One of the people I trust the most with pop music recommendations is my buddy Ross of Hop Hop. He’s gotten me into a ton of great bands, the latest of which is Blues Skies for Black Hearts. And yeah, we both said the same thing “uh… their name makes them sound like an emo [...]

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I cannot wait until I can sell Michael Kiwanuka’s album at the record store so I can suggest it to all the people who think music has been crap ever since the late sixties. Here’s a 23-year-old Londoner making some of the best R&B in decades. If you’re a fan of Bill Withers or Rodriguez, [...]

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It’s no secret that I love covers. And really, I doubt there’s a bigger debt owed by cover lovers in the 2010s than that to The Onion’s AV Club. This cover of the White Stripes’ “Fell In Love with a Girl” by Of Montreal is the product of that wonderful project. Thanks to Cover Me [...]

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I was in the middle of two projects when I saw that Donewaiting posted this video of a new Yeasayer song. That’s a quick way to get everything else moved to the back burner. From the sound of “Devil and the Deed,” we can expect the next record to be a big change from the [...]

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Given my general disappointment with the last Magnetic Fields record, a Stephin Merritt rarities album is just what I need. Our first sampling is a song that Merritt says is better than “Book of Love” for weddings. “From The Song from Venus, my unfinished science fiction musical with Daniel Handler. When people use “The Book [...]

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This is seriously a golden time to be a Flaming Lips fan. Wayne and the guys are using their time to do a lot of experimenting, including collaborations that sound like something from out of a dream. Case in point, this work done with Prefuse 73. Stream the four songs from the Flaming Lips + [...]

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BBC radio DJ Zane Lowe premiered two new Arcade Fire songs on his program today. We got “Speaking in Tongues,” a quick interview with Win Butler and then “Culture War.” The internet being what it is, we didn’t have to wait long for them to pop up again. Arcade Fire: “Speaking in Tongues” Arcade Fire: [...]

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MP3: St Vincent – Kerosene (Big Black; live) There are many reasons to live in Big Cities. One is that Sonora, Kentucky is never going to have a show like what happened last night in New York. All sorts of critically acclaimed indie/alternative bands got together to cover punk classics to honor the 10th anniversary [...]

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Maybe it’s the crazy side of me, but I just love that Will Oldham is putting out a single called “There Is No God” to benefit some charities. Sure, he’s pairing it with the b-side “God Is Love,” but it still makes me laugh inside. “There Is No God” / “God Is Love” will be [...]

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