The Avett Brothers are again out on the road in support of their most recent album (the critically-acclaimed Magpie and the Dandelion), and last night they performed on  The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (still love the Leno-less lilt of that!).   Watch below as the band performed Skin and Bones (with its Night They Drove Old Dixie Down pulse and feel), and received deserved praise from Fallon.  The Tonight Show also debuted the band’s new video for their forlorn, yet hopeful, Morning Song.   You can watch it at bottom.  Beauty in song and image, right there.  Turns out the video was produced by fan Judd Apatow.   Superb stuff from one of America’s best bands.

Lou Reed would have turned 72 years old last Sunday, March 2nd, 2014.   One of our favorites, the ever-beguiling Jonathan Richman, was the special guest on Radio Valencia’s Wax! Crackle! Pop! show.  Go over to W!C!P! and listen as Richman enthralls listeners for two hours on Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground with music, stories and observations.  One great about other greats.

We were thrilled to learn that one of our favorite artists, Sharon Van Etten, will release her next album, Are We There, on May 27th on Jagjaguwar.  Today Van Etten released the album’s first single, the superbly stentorian Taking Chances.  Those concerned that Are We There  might not live up to her last, Aaron Dessner-produced album (the tremendous Tramp) will be relieved and positively-stunned by Taking Chances.  The new album was written and self-produced by Van Etten, and the perfect production on Taking Chances sets the bar very high and bodes incredibly well for the new album.   Listen below to the song’s big, dynamic sound, including Van Etten’s immaculate vocals, reverbed guitar and melodica-esque keyboards.  And woodblock.  Van Etten is one of the greats, and Taking Chances is our favorite song of 2014 so far.

More woodblock!

You can pre-order the new album in vinyl and CD formats HERE or digitally HERE, HERE, and at your local record store.  The tracklist follows the song, followed by Van Etten’s impending tour dates.

We are there!

Are We There:

1 Afraid of Nothing
2 Taking Chances
3 Your Love Is Killing Me
4 Our Love
5 Tarifa
6 I Love You But I’m Lost
7 You Know Me Well
8 Break Me
9 Nothing Will Change
10 I Know
11 Every Time the Sun Comes Up

Tour Dates:

Thu. May 8 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall
Fri. May 9 – Hudson, NY @ Helsinki Hudson
Sat. May 10 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre
Sun. May 11 – Hamden, CT @ Ballroom at the Outer Space
Sun. May 25 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique Grand Salon (Nuits Botanique)
Wed. May 28 – Paris, FR @ Café de la Danse
Fri. May 30 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Sun. June 1 – Koln, DE @ Studio 672
Mon. June 2 – Berlin, DE @ Privatclub
Tue. June 3 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet
Thu. June 5 – London, UK @ KOKO
Wed. June 11 – Boston, MA @ Sinclair
Thu. June 12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall at Williamsburg (Northside Festival)
Fri. June 13 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Sat. June 14 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Tue. June 17 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Wed. June 18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Thu. June 19 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Small’s
Fri. June 20 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Sat. June 21 – Nashville, TN @ Exit In
Tue. June 24 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
Wed. June 25 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
Sat. June 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
Sun. June 29 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Mon. June 30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Wed. July 2 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
Thu. July 3 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
Sat. July 5 – George, WA @ Sasquatch Festival
Sun. July 6 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
Tue. July 8 – Calgary, AB @ Republik
Wed. July 9 – Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
Mon. July 14 – Fargo, ND @ Aquarium
Wed. July 16 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Thu. July 17 – Madison, WI @ University of Wisconsin
Fri. July 18 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival

y 18 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival

One of the greatest songwriters of all time, Randy Newman showed up on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night and regaled effortlessly.   Just to get in the face of the NYC audience, Newman and The Roots performed a searing-guitar and horns-laden version of I Love L.A..   Then, as a web-exclusive, Newman performed a saxed-up version of My Life is Good.  Newman is out supporting his latest album, Live in London.   Check out the superb performances below, followed by the interview.  An American treasure.

Seth Meyers’ “favorite rock band,” The Hold Steady, were on Meyers’ Late Night last night.  Watch below as the band performed Spinners off of their impending album, Teeth Dreams.  What we’ve heard of the new album has sounded a little too arena-glossy for us (compared in particular to their phenomenal last record Heaven Is Whenever).  So we were happy to see the band perform last night with the production turned down and Craig Finn’s vocals turned up with the raging guitar work.  The band is holding steady, for the prairie regulars.

Looking for a pick-me-up on a Monday?  Look no further.  Amanda Palmer’s done it again. Watch below as Palmer joyously sings of the life- and world-saving capabilities of the ukelele in her song Ukelele Anthem, all as captured abreast the Sydney Opera House.  There will be humor and uplift.

Parental Advisory:  there are a couple of “mal mots” you may deem unsuitable for your precious.

Press on people!

The weather outside is doing its best Manchester imitation here in California, and coincidentally last night one of our greatest songwriters, Damon Albarn, performed in Manchester his first solo (non-Blur, non-Gorillaz, non-non) show in support of his first solo album Everyday Robots.  The setting was the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival.  Albarn, backed by a full band, performed songs from his new album along with songs from his various other projects.

For a sample, check out below the performance of the new album’s title-track, Everyday Robots.  And then go over and watch the full show at BBC 6.  The full setlist is at bottom.  After the setlist watch Albarn’s official video (shot by Albarn around the globe) for our favorite song (thus far) off the new album, Lonely Press Play.  It’s a beauty.

Damon Albarn Setlist:

Everyday Robots
Hostiles
Lonely Press Play
Tomorrow Comes Today (Gorillaz)
The Selfish Giant
You and Me
On Melancholy Hill (Gorillaz)
Hollow Ponds
Photographs
Kingdom of Doom (The Good, the Bad & the Queen)
All Your Life (Blur’s Beetlebum B-side)

Encore:
Mr. Tembo
El Mañana (Gorillaz)
Heavy Seas of Love

There’s a lot of new music spilling out into the musical Niagara Falls in these early months of 2014. We’ve missed some nuggets in the sluice, but we’re slowly catching on.  On this rain-filled day (not complaining here in drought-ridden Central Cali), we found a bit of sunshine in Bombay Synchronized-Swimming Bicycle Club’s official video for its levitational song Luna off of their new album, So Long, See You Tomorrow.  BBC’s new album is receiving critical huzzahs.  As seen below, the video for Luna features the best possible use of synchronized swimming (if), and the pop song shimmers throughout (lifted by the guest-vocals of Blackpool singer-songwriter Rae Morris).

Speaking of Ms. Morris, after the BBC video, check out Morris’ video for her salient new song Skin (refreshing to see the SFW video with clothed bodies) and listen to her piano-buoyed ballad, This Time, off of her 2013 debut EP, From Above (both of which you can download for free by signing up HERE).  Morris is a British balladeer worth keeping your eyes and ears on.

Band of Horses has been all over California and the airwaves recently and during its visit was captured performing two of their (arguably California-centric) songs, No One’s Gonna Love You and Heartbreak On the 101, at the historic Hollywood sign.   Sponsored by Visit California, we particularly liked the string section addition on Heartbreak On the 101.   Check it out below.

These have been the best of times and the worst of times for our long-time favorite, Joseph Arthur. On the plus side, his most recent album, The Ballad of Boogie Christ, has received deserved critical-acclaim and his shows (including in-concert paintings) in support have received raves.  On the downside, Arthur’s friend (and yours) Lou Reed passed away in October.  After proper mourning (and mourning again), and appearing at tribute shows in honor of Reed, Arthur picked himself up and will soon release (on Vanguard) a well-conceived tribute album entitled, Lou.  The album features twelve of Reed’s best songs (including, naturally, Coney Island Baby).  Arthur produced and played all the instruments (with no drums or electricity) on the album.  You can take a listen to the first such cover below of Arthur’s beautifully elegiac, piano-framed take on the classic Walk on The Wild Side.  About the album and subject, Arthur advised Rolling Stone and writes in the album’s liner notes:  “The only way I know to give new life to something as rich with life as Lou’s songs and recordings is to go about them in a completely different way.”  “It’s odd dancing around death, odder still if the death you are dancing around is that of a legend.  You just never know what’s appropriate and what’s not, what to share and what to keep inside. There is no blueprint. I loved Lou and we were friends. The last thing I would want to do is turn his life into an opportunity, but at the same time, what better way to honor the man and his music than to celebrate it and sing it and record it?”

Based on Walk On the Wild Side alone, we can’t wait for the album, which will be released on Vanguard on May 13th.  Once again Joseph Arthur has shown his weighty worth and, in so doing, has honored the spirit of the great Lou Reed.