Live Music: Jenny Lewis at Bonnaroo '09

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.

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

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.

Music Videos: Newish Regina Spektor

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

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.

Music Videos: New Rachel Yamagata

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.

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

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".

New Music: Jenny Lewis' "Next Messiah"

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.

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

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.

Live Covers: Clem Snide indie-fies "Beautiful"

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.

Random Track of the Day: Old 97s

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.

Music Videos: New Alanis

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: Death Cab's "Narrow Stairs"

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:

Music Videos: Sia's New Single

"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.

Live Covers: Ted Leo performs Daft Punk

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.

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

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

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"

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.

Live Music: Shauna Burns

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.

Covers: Sia makes "Gimme More" classy

I have no idea why indie covers of Britney Spears songs fascinate me as much as they do. Maybe because it blows my mind the way that musicians can take a song that's an over-produced piece of trash and make it sound like something of substance. That's what Sia did with "Gimme More" a couple months ago (and if someone can tell me where this came from, that would be great). Here's Sia's super-indie take on the song that is the absolute polar opposite of the original.

Live Music: Damien Rice

I don't just love Damien Rice because he's an amazing musician who makes the most emotional music with the most minimalistic production. I also love him because I have never once seen him give a bad performance. Ever. Here's "Rootless Tree" from French TV last year: