blind Melon's single "Wishing Well" is here. I sense a lot of resentment from people for the original singer's replacement, and while I agree that the remaining members of the band should have just rebooted under a new name and let the Blind Melon title rest in peace, I really don't hate this new lineup. It's almost upsetting how similar the new guy sounds to Shannon Hoon, but if you analyze these guys on their own merits instead of fixating on what they sounded like way back when, they really are a still a good band. This "Wishing Well" is an extremely likeable song, and while it doesn't have that loveable indie-style charisma of mid-90s Melon, this new incarnation will be fine.

Old Covers: Social Distortion's "Ring of Fire"

2008-04-04T17:20:00.002-05:00

I just felt like going with some good old stuff today, mostly because the weekend officially began 23 minutes ago and I got shit to do. Social Distortion, one of my favorite bands ever, did a bold punk cover of "Ring of Fire" on their self-titled 1990 album, and the risk paid off. The song holds up well and modernizes the original, which hasn't aged well (I mean sonically, it still totally holds up creatively). Have a good weekend, and remember to Myspace us any audio/video content that you think would fit in with our archives.

Remixes: CSS takes over new B-52s

2008-04-03T17:51:00.002-05:00

The B-52s released a new album recently, an album that I honestly more or less ignored at first because I assumed it was another sad album by a fiftysomething year old band that should have stopped decades ago. But when a friend emailed me the title track, "Funplex", and a CSS remix of the same song, I was really shocked by how good it was. The male vocals are a little hard to take during the first few listens, but the rest of the song is just wild. They've kept up with the New Wave genre and its progression pretty well in the last 20 years, and this song sounds like it could have just as easily been written and recorded by modern new wave bands like New Young Pony Club or Morningwood. The CSS remix adds a little extra bounce with some cool electro keyboard sounds, and this remix could have easily been the single itself.

Live Music: Shauna Burns

2008-04-02T17:12:00.002-05:00

Shauna Burns is one of those artists that not many people know about even though they're so talented that it's ridiculous. Tori Amos is the most obvious comparison, but Shauna sets herself apart with almost flawlessly composed instrumentals that give her music an intensity that you don't find with most singer-songwriter types. Here's a video of her performing "Tumbleweed", the best-known song from her most recent album, where you can see for yourself what an incredible pianist she is. Below that is an MP3 of "Camelot's Waiting", a song that was born for a soundtrack to a brilliant movie.

New Music: The Black Keys

2008-04-02T17:08:00.002-05:00

The new Black Keys album is out. It's nice. I don't really know what else to say about it. It's not a bad album at all; I actually didn't dislike any song on it. But at the same time, none of the songs sent me rushing to iTunes to put it on my iPod (except maybe "Psychotic Girl", which grows on me). I guess I just expected something more exciting with Danger Mouse producing. The album's on iMeem so you can decide for yourself.

Music Videos: Elbow

2008-03-31T19:54:00.004-05:00

Welcome to the song that I'm currently obsessed with. "Grounds For Divorce" is the new single from Elbow and it's pure garage-soul paradise. The video adds a new layer of cool to the song, with the bar setting and cool flashes of special effects give this Black Keys-like song a Flogging Molly-type feel, an amazingly effective combination that no one thought possible.

Music Videos: "E-E-E-E-ECSTASY!!!"

2008-03-28T16:33:00.002-05:00

Brace yourself for the funniest semi-fake music video that you will ever see in your entire existence, in this lifetime, in previous lifetimes, and any lifetimes that you have yet to experience. "Summer Heights High" was a brilliant 8-part Australian comedy that will air on HBO in the near future, and you can watch it in its entirety on Dailymotion.com. One of the show's main plots is the story of a narcissistic drama teacher, Mr. G., and how he produces an obliviously tasteless high school musical based on the story of a Summer Heights High student who dies of a drug overdose in the third (or fourth?) episode. This musical that he writes and directs includes the hilarious song "Naughty Girl", about what a tragically slutty girl the ODer was. Since the show ended, a music video of "Naughty Girl" has shown up on Youtube and Myspace, and it's lolz all around.

Mr G - Naughty Girl

Covers: David Cook isn't that fucking original

2008-03-26T19:00:00.002-05:00

Last night on "American Idol", David Cook did a nice job of performing Chris Cornell's arrangement of "Billie Jean". Ryan Seacrest even introduced him by saying "Performing Chris Cornell's version of "Billie Jean"...", but the judges still went on and on raving about how brilliant, brave, and original it was, even though this idea has already been done before and was already proven to have worked. Chris Cornell put this cover on his last solo album, and several brilliant live performances of him doing the song have gone viral on Youtube. This performance from a cover in Sweden alone has 710,000+ hits. And yet, David still took credit for being the innovator behind the whole thing. By the way, David's version is completely soulless compared to Chris's live versions.

New Music: The Raconteurs

2008-03-25T19:23:00.002-05:00

The Raconteurs ambushed us with a new album this week. As an experiment, Jack White and Co thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if they threw an album on the store shelves less than a month after the album was finished (With no warning). They just wanted to see how people would react to the album with zero marketing and zero hype. It's too soon to tell how well this worked out for them, but we can still talk about the album itself. It's called "Consolers of the Lonely". It's a couple notches below "Icky Thump" and "Broken Boy Soldiers", but still an enjoyable record that's more interesting than most of what's out there right now. Here's "Attention", which I promise you will grow to love after a few listens.

Remixes: Yael Naim kidnaps Feist's Video

2008-03-24T19:39:00.002-05:00

Someone smart re-edited Yael Naim's "New Soul" to fit as the audio for Feist's "1234" music video. The jumps in audio are crazy-obvious, but the fluent parts are so entertaining that it doesn't matter. It's sychronized so that Feist's mouth moves as Yael sings, the shifts in the video align with shifts in the song, and the choreography is on beat with the track. It's a fun way to end anyone's Monday-from-hell:

Live Covers: Damien Rice (Hallelujah cover 1443)

2008-03-21T19:53:00.002-05:00

Is it possible to have too many covers of "Hallelujah"? It's a brilliant song and all, but yes, it's definitely possible. We overdosed on post-Cohen artists wailing about how love is not a victory march years ago, but every once in a while a cover is good enough to make us reconsider. Witness Damien Rice's amazing cover at Leonard Cohen's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. It's the best post-Buckley cover that we've heard so far (Rufus Wainwright's version being his only real competition for the title), because he understands the song so much better than most musicians that attempt it. Most singers try to pump up the big notes as much as possible and make the song sound forced, but people loved Buckley's because of the way he took his time and let the song flow organically. Damien Rice follows this approach as much as he can given his time restraints, and delivers one of the most genuine performances of the song to date.