The National have recently made their cover of Perfume Genius’ heart-rending Learning a standard part of their live set.  Earlier this year the band released the recorded version as a bonus cut on their release in Japan of a deluxe version of Trouble Will Find Me.  Check out their take on the song below.  You can also listen to it HERE.  The two artists’ motifs are so perfectly tangled up in blue here that one can imagine the Ohioans summarizing:  “Like it was written in my soul from me to you.”

Neko Case out touring in support of her new album The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You.  In support of the new tongue-twisting album, Ms. Case recently paid a visit to CBC’s Studio Q to perform the song Local Girl from the new album.  Check out this beauty below with the superb vocal backing of Eric Bachmann and Kelly Hogan.

Jim James (My Morning Jacket) has been on tour in support of his debut solo album, Regions Of Light And Sound Of God. Last night James appeared on Jimmy Kimmel and performed State Of Art (A.E.I.O.U.) and the web-exclusive A New Life. Check out both sterling performances below.  While in LA, James also performed a set for KCRW, which will be broadcast on the station’s Morning Becomes Eclectic show on September 26th.

We will sing the praises and songs of Damon Albarn (Blur, The Good, the Bad & The Queen, and Gorillaz) until the cowz come home.  Albarn is one of our best living songwriters and is still delivering the song goods after nearly 25 years of honing his craft.  We recently stumbled upon two particularly charming Gorillaz performances in 2010 for BBC Radio 1 that feature Albarn’s evocative vocalisms.  Check out Albarn and the boys performing On Melancholy Hill, followed by a fine cover of The xx’s Crystalized with singer Daley adding vocals behind Albarn.  Superb sounds once again from Damon Albarn.

Photo by Linda Brownlee.

It’s been a while since we last caught the great soul-revivalist Charles Bradley (aka “The Screaming Eagle of Soul”)  and his gregarious, generous and gracious act.  So we were thrilled to see KEXP release 24 minutes of goodness from Bradley and his stalwart Extraordinaires (members of the Menahan Street Band) at this year’s Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle.  Check out the full performance below.  Bradley and his Extraordinaires are once again on fire at Bumbershoot as they perform You Put the Flame On It, Crying in the Chapel, Strictly Reserved for You and Let Love Stand a Chance for KEXP off of their fantastic album from earlier this year, Victim of Love.  We like the added psychedelia and Ernie Isley-esque guitar riffs on a couple of these songs.  Bradley can do no wrong in our book.

All were shocked last night when Elvis Costello and The Roots performed together on the Jimmy Fallon Show.  Well, not exactly.  You see the artists actually recorded their new joint-album Wise Up Ghost in The Roots’ dressing room in the Fallon studio.  Watch below as Costello and The Roots soundly strutted the best song off the new album, Walk Us Uptown, augmented by a horn section of four.  After, check out their web-only rendering (with added female vocalist) of the slow-ful Tripwire, with nursery-piano sounds leading into a superb group vocal.  At bottom watch Costello’s interview with Fallon in which Elvis explained how The Roots collaboration came about.  Superb stuff.  Costello will again appear on the Fallon Show on Thursday.

Grizzly Bear announced today that in November they will release Shields: Expanded, an expanded version of one of the Best Albums of 2012.  Expanded is the original album plus eight added songs, remixes, and demos.  For those already owning Shields, you can purchase the eight added tracks via a separate release entitled B-Sides.  The new release adds three demos recorded in Marfa, Texas before tracking of the album began in New York and Cape Cod, along with remixes from Nicolas Jaar, Liars, and Lindstrøm.  Check out the gripping Will Calls (Marfa Demo) below. As you’ll hear, even their discards hold trump cards.

In addition to discovering Perfume Genius over the weekend, we also chanced upon Denmark’s Agnes Obel.  It’s a wonder we haven’t discovered Obel before given her strong following in Europe and her songs’ use in various commercials and on various TV shows, including Grey’s Anatomy.  Obel released her debut album Philharmonics in 2010 to deserved critical acclaim and will soon release her highly-anticipated sophomore album, Aventine, on PIAS Recordings.  As you will see and hear below, Obel’s work is enchanting and deceptively simple on the surface.  But beneath the songs’ facades are subtle, tasteful flourishes and lyrical depth that effortlessly carry the intrigued listener along while reminding of Kate Bush and a bit of Feist.

Begin below with the recent posting by La Blogotheque of Obel’s performance of unreleased song, Smoke and Mirrors, and then progress chronologically from Riverside from her first album to the recently-released video for The Curse off of her new album (which will be released on September 30th).  We look forward to hearing more from Ms. Obel.

Turns out we’ve missed another one.  Thanks to The National’s recent cover of a Perfume Genius song (Learning—a rather dark, but cathartic, ditty that you can listen to at bottom), we have finally found Perfume Genius, which is the nom de chanteur of Seattle-based solo artist Mike Hadreas.  Hadreas’ songs are filled with heart-on-sleeve assessments and invocations that are roundly resonating with us this Monday (natch).  Check out some examples below in these performances last year for La Blogotheque’s A Take Away Show.  Beautiful, but heavy material, as reflected in the artist’s face as he performs.  Perfect for your Monday.  We don’t like Mondays, can you tell?