Bloc Party are back.  After wowing since 2005 with a series of fine albums, the band took a well-deserved break after 2008’s Intimacy album.  Well, the Bloc is back in town.  They will soon release their new album, Four.  In the meantime check out the official video for the rocking Octopus off of the album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkeUFRK4i7w&feature=player_embedded

Comin’ or goin’.  In the last couple nights, two bands that are coming soon to the Central Coast appeared on the late night talk shows, while another that recently played here also appeared.

First up is Wilco on the Jimmy Fallon Show.  Wilco will appear at Avila Beach on September 29th. On Fallon, the band played Art of Almost off of their most recent album, The Whole Love, but also added Laminated Cat, a song by Tweedy side-band, Loose Fur.  Check ’em out below.  For all you equipment-freaks, do take note of Tweedy’s new signature Gibson SG.

Art of Almost:

Laminated Cat:

Next up are The Lumineers who will play The Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara on October 5th courtesy of Club Mercy.  Check out the band playing Ho Hey on the Leno Show:

Finally, locally well-received Milo Greene played 1957 on the Letterman Show:

Brooklyn singer-songwriter Kevin Devine plays tonight at Soho in Santa Barbara.  To get a feel for him, check out his recent winning cover of Pavement’s Summer Babe for the 405 Summer Series.  You can pick up tickets for the show at Club Mercy.

Devine had this explanation as to why he chose this song for 405:

“I saw Pavement with my first ever girlfriend at my second ever concert in the summer of 1995, outdoors, and they opened with this,” he said.

“There’s something about the looseness of this song, its slack nostalgia, that I associate with long, lazy summer days outside, with a girl, being charmed & charming.”

The lyrics are, in Pavement style, pretty much inscrutable wordfun collage, but their, his; magic trick was the way he breaks from the winking to invest, through inflection, such feeling, yearning even, in certain phrases (“I’ll be waiting forever, I’m waiting (x8)…” & “I’ve got a lot of things I want to sell, but not here, babe – torture!”).

“It’s a truly lovely & lived-in memory, no Instagram filter required.”

The captivating CocoRosie have released a new 7-inch recording featuring new song, We Are On Fire, on Touch and Go Records.  We’ve been intermittently enthralled by the music of these sisters (Bianca “Coco” and Sierra “Rosie” Casady) ever since we heard their harrowing cover of Damien Jurado’s song, Ohio, which they contributed to the 2005 Believer Magazine music issue (this year’s music issue should arrive any day now on newsstands–they still have those, right?).

In conjunction with the new 7-inch, CocoRosie recently released the official video for We Are On Fire, which you can check out below.  The video is one of the more entrancing music videos we’ve seen this year.  Directed/produced by Emma Freeman, Joerg Lassak, and Leanne Tonkes, we couldn’t take our eyes off the slow-motion cinematography.  Alternately beautiful and disturbing, the video/lyric speak in part to the 1690s and the video incorporates a stake-burning scene that may refer to the Spanish Inquisition burnings on Mallorca in 1691.  We love the trip-notic music and repeated chorus: “I used to have eyes, the colour of sky, now I can see, in the middle of the night.”

After the official video, check out an extraordinary live performance of the song recently in France.  These sisters can sing!

Last night two bands that generated a ton of buzz a couple years back, The xx and Beach House, appeared on the late night talk shows (Conan and Jimmy Fallon, respectively).  Watching these performances reminded us what we loved about The xx and their 2009 eponymous debut album (every song a perfect pop gem), and how underwhelmed we have been by Beach House live and on album.

To see and hear what we’re talking about, first check out Beach House’s “performance” on Fallon, and then compare to The xx’s performance of Angels on Conan.  While the critics continue to fawn over Beach House, we continue to yawn uncontrollably.  Singer Victoria Legrand still stands in place and stoically mumbles her lyrics as if a replicant, while Alex Scally has the gall to sit (sit!!) down while playing guitar (you don’t have jazz chops, boy; so stand the frack up!).  The performance is so lacking in any dynamism or interest that we swear that if you listen carefully, half way through their song you can hear Questlove fall asleep and tumble off his drum kit.  Despite the narcolepsy-inducing performance, ?uest seemed OK after.

In contrast The xx lower the house lights, spread the sound, shine a spotlight and display deft dynamism.    We love Romy Madley Croft’s spare, but precise and affecting, guitar-playing and heartfelt vocals (the lyrics seem paperweight, yet honest) on Angels.  Jamie Smith enthralls with waste-less, mallet-drummed accompaniment, and Oliver Sim chimes in with minimalist contrapuntal bass.  And in the process, you can’t take your eyes off the screen, having been captivated by their performance.  We can’t wait for their impending new album, Context, and tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDjRRuHN8HI&feature=player_embedded

CBC has a cool little series entitled “5 for 20” in which CBC asks their favorite musicians to list their Top Five records of the last 20 years.  One of our favorite singer-songwriters, John K. Samson (leader of The Weakerthans and creator of one of our Top Albums of 2012 So Far, Provincial), recently participated.  At Number 5 Samson listed Christine Fellows’ 2005 album, Paper Anniversary.  We initially scratched our heads and wondered where we’d heard that name before.  And then we realized that Fellows is Samson’s wife.  Following this realization, all we could think was how wise and smart John K. Samson is (though to be safe, John, why not #1?).  Regardless, check out below Christine Fellows’ official video for her well-crafted song, Migrations.  Samson had this to say about Paper Anniversary: “All of CF’s four albums are truly great, but I pick this one because it became the template for the kind of record I want to create someday. Still makes me try harder.”

Good answer John; good answer.

During our repeated repeats of the In The Air dance video yesterday, good ole Derp intruded with one of those “yeah, but have you seen this?” messages we’ve come to expect.  Check out the forwarded dance video featuring Marquese Scott “interpreting” a Butch Clancy remix of Pumped Up Kicks (the lyrics of which are particularly disturbing in the Aurora aftermath).  Everywhere are phenomenally talented “humans” (robot Gumbys?).  After watching the video you might, like us, feel a little seasick and hope for more flow.  Regardless, impressive.

This just says summertime.  For those needing a recipe for a thoroughly infectious dance video, please see below and the video of the resulting dance plague:

Take one driving dance song entitled In The Air, created by Angela McCluskey (Scottish singer-songwriter who has performed with bands Wild Colonials, Curio and Télépopmusik, and been featured in multiple soundtracks and commercials), and composers Morgan Page, BT and Sultan & Shepard.

Add clips of various gifted young dancers of all varieties (our fave appears at 3:46, but all good).

Bake on high with direction and editing by “Bernadette Stuff.”

Repeat.  Repeatedly.

IN THE AIR featuring Angela McCluskey, Morgan Page, BT and Sultan & Shepard from bernadette stuff on Vimeo.

What a long, strange trip it’s been for Santa Barbara’s Gardens & Villa.  Seems like just yesterday Adam was crafting macchiatos at The French Press.  A year or so later the band has signed to Secretly Canadian, put out its first album (highly-regarded, produced by Richard Swift), and toured extensively, capped off by playing at this year’s Coachella Music Festival. To add to the largesse, the band has now contributed its cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Gypsy to the new FM covers compilation, “Just Tell Me That You Want Me.”  You can check out Gardens & Villa’s cover over at Paste.  And below you can check out 10 other tracks off the compilation, including those by the great Antony (doing a surprisingly straightforward read of Landslide), The New Pornographers, and Lykki Li.  As we’ve said before, we preferred the pre-Stevie Nicks Fleetwood Mac (with the late, great Bob Welch), but acknowledge we’re virtually alone in this preference.  Enjoy.

Having confessed to becoming belatedly enamored with the band Allo Darlin’ and their phenomenal 2012 album Europe,  we were pleasantly surprised to discover that R0ugh Trade Records had included a bonus EP of cover songs by the band with Rough Trade’s distribution of Europe.  Included on the EP is a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s seminal song, Atlantic City.  Turns out the song was instrumental (if you will) in the band’s formative years (2009).  Check out below their disarmingly clever and winning cover in which the band throw ever instrument (we might have dropped the recorder/flute bits) and the kitchen sink at the song.

Allo Darlin’–Atlantic City

As a bonus, check out Allo Darlin’ below covering The Go-Betweens’ great, heart-rending song, Dive For Your Memory.