War on Drugs wages our kind of musical war and has renewed their campaign in earnest with the recent release of new album, “Slave Ambient,” on the strong and not-so-secret label, Secretly Canadian.  Philadelphia’s Adam Granduciel, Dave Hartley, Robbie Bennett and Steven Urgo create an engagingly updated Byrds-meets-Dylan-in-Petty’s-dressing-room-in-2011 sound that you oft-times don’t want to end.  And that hypnotic jangle is the value that War on Drugs has added to the influences, and which has quickly become our drug of choice.

Check out a few great examples below.  First up is the hypno-jangle of Brothers as performed for The L Magazine.  After hearing this song and Granduciel’s vocals you won’t be surprised to learn that Kurt Vile used to be in the band (until 2008) before heading out on his own.  The second video is, Best Night, the opening track off of “Slave Ambient” (as performed for L Magazine–you can skip past some interview bits and “favorite pedal” discussion to Best Night at 4:00).  The next video is a driving acoustic version of that same song (Best Night) as performed on KDHX in St. Louis.  And finally check out the official video for the song, Come to the City, which Secretly Canadian calls “the sprawling centerpiece” to the new album.

War on Drugs are supposed to be addicting live and will be touring next March with the sublime Sarah Van Etten.  They’ll play the following West Coast dates:

03/20/12 Los Angeles, CA – The Avalon w/ Sharon Van Etten
03/21/12 San Francisco, CA – The Independent w/ Sharon Van Etten
03/23/12 Portland, OR – Aladdin Theatre w/ Sharon Van Etten
03/24/12 Vancouver, BC – The Biltmore Cabaret w/ Sharon Van Etten 

Prior to their stirring set at Soho last Sunday, the Fruit Bats appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Studio Sessions.” Check out their performance of three songs off of their new album, “Tripper,” and one from their masterpiece, “The Ruminant Band.” Check out the vivacious videography and sounds below.

You’re Too Weird:

Tony the Tripper:

So Long:

Feather Bed:

There are frankly not many music blogs that consistently impress with their combined writing and music standards.  Said the Gramophone is the one blog by which we are consistently humbled.  We feel compelled to sing their praises in particular today given their recent post entitled, “The Answer to Our Current Crisis,“ which you can read HERE.  Between the prose and the pros of the offered song (Adam & the Amethysts’ “Dreaming“), guaranteed uplift will ensue. Dreaming is quickly rising on our Songs of the Year list.

Check out and download Montreal’s Adam & the Amethysts‘ songs, Dreaming and Prophecy, below, and then go over to Exclaim.ca and stream the band’s impending new sophomore album, “Flickering Flashlights.” And then go HERE to buy the album.

The similarity between the Amethysts’ and Appleby’s album (below) covers is duly noted.

ADAM & THE AMETHYSTS – Dreaming by kelprecords

ADAM & THE AMETHYSTS – Prophecy by kelprecords

We discovered quintessentially-Seattle singer-songwriter Bryan John Appleby through the annual Doe Bay Festival and the varied coverage thereof.  And then we became smitten with his glorious song, Glory, which you can and should listen to below. And then go over to Bandcamp and stream and buy his great album, “Fire on the Vine,” HERE for a measly $5. That’s a serious value.

Glory’s lyrics:

“Glory, I have known you my whole life
In the morning, you come in gentle as a golden vine
Through my window, you fill up the valleys in my sheets. Glory

Glory, I have known you on a black crow night
From my rooftop, shining in the alabaster moonlight
And the rats all scratch in the attic under my feet. Glory

Glory, you are the anvil for my hardened heart
Glory, you’re the only mystery I can see
I have known you as the song that goes before me
And the only one who’ll be there when I’m gone”

And then go below and check out Appleby and band singing sweet songs of melodies pure and true in the first video at this year’s Doe Bay Festival (in the San Juan Islands), and in the second video discussing surroundings and songwriting at Appleby’s house, each as captured by Sound On The Sound.

At WXPN’s celebration of the 20th Anniversary of its World Cafe show, Brit-band Mumford & Sons joined Dawes on the latter’s anthem, When My Time Comes.  Check it out below.

One of our favorites, Joseph Arthur, was recently interviewed on BreakThru Radio’s video series “BTR Live Studio“ and performed a few songs (the mesmerizing Out On A Limb, Gypsy Faded, and Horses) from his highly-regarded recent album, “The Graduation Ceremony,” which is available through his label Lonely Astronaut Records.   Arthur sat down with BTR’s DJ Maia to talk about his new album, playing with Pearl Jam, and what it was like living in his art studio for a while. Check it out below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hur6emlJLiI

Coincidentally, Arthur also released this week the entrancing official video for song Out On a Limb. Check it below.

Lana Del Rey sure does get around.  On Monday night Lana Del Rey performed two new songs, “Born 2 Die” and “China Doll” at the Nouveau Casino in Paris.  More positive semaphores for her first album.  Check ’em out below.

We won’t shut up about this band.  Having seen Elbow recently at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, our praise-ante has only been upped.  Check out Guy and guys perform the piano hymn, The River, off of this year’s “Build a Rocket Boys” album.  A confessional beauty.

“I walked with the river in kind of a dream
Hand in hand, the all-knowing river and me
To the clammer of rushes and deeply barren trees
A drunk making blossom, the blush to be seen

I told him my sorrows and broken-down dreams
Confessed every lie, replayed every scene
He openly wept as he listened to me
And then, with the sun in the west, he showed me the sea”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F87D6hE9mdw

St. Vincent showed on Jimmy Fallon’s Show to perform a cover of post-punk band, The Pop Group’s “She Is Beyond Good and Evil.”  And so we have additional respect for St. Vincent and Annie Clark. As we have seen before in her selection of other heavy covers, St. Vincent doesn’t mind taking risks and casting off serious avant-garde racket on guitar. There’s no sweetness in this performance below, thankfully, just intensity and art. Check it out below.