We recently wrote about the hot Canadian/British “band” Cold Specs.   Pay strict attention to singer-songwriter Al Spx‘s well-wrought lyrics.  Check her out below performing her moving song, Blank Maps, for CBC’s QTV.  The lyrics to the song follow the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA1yI0dilgo&feature=em-uploademail

“Don’t you wait on me, I’ll shoot you down
Keep your eyes closed, your ear to the ground
Pick up in the middle of the night
Kill the silence, I can’t bear to speak
Head for the heart, does it break
Words may fall, the body remains
And every map is blank

When my words head for the cracks
Will you have my back
We were good children
Darling, let it out

I hold my breath, don’t like to move
When the night comes, who will you be
Even the dead cannot be astoundingly alive
I am I am, I am I am a goddamn believer

When my words head for the clouds
Will you have my back
We were good children
Darling, let it out

Well, I am I am, I am I am a goddamn believer”

Despite the havoc wreaked by the weather at this year’s Lollapalooza festival this past weekend, eye-witness accounts are still registering raves.  As proof, check out below The Walkmen taunting the heat in suits to perform Heaven, followed by the languid War On Drugs performing Coming Through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAn-ZmIsUA8&feature=em-uploademail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC8t4FCGdP0&feature=channel&list=UL

The dynamic Dawes slayed at Lollapalooza this weekend.  Check them out below from that festival playing their uplifting anthem, When My Times Come.  If you haven’t been in a Dawes crowd and screamed that accapella chorus, you simply haven’t lived.  ‘Dem dudes can write, sing and play.  After, check out the band in a decidedly different mode, performing a sweet unplugged version of If I Wanted Someone in a just-released Do317 Lounge Session.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGOhRWIIkFU&feature=channel&list=UL

Elliott Smith, one of our greatest songwriters, was born on August 6th, 1969.  In early honor of Smith’s birthday, KillRockStars has just released the alternate take below of Smith’s stellar song, Alameda.  Amongst our fondest memories are his shows at the old Yucatan in Santa Barbara and at the Pantages.  Elliott, you are sorely missed.

KillRockStars adds this about the alternate take and Smith:

“This version contains alternate lyrics during the chorus. Kill Rock Stars will also reissue Either/Or and Smith’s self-titled 1995 album on 180-gram vinyl this month, in honor of Smith’s birthday.

On August 6, Kill Rock Stars will sell its 2010 Smith compilation An Introduction to… for $4.99 all day. You’ll also receive “a present” from the label if you sign up for their mailing list that day.

Throughout August, Smith’s entire Kill Rock Stars output will be available digitally for $49. And for the duration of 2012, any Kill Rock Stars mail-order purchase will be accompanied by a 10% off coupon for their Smith offerings.”

If you lack any portion of Smith’s definitive discography, this is a good opportunity to catch up.

We recently waxed elaborate about new band Alt-J, out of Cambridge, England.  Coincidentally, Alt-J performed on KCRW today.  Check out their performance of song Fitzpleasure below, and then go HERE to listen to the entire KCRW session.  KCRW has now added the band’s performance of their song Breezeblocks at bottom.

The gargantuan Grizzly Bear today released the second song from their impending new album Shields, the first proper follow-up to their phenomenal 2009 album Veckatemist.  Check out Yet Again immediately below, followed by the first song released by the band off the album, Sleeping Ute.  Both bode well for the new album and impending tour.

Along with a whole lot of Olympics Track & Field coverage (finally!), Lollapalooza is happening this weekend in Chicago.  The entire festival will be streaming HERE starting at 11:30 am Pacific this Friday.  Our anticipated highlights are The Afghan Whigs (at 2:15 Pacific on Friday), War on Drugs (at 1pm Pacific on Friday), Dawes (at 5:30pm Pacific on Friday), Bloc Party (at 5pm Pacific on Saturday), The Walkmen (at 1pm Pacific on Sunday), and Jack White (at 6:30pm Pacific on Sunday).  You’ve been warned.

There’s a new Harrison in a new house.  George Harrison’s son Dhani has assembled a new musical collective entitled thenewno2, which has released a new album entitled The Fear of Missing Out.  Dhani was also a founding member of Fistful of Mercy,  with Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur. Check them out (with former Field member Thorunn Antonia on added vocals) playing Staring Out to Sea for KCRW and Make It Home on Conan.  Not only does Dhani look and sound like his father at times, he also plays guitar like a cross between George and the late, great Bob Welch (check it at 2:10 on the first video below of Staring Out to Sea).  Newly added:  video of the band performing I Won’t Go at Amoeba Records in Hollywood yesterday.  If you like what you see and hear, you can tentatively stream the band’s new, multifaceted album over at NPR.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYHT8EYDWps&feature=em-uploademail

In case you haven’t seen it, at a recent show in Sweden, Bruce Springsteen and band honored the late, great Clarence Clemons by performing Springsteen’s stalwart song, Jungleland.  The Big Man’s nephew, Jake Clemons, filled in ably for his uncle in Sweden.  Springsteen had not previously performed the song on this tour.  If you’re not careful, this will leave a lump in your throat, particularly when Jake steps to the front to take his uncle’s famous solo.  It took us back and aback.