Over the weekend, the steely and sultry Polica brought out Justin Vernon at Coachella to join in a new song entitled Tiff.  All of which is understandable given that Vernon and key members of Polica had ganged up previously in GAYNGS.  Vernon is showing no signs (in a possible post-Bon Iver world(?)) of slowing down given this collaboration and his support of Colin Stetson on Stetson’s new album.

The sublime Sam Beam and his Iron & Wine will release their hauntingly great new album Ghost on Ghost tomorrow.  And there will be joy throughout the land.  Guaranteed.  To properly set the mood, Iron & Wine have released the official video (directed by Hayley Morris) for song Joy off the new album (on Nonesuch Records and 4AD).  Check it out and tomorrow go buy the new album HERE.  Iron & Wine will begin its tour in support of the new album on May 6th at the Grammy Theater in Hollywood.  All tour dates can be found at the band’s site at the link above.

We wrote the other day about Canadian sax colossus Colin Stetson and the imminent release of his new album New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light, the final segment of his New History Warfare trilogy of recordings on Constellation.

Today’s particular highlight (it is Sunday after all) from the new album is the soulful cover of  Washington Phillips’ gospel tune What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?  featuring only Stetson’s circular-sax and the vocals of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.  While Phillips’ songs have been oft-covered (by Ry Cooder, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanley, Will Oldham, etc.), we had not heard this song before.  Sounds heavenly to our ears.  After the song are Phillips’ original lyrics, which have been redacted for Stetson’s cover.

And for more Sunday feel, check out at bottom the video released by Stetson’s camp this week in which Justin Vernon sings (at 1:36 in the video) the beautiful opening track of the album, And in Truth. You can order and read more about Stetson and the new album HERE.

Colin Stetson–What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?

09 What Are They Doing In Heaven Today_

What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?

“What are they doing in heaven today?
I don’t know boy
But it’s my biz to say it and sing about it

Chorus:
What are they doing in heaven today,
Where sin and sorrow are all done away?
Peace abounds like a river, they say.
What are they doing there now?

I’m thinking of friends whom I used to know,
Who lived and suffered in this world below
But they’ve gone off to heaven, but I want to know
What are they doing there now?

Oh, what are they doing in heaven today,
Where sin and sorrow are all done away?
Peace abounds like a river, they say.
But what are they doing there now?

There’s some whose hearts were burdened with care
They paid for their moment to fighting and tears
But they clung to the Cross with trembling and fear
But what are they doing there now?

(chorus)

And there’s some whose bodies were full of disease
Physicians and doctors couldn’t give them much ease
But they suffered ’til death brought a final release
But what are they doing there now?

(chorus)

There’s some who were poor and often despised
They looked up to heaven with tear-blinded eyes
While people were heedless and deaf to their cries
But what are they doing there now?”

Cloud Nothings are playing at Coachella this weekend.  More importantly (selfishly), they’re opening for Japandroids at Velvet Jones here on Monday night. Check out Cloud Nothings below on a brand new Take Away Show for La Blogotheque as they perform Cut Away unplugged at the Brighton Pier (that pier’s been the site of several recent music videos).  After, check out the band in a more representative mode (partially plugged at least, though on a bus in Paris) for an earlier Take Away Show performing Stay Useless.  Come on down Monday for what should be one of the best rock shows of the year.

Cloud Nothings | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

OK so you couldn’t get away from your responsibilities for 3-4 days and spend untold money to attend this year’s Coachella Music Festival. Fear not. Via the magic of the interwebs, you can watch the entirety live at the link in the first sentence or via Coachella’s YouTube Channel. Go HERE to watch to your heart’s content (Canada’s fab band Stars are ruling right now).  Channel 1 (of the three channels) is set forth below as an example. Go forth and enjoy.  From afar.

One-album wonders (so far), Postal Service have reunited to tour behind the 10th Anniversary reissuance of that only album Give Up.  Check out the band (Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard and Santa Barbara-grown Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel, along with Laura Burhenn of Mynabirds and the phenomenal Jenny Lewis-who sang on the first album) below performing We Will Become Silhouettes at their first show back at the Grand Sierra Theatre in Reno (via Pitchfork). This tour marks the first time the band has performed live since 2003.

They played in Napa on Wednesday and play the Madonna Expo in San Luis Obispo tonight (we’ll be there to cover) and Coachella tomorrow night.  The video below features a cool light show, a fan screaming for Tamborello, Gibbard ably drumming (at 3:06) while sitting and standing, and Jenny Lewis adding her usual sweet vocals.  The identical set list from the first two shows of the tour follows the video. We’ve waited ten years…. Let’s go!

Setlist:

The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
We Will Become Silhouettes
Sleeping In
Turn Around
Nothing Better
Recycled Air
Be Still My Heart
Clark Gable
Our Secret (Beat Happening cover)
This Place is a Prison
There’s Never Enough Time
A Tattered Line of String
Such Great Heights
Natural Anthem

Encore:

(This is) The Dream of Evan and Chan (Dntel)
Brand New Colony

Tame Impala will play Coachella Sunday night.  On their way out to wander in the desert they stopped in today at KCRW to perform.  Check out below their performance of Elephant off of their much-lauded 2012 album Lonerism.  To listen/watch the entire KCRW session go HERE.

One of our favorite lyricists and songwriters, Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, is back with a brand new album entitled Ghost on Ghost.  Now residing in Austin, Beam showed up last month at SXSW at Mellow Johny’s Bike Store and played a set that was captured well by KEXP.  Check out Beam performing a few songs off the album, and a few older fan-favorites.  And you can stream the new album over at NPR HERE.

Cover art by Stephen O’Malley of Sunn O)))

Akron/Family came through town earlier this year and wowed the crowd at Muddy Waters with a decidedly prog/heavy musical attack that is prominent on their new album Sub Verses on Dead Oceans.  The band’s members (Dana Janssen, Seth Olinsky, and Miles Seaton) are each supremely talented musicians, and they quickly laid waste to any crowd concerns that the band wouldn’t bring their full A-game to the tiny Muddy.   And during the second half of the show they let down their heavy musical guard and let their big hearts and minds shine through on a few songs in particular.  It’s at these points in Akron/Family shows that the band goes beyond just being superlative and inventive players, and you discern the intelligence that sets them apart from many others playing in this field.

In the last couple of days, two video vignettes have been released that capture well the Akron/Family about which we speak.  The band has just released its official video for Until the Morning, a superb ballad off the new album, the lyrics of which ring as if they might be best listened to on a Sunday morning (and every morning thereafter).  In addition, the folks at Audio-Files have released an outstandingly-captured live performance (at the “Homestead Crater”) by the band of their song Samurai, which is an adaptation of a poem by the praiseworthy poet Robert Pinsky (U.S. Poet Laureate from 1997-2000).   Check out the band’s fine performance below and catch them on tour, the dates of which can be found HERE.  If you missed them at the Muddy, they will play The Echo in LA on May 8th.  Pinsky’s original poem is set forth at bottom.

And for heavensake, go buy Sub Verses at any of these sites:  iTunes http://smarturl.it/akronitunes // Amazon http://smarturl.it/akronamazon // SCD Bundles http://smarturl.it/akron_scd // Indies http://smarturl.it/akron_indies

Samurai Song

When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.
When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.
When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.
When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.
When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.
When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.