We posted yesterday CBC’s audio of two new songs recently performed by The National.  Today CBC first unveiled the video of the band performing new song I Need My Girl in public for the first time at the CBC Anniversary Show.  We’re guessing the recorded version will be Dressner-ed up to add more complexity and texture, but any new National song offering (even in a formative state) is much-appreciated.  And a bit later CBC released Rylan, which has a more definite mien to it.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSEPs3r1yMk&feature=uploademail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf02SGcMPvo&feature=uploademail

You know David Hockney.  But did you know he’s a proponent of painting on iPhones?

CBC and Studio Q continue to deliver great content in all genres.

America’s national treasures, The National, recently performed Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks on Canadian Broadcasting Company’s Anniversary Show accompanied by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.  Check the just-released video of the performance below.  We love Vernon’s high-harmony vocals and the added mournful horns.   Beauty.  You can also go over to CBC’s website and check out two new songs performed at the show by The National.  A bounty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIY3duxQvIc&feature=uploademail

Metronomy has been turning heads for years with their music and revered re-mixology (of Gorillaz, Architecture in Helsinki,  Kate Nash, and U2, amongst others).  They are the pop-dance-rock project of Londoner, Joseph Mount, keyboardist/saxophonist Oscar Cash, bassist Gbenga Adelekan and former Lightspeed Champion drummer Anna Prior.  Their most recent album, The English Riviera, received critical acclaim this year and was nominated for Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize (won this year by PJ Harvey for her fantabulous “Let England Shake“).

The band has been gaining a larger following over the years owing in no small part to their inventive music videos.  Check some of ’em out below.  Our diagnosis:  catchier than SARS or Sandusky.

Kathleen Edwards has released the official video for new song, Change The Sheets, from her impending new album, “Voyageur,”.  As mentioned earlier, Voyageur was produced by Kathleen Edwards and Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver).  Check it out below.

Last night, the Black Keys appeared on “The Colbert Report” and performed Lonely Boy and Gold on the Ceiling (the latter for web-only) off their new album, “El Camino.”  The main duo of the band, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, also sat down with Colbert for the usual Colbert-interview-hilarity.  We admit we struggle with the merit and popularity of the band (hasn’t it all been done before?  White Stripes, etc?), but know that we are the black-key minority to all you white-key lovers of the band.  And we take our hats off to Auerbach for his production on Jessica Lea Mayfield’s fine “Tell Me” album.  Check ’em out below in the order listed above.

Lonely Boy:

Gold on the Ceiling:

Interview:

We’d been hearing raves about Glasgow-band, Veronica Falls, but after quickly checking out a few of their offerings, we were frankly nonplussed (turns out attention-deficit can be a bane–who knew?).  And then we stumbled upon Insound’s recent charismatic capture of the band in their Studio Sessions, and the quick-strum, propulsive, over-the-falls, nostalgic sound of the band performing their new song, Bury Me Alive, and the comely Come On Over (off of their eponymous debut album). And thereafter we’ve been falling all over for Veronica Falls.  These are players who play their instruments with fervor and skill, but ultimately mesh their sound into a beguiling, intertwined whole, and in so doing remind us conceptually of the seminal Feelies.  Their lyrics oft-times center around mordant themes, but the band as said this about that:  “[The lyrics] are not really meant to be taken at face value, to be totally honest,” says Roxanne. “They’re tongue-in-cheek. Like how Daniel Johnson and Roky Erickson wrote lyrics that are so far fetched, it is more about the imagery and storytelling. If you take it literally then more fool you.”  With continued growth and evolution, this young band will be a force to be reckoned with.

Check out those two performances from Insound Studio Sessions below, and then check out their more punkish Beachy Head (evidently a reference to a suicide spot).   Pass the Ray-Bans, you never know what or who might fall at your feet.  Great stuff.

Bury Me Alive:

Come On Over:

Beachy Head:

Ryan Adams showed up on the Letterman Show proper and performed the song Lucky Now off his new album, Ashes & Fire. Check it out below courtesy of the Audio Perv.Before he recorded for the show, Adams played a stellar hour-long webcast that you can check out below. We like Adams’ new and improved vocals, and we’re doing our darndest to like the new compositions off of his new album. Check it out.

Mates of State, one of our favorite married-musician duos (and that genre’s numbers are growing), showed up the other day at NPR to perform a Tiny Desk Concert.   And they brought along two additional Mates.  Check the assembled Mates ensemble perform two songs (Sway and Desire) off their  recent pop-trove, Mountaintops, and one of our all-time favorite compositions of theirs (My Only Offer) off of 2008’s masterful “Re-Arrange Us” album. Check ’em out below.