Following closely on the heels of their show last Saturday at the Santa Barbara Bowl (more on that later), Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros appeared last night on the Letterman Show to play their new song Man on Wire, the opening track of their impending new album, HERE. Check out the be-shrouded Alex “Charles Bojangles” Ebert as he attempts to incite the Edward Sullivan Theater crowd to “come dance with me.” The audience’s reaction appears similar to ours. And given its history (The Beatles, The Doors, etc.), the Theater itself wrote us to say: meh.

Via the Audio Perv.

The enigmatic Bonnie “Prince” Billie (Will Oldham) has been garnering praise and intermittent bewilderment in his and his various band permutations for 15+ years.  When he’s on, there’s not a better songwriter in America.  I See A Darkness is one of those songs. Check out the first video from a soon-to-be-released EP Now Here’s My Plan from BPB.  Check out BPB and band having some fun with I See a Darkness.  Between the jaunty step through the graveyards of Glasgow, Scotland, and the eye-full of effects, the video sheds nothing but light.

We were tremendously taken by Kathleen Edwards recent show at the Ventura “Majestic” Theater. For a flavor, check her and the band performing Empty Threat (off her fantastic recent album, Voyageur) last Friday night on the Jimmy Fallon Show (pardon the ads).  The band’s ensemble playing and singing are suave and soulful (we particularly like the mix on Fallon featuring John Dinsmore’s fat bass).

We’ve mentioned these guys before.  Check out up-and-coming band Django Django perform their song Default on Later With Jools Holland.  No fault whatsoever to be found.

In addition to writing a great song, Patrick Watson and band have now delivered a telling video for their song Into Giants.  Check it out.  We don’t know why the opening Skype-session-while-in-same-room vignette rings a bell.  Hmmm.  Friends, family….who could it be?  Live.  And learn.  Yes, stones, glass-houses.  Got it.  Check out Patrick Watson and try and catch them when they come by the West Coast in early June.

Up-and-coming Imagine Dragons is coming to Santa Barbara tonight to play Velvet Jones courtesy of Club Mercy.  They stopped on their way south to perform on Portland’s KINK radio.  Check ‘em out unplugged below playing My Fault and Destination.  But for a better feel for tonight’s show check out at bottom a plugged-in version of Destination that reminds of Dawes, which is not faint praise.  Check your pacemakers at the door.  The Vegas band recently signed to Interscope Records and is working on their first full album.

The reunited and re-aminated Beach Boys appeared on the Jimmy Fallon Show last night.  Fallon was so jacked up that he introduced the Boys (including originals Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston) before the show’s usual intro.  The Beach Boys thus kicked off the show with an impressive rendering of Brian Wilson’s chestnut, In My Room.  The band also performed the title track to their new album That’s Why God Made the Radio and then closed musically with Pet Sounds’ opening single Wouldn’t It Be Nice.  Fallon also interviewed Brian Wilson and Mike Love, covering such subjects as the band’s legacy, harmonies, and their imminent LP, That’s Why God Made the Radio. Check it all out in that order below (interview via Audio Perv).  And don’t forget to pick up tickets for The Beach Boys at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Memorial Day (May 28th).  Should be memorable.

In My Room:

That’s Why God Made the Radio:

Wouldn’t It Be Nice:

Interview with Brian Wilson and Mike Love (via Audio Perv):

We were blown away last summer by Charles Bradley and the Menihan Street Band when they played at Soho in Santa Barbara.  As we said, the emotion from and for Bradley was palpable.  We hear Charles is back in the studio and look forward to his next releases.

For a flavor check out Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires (including many of the Menihans) performing The World (Is Going Up in Flames) from his debut album No Time For Dreaming on Later Live with Jools Holland last week.  In a word:  soulful.

One of our favorites, the under-appreciated American singer-songwriter-humorist, Chuck Prophet, recently released a new video for The Right Hand and the Left Hand off of his great heart-in-San-Francisco album, Temple Beautiful (you can get a better feel for for Temple Beautiful’s songs and a live performance of The Right Hand and the Left Hand HERE).

While Prophet wrote the song with the infamous, underworldly Mitchell Brothers of San Francisco, but given the sound setting we can’t help but think of some of the tragic musical-sibling break-ups: Beach Boys, Ray and Dave Davies, Liam and Noel Gallagher (OK, so that latter one’s not so tragic), you pick ‘em).  The video adds a nice off-kilter touch to the lyrics.

Prophet has this to say about the song and video on his website:

“At one point I’d envisioned a kind of “buddy movie” for this song, ya know? Like Turner & Hooch or Tango & Cash or Thelma & Louise? What the hell happened, you ask? Well, Albert Birney, the director, took it places. Much weirder places.

I wrote this Mitchell Brothers inspired song with my friend Kurt. We figured if Cain and Abel had gone into the strip club business it would have been these two. It’s about them but it’s also a song about brothers (I think). What do I know, I have three sisters. [psychoanalyst/editor in my head: that might go a ways towards explaining why you think you’re so great].

These guys are the mother’s milk of San Francisco mythology – porn kings, free speech advocates, long-game hustlers. . . born troublemakers born into troubled times. I’ve never been in their club myself (as far as I know – how could I be certain?), but it’s legendary. I know this much: it’s an institution. A Mecca of sleaze. An unregistered National Historic Landmark in the guidebooks of the profound, perverse, profane, divine, confused, and insanely lucrative. A physical embodiment of all of San Francisco under one roof!

So yeah; Albert Birney made the video and it’s epic. It’s already been compared to “The English Patient” (if you cut out the gratuitous romance and panoramic sand dune shots). Two brothers, once close, simply fall out. Murder, drugs, mayhem, a stack of rare vinyl and the dusty glitter and neon glow of the after-hours afterlife. All acted out by two hands. Albert’s own grandfather’s hand even makes an appearance. Pretty cool. Somebody give those hands an Oscar!

Go easy babies,

-CP”

Prophet is currently on tour in Europe with his band The Mission Express, but will be making his way back across America starting this Friday.  Check out the dates HERE.  He’s phenomenal live and not to be missed.

It’s been a while, but Animal Collective and their addictive electro-harmonic swirl are back with a new 7-inch single titled Honeycomb / Gotham featuring two brand new songs which you can listen to below.  AC have only released smatterings of songs since their January 2009 album, Merryweather Post Pavilion, but the band is rumored to be recording a new album for release later in 2012.  In the meantime, the Honeycomb /Gotham digital bundle is available today on Domino Records, and the physical 7-inch is available to pre-order now.

Pre-order the single HERE.