Dawes stumbled down from Laurel Canyon last night and performed, Time Spent in Los Angeles, their ode to homelessness (touring musician-stylee) on Conan.  Check it out below.

We have loved Portland band, Typhoon, since the summer of 2010 when a Portlandia ambassador first introduced the band to us.  Earlier this month Typhoon played three sold out shows at Portland venue, Mississippi Studios.  The good folks at neighborhood films recorded the proceedings.  Check out an excerpt below of the band performing Never Be Your Lover and Jam.   Great setting, filming and performing.

If you missed (or even if you didn’t) Deer Tick’s infuriatingly-late, but incendiary, show at Velvet Jones a month ago, check out the band last night on Conan performing their song, Funny Word, off of their recently-released “Divine Providence” album.  In their standard mode, they dished up some slap-dash rock n’ roll and then suggested to Conan:  “Let’s go get a beer.”  Nice.

Death Cab for Cutie recently performed for “Live from the Artists Den” at The Brooklyn Museum. The full episode of the show will air on public television on February 17th.  Until then check out a 15 minute segment below of the band being interviewed and performing I Will Possess Your Heart and Home is A Fire, all in and amongst the chandeliers, columns and classic European art of The Brooklyn Museum. You can also check the segment out HERE

It’s the season to love more, and to give light and wings.  Leave it then to a Yellow Ostrich* to provide a luminous reading of  Sharon Van Etten’s darkly lifting epic, Love More, a song that never fails to hurt, move and give flight.  From early in this year, check out Yellow Ostrich’s stirring, near-acapella version below.   And then while you’re at it, check out Bon Iver’s tremulous treatment of the song after. And then, why not–check out Van Etten herself in a storefront setting, sitting and singing her own acapella version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rN9rphb4wo&feature=player_embedded

*Yellow Ostrich released other near-acapella covers earlier this year that you should check out immediately below.  You can also hear some more great offerings from this band over at their Bandcamp page HERE.  They were deservedly picked up by Barsuk Records, which re-released their critically-acclaimed album from last year, “The Mistress.”  Below the cover songs that follow are a couple of great videos/songs from Yellow Ostrich and a recently released new recording of their song, Til I Disappear.  We expect great things from this band in the years to come.

Yellow Orchestra–Zebra (Beach House)

Yellow Orchestra–Tightrope (Yeasayer)

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Tightrope-Yeasayer.mp3|titles=Tightrope (Yeasayer)]

Yellow Orchestra–Til I Disappear

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Yellow-Ostrich-_Til-I-Disappear.mp3|titles=Yellow Ostrich — _Til I Disappear]

The A.V. Club has a relatively new feature dubbed, “The Single File,” in which they analyze what makes a song great.  The latest Single File revolves around one of our all-time faves, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers‘ American Girl. When we saw Petty perform it live in 1978 at San Diego State’s Montezuma Hall it was revelatory and on par with Springsteen’s Born to Run live in1975 at UCSB’s Robertson Gym.  American rock songwriting at its finest.  That was our in-depth “analysis” both back then and today.

Check out Petty’s performance of the song from 1980 below, and then check out the A.V. Club’s feature on the song HERE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aZAh1I_z6I&feature=player_embedded

Lana Del Rey showed up this week in LA and performed stripped-down versions of her newish song, Born To Die, and “old chestnut,” Blue Jeans, for 98.7 FM’s Performance Studio.  She’ll break huge in the new year.  Update: 98.7FM just released LDR’s performance of Video Games (at the bottom below).

New band, Alabama Shakes, out of Athens (‘Bama, not GA) has been showing up on many a Best of 2011 list.  If you haven’t heard them, check out main focal point, singer Brittany Howard, on WNRN out of Charlottsville, Virginia, as she channels a little Janis Joplin and then whistles like a (Andrew) Bird on Boys and Girls.   Then after check out Hold On performed on “Live From the Shoals” at Pegasus Records, and You Ain’t Alone.  You heard it here first: that ain’t no Brittany. On the former, we hear a great Muscle-rock groove, coupled with Howard’s virulent vocals.  On the latter, you’ll see more Joplin crossed with The Marshall Tucker Band (and a big borrow from their great song, Can’t You See).

We’ve been a little retro-grouchy about some of the throwback sounds that are prospering these days (Black Keys, etc.), so we’re going to reserve judgment on Alabama Shakes.  But what we’ve been hearing and seeing seems heartfelt and soulful.  Now we’ll just settle in and see if this thing can grow some legs and wings to add invention and evolution to the nascent talent.

As usual, there was something for everyone this year in the music video realm (no live videos included).  From the sublime to the ridiculous, to the heart (and soul) of the matter, no pixillated stone was left un-touched or un-tested.  Rest assured, though, for those below:  talent was exhibited either in the making of the video or in the song, and frequently in both.  There were plenty of video moments where the two twined the ‘tween.  Check out the best of what we saw this year below, not necessarily in quality order and book-ended by two striking Bon Iver videos for two staggering songs.

Bon Iver–Holocene

PJ Harvey–The Last Living Rose:

She won the Mercury Prize for her album, “Let England Shake,” and her videos for every song thereon had to have helped the cause.

tUnE-yArDs–Bizness

This band with the infuriating-to-type name was critically acclaimed this year. We don’t completely “get” them musically (we’ll see about that sophomore effort), but this video is inventive.

Slow Club–Two Cousins

Slow Club impressed this year, and this video evinces dance-joy.

Destroyer–Kaputt

Destroyer took on disco-jazz from the late 70s and made it its own.  Dan Bejar slayed us with his re-visit to that era and showing what could have been.  What moments were wasted.

MGMT covering Bauhaus “All I Ever Wanted”

Animated videos were everywhere this year.  MGMT included same on this Bauhaus’ cover.

OK Go + Pilobolus–All is Not Lost

OK Go have a history of inventive, enthralling music videos.  Check this year’s fine offering with ground-breaking dance troupe, Pilobolus.

Spoek Mathambo–She’s Lost Control

Check out the 180-degree cover of the great Joy Division song.

Youth Lagoon–Montana

Youth Lagoon wowed the critics this year, and this video/song helped the cause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IKPT30jOJw&feature=player_embedded#!

M83–Midnight City

We wrote much about this great French band and their talk-show performances. And this song and video adds to their cause.

Glass Candy–Halloween

Eye candy for upstart Glass Candy’s fans.

Peaking Lights–Hey Sparrow

Peaking Lights will undoubtedly appear on a lot of Best of lists this year. Check ’em out.

Memory Tapes–Yes I Know

Check out this harrowing and innovative video.

Radiohead–Lotus Flower

Radiohead’s King of Limbs album will likely head our Best Albums list this year, and they started the ad campaign with this great black-and-white video of Thom Yorke showcasing his dance seizures. Over 14,000,000 hits and going strong.

WOODKID–Iron

More provocative black-and-white (and gray all over) videography.

Clock Opera–Belongings

Here’s a band to bookmark, and to set your clock to. Slow diving.

Loch Lomond–Elephants and Little Girls

We love Loch Lomond’s chamber-singalongs. Add some choreography to the mix, and off you go.

Manchester Orchestra–Simple Math

Great song, great band, and moving/high-tech video.

Hudson–Against The Grain

If you love pencils (and who doesn’t), this one’s for you. This one pencils out.

Eskmo–We Got More

One of the our favorite videos of the year to support the techno groove.

Metronomy–She Wants

We wrote recently about this band’s uniformly innovative videos and great pop-songs. Exhibit A below.

Dry the River–Weights and Measures

Still figuring this one out, but an interesting mix of weighty, operatic vocals measured by some big rock-symph-sounds.

The Belle Brigade–Losers

We recently wrote about this uplifting, canine-friendly anthem.

Karen O–Abandoned

Winner of the most-affecting award.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AhG8gnEAKks

Cloud Cult–Unexplainable Stories

More original videography from a band with quite a history in this realm.

Good Old War–That’s Some Dream

Great new band with a simple approach.

Diego Garcia–You Were Never There

One of the catchiest songs of the year.

Ben Howard–The Wolves (oh, and Danny Macaskill does a little bike-riding too)

Macaskill’s mad-skills added value via the introduction to new artist to watch, Ben Howard.

Hooray for Earth–True Loves (Cereal Spiller Remix)

Great re-mix of Hooray for Earth’s song, and a mesmerizing video deserving of huzzahs and hoorays.

Chad VanGaalen–Peace On the Rise

VanGaalen is a complex character, and this video adds to the mix. An artist to keep tabs on.

Bright Eyes–Jejune Stars

We love this incendiary video.

Bill Callahan–Riding for the Feeling

Simple video concept that adds to Callahan’s great song.

Bon Iver–Calgary

One of the best songs of the year.