Check out below the first official video for the song Who from David Byrnes & St. Vincent’s collaborative album Love This Giant (out on 9/11 on 4AD).  You can pre-order the album HERE.  We like what we’re hearing.

Last week Louisville’s Houndmouth released their self-titled, debut EP on Rough Trade Records.  The perfect introduction to the band came to us in the form of an unplugged performance below of their song Krampus.

Who hasn’t been in a bar or restaurant desperately trying to listen to musicians while the bar crowd thronged-on completely ignorant and dismissive of the musical opportunity (several Tom Brosseau/Angela Correa shows at the decidedly un-regal Roy immediately come to mind)?  In the video below, Houndmouth find themselves in just such a setting at the Irish Exit in NYC.  Houndmouth won’t give up the fight, however, while the hellions blather on in the background (you can almost taste the determination in Katie Toupin’s face).  Eventually the intensity of the group’s singing and a dynamic down-shift manage to finally shut the crowd the hell up.  People, if there are musicians playing on a stage and you happen to find yourself in the audience, please pay attention and hush up.  Or go elsewhere so the rest of us can enjoy/assess the band.

After Krampus, check out their song Houston Train, and then go over to the band’s site (linked above) and check out the official video for Penitentiary and buy their EP.  We like what we hear.  Time will tell.

Sometimes we lose track and lose the right tracks for the right times.  What better song to pay belated homage to the humble astronaut than Allo Darlin’s fine song, Neil Armstrong?  Check it out below.  The lyrics follow.

“Heard you say “They didn’t put a man on the moon
We just needed someone to prove all this floating’s worth doing”

Then why did you say that you miss a simpler time
Well so do I and I find myself pining for you

These days can a question be asked
When the hero comes in last
Who is winning?

Well I am tired of feeling confused
And lest my words be construed
I can’t separate what’s real, but I know that I believe in you

There you go, out on the pavement walking alone
They could name a star after you and you’d still be complaining

And now it’s clear
Now that you know why I wanted you here
There’s a southern constellation that shines with your name on it

And I won’t fly until the day that I die
But we can’t keep out dreams in jars so I’ll keep yours close to mine

Well I am tired of feeling confused
And lest my words be construed
I can’t separate what’s real, but I know that I believe in you”

On this lazy Sunday, check out the ubiquitous Chilly Gonzalez (recently working with Feist, K’Naan, Drake and also a Grammy-winning producer) killing softly on three songs from his new Solo Piano II album on Arts & Crafts.

It only took eight years, but with its 14 tracks selected by Gonzales from hundreds of melodies written since the 2004 release of Solo Piano.  It’s the perfect Sunday soundtrack to a Sunday.  The Paris-based “maverick king” (as dubbed by NME) has also announced North American tour dates kicking off November 1 at Lincoln Center in NYC, where he will perform with a 10-piece chamber orchestra, as well as stops at San Francisco’s Swedish American Music Hall and The Bootleg Theatre in Los Angeles.

After some Solo Piano II below, check out Chilly and his string quartet on his recent Les Salons de Musique performance. Watch it, in full, here.  His tour dates follow below.

Chilly Gonzales North American Tour Dates
11/01 New York, NY | David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center
11/02 San Francisco, CA | Swedish American Music Hall
11/03 Los Angeles, CA | Bootleg Theatre
11/05 Vancouver, BC | Rio Theatre
11/08 Toronto, ON | Winter Garden
11/11 Quebec City, QC | Petit Champlain

Solo Piano II Tracklist
1. White Keys
2. Kenaston
3. Minor Fantasy
4. Escher
5. Rideaux Lunaires
6. Nero’s Nocturne
7. Venitian Blinds
8. Evolving Doors
9. Epigram in E
10. Othello
11. Train of Thought
12. Wintermezzo
13. La Bulle
14. Papa Gavotte

Montreal’s Stars will release its new album The North, on Tuesday, 9/4.  Stars is a great pop band whose songs range from ballads to anthems in a single bound or two, with subjects ranging from relationships to revolutions.  The North is no exception, and sounds like candy to our ears (in a good way).  The best way to preview it is to tap into Canada’s The National Post’s track-by-track commentary from band member Torq Campbell while listening in.  You can also preview it over at NPR until the album’s release.     Campbell and Amy Millan have hit their mark on this one.  Astronomically sound sounds.

The Avett Brothers will soon release their new album, The Carpenter.  Check out the whole affair over at NPR’s First Listen Series.

Lambchop’s Mr. M remains one of our favorite albums of 2012. Check out the band below performing Buttons (off of that fantastic album) in a barber shop.  Lambchop will be appearing on September 8tth at The Hopscotch Music Festival  which begins September 6th in Raleigh, NC.

This week marks the anniversaries of two major Civil War events:  the 150th anniversary of the Confederate victory at Bull Run, and the 148th anniversary of General Sherman’s sacking of Atlanta, a major mark in the Union’s march to drive old Dixie down.

Combining this anniversarial yin and yang (sure, a stretch), we give you two covers of The Band’s The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down as performed by the phenomenally talented Richmond, Virginia band Fight the Big Bull.  We love the song, the band, and the two versions that do the song serious justice.  The first version is a raucous sing-along while the latter is a comparatively sedate (if not mournful) interpretation (until the end, that is–how can you keep a good band down?). 

Fight the Big Bull is an improvisatory, horn-based ensemble that has recently been garnering more attention due to the accolades of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon (FTBB’s Reggie Pace is in Bon Iver’s touring band) and The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle.  Darnielle was so impressed by the band that he sought out Fight the Big Bull’s Matthew White to play on The Mountain Goats‘ impending album, Transcendental Youth.  As further indicia of their worth, Fight the Big Bull has had two 2010 recordings selected for NPR’s Best of the Year lists.  In addition, White has just released his debut recording, “Big Inner.”

Check out the two covers, and then check another vignette of the band stretching out in full jazz flight with Brian Jones.  Then go over to Fight the Big Bull’s site to stream most, if not all, of their recordings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho2MvcQYLe8

We began The Lefort Report in part to encourage older music lovers (ourselves included) to not merely hit “repeat” on the music of our youth, college and young adult years.  We similarly encourage younger listeners to continue to seek out new bands and music as you grow older (right, we know–you’ll always be young).

Related to this, we petition you to read a well-written and analyzed piece written by Jim Fusilli of the Wall Street Journal in which Fusilli rightly chastises Rolling Stone Magazine for its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”  Fusilli points out that “[o]f its 500 albums, 292 were released in the ’60s or ’70s, a highly improbable 59%. Only 8% of the listed albums were released in this century; only two were issued this decade—and one of those, “Smile” by the Beach Boys, was recorded 46 years ago.”  And he correctly theorizes that “[t]his affinity for music of an ever-distant past may provide comfort for generationally biased boomer-era rock fans, but for the rest of us, it reinforces the fiction that popular music reached its zenith four decades ago.”

So to you boomers out there, we implore you to try some great rock music recorded after 1977.  Purchase and give a good amount of your listening time to any one of the following artists’ albums if you aren’t familiar with them (many will be familiar with these “safe bets,” but you may not know all or even a majority of their “All Time” recordings):  Radiohead, Wilco, Arcade Fire, Iron & Wine, The National, Bon Iver, and Clem Snide/Eef Barzelay (to get a feel, you can plug each of these artists into the Search tool to the right over there, and you’ll find at least one article on each).  You won’t be disappointed.

And to you youngers out there, we invite you to give the stalwart ’60s and ’70s artists a good listen if you haven’t (chances are, though, that you have already been over-exposed, thanks to your parents–see above).  But you should also continue to attempt to discover new bands (Like Pioneers, Allo Darlin’ and Field Report come immediately to mind) to add to your Death Cab/Dead Mau5/Drake/EDM mix.

Careful not to trip as we step down off of our soap box.  Go forth.