Go check out the animated historical pie chart of music sales by format over the last 30 years at Digital Music News HERE. The digital Pac-Man has been insatiable.

We have repeatedly lauded Seattle’s great left-of-the-dial public radio station KEXP and their treasure trove of archived videos and audio sessions.  We hadn’t visited for a bit, but when we did we found lots to like and particularly from bands we had recently covered.  Check some great performances from the last months.

We wrote about Handsome Furs last week and their performances at Radio K, but we were newly captivated by their performance of What About Us? on KEXP, and especially beginning at the 3:36 mark when husband-singer Dan Boeckner drops to his knees and follows-up by helicoptering hugs all around the assembly.  This version has an ineffable appeal ’cause it feels like the f’-in real deal.

We wrote about Nneka and her stellar song Kangpe previously.  Now come the building Suffri and Hearbeat as performed live on KEXP.  Check ’em out.

We loved Stillwater’s own Other Lives when they played Soho recently.  The Others have been building on the buzz and seem to have escaped Stillwater’s atmosphere.  Check out their performance of their great song For 12 below.

We previously stumbled upon and raved about The Lonely Forest’s show at Muddy Waters last year.  Check out their revved up version of We Sing In Time below.

Like many, we’ve fallen heavily for the band Wye Oak.  And why not?  Check out their delivery of song-beauty Civilian.  Girl can play guitar.

And we recently raved about Raphael Saadiq and his fine new album “Stone Rollin'”.  Check out his rendering of the touching song Good Man and some fine guitar playing.

And though older in time, check out Colombian band, Bomba Estereo, and their cross-cultural dance-bomb Fuego that we wrote about early-on, and then Feelin’.

We encourage you to go HERE and check out the vaunted video vaults at KEXP.

Charles Bradley, backed by The Menahan Street Band, is coming to Soho this Friday.  If you never saw Otis Redding (guilty), James Brown (caught him tear the roof of The Rodeo in ’81 in San Diego) or Wilson Pickett (caught him in ’85 at Bumbershoot in Seattle) live, and you want to know what you missed (or if you just love great R&B), don’t miss this show.  You can get tickets over at Club Mercy.  Reviews of Bradley’s live shows are pegged at “Rave!”

For further evidence and motivation, check out the video below of Bradley and Band performing his song, Why Is It So Hard?, live from Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop (Lance’s) in Austin, TX, during KEXP’s broadcast at SXSW this past March.  Sold.

Good Old War’s most recent release is last year’s self-titled album on Sargent House.  Check out the official video for their song, That’s Some Dream, and then a live acoustic version thereof.  And then check out their song Weak Man and their live performance of My Own Sinking Ship. After having opened for Alison Krauss & Union Station here at the Santa Barbara Bowl (we skipped as we can just as easily sleep at home), we hope they’ll bring the CSN-esque harmonies back and headline in Santa Barbara.

Having come of age listening to and enlisting in the fandom of the band Joy Division, we couldn’t help but love Interpol from the moment they first entered our conscience.  We’ll write more about this great band another time, but unearthing the videos below of their semi-obscure song, The Specialist, has caused us regret again.  We thoroughly regret skipping their show last year in Santa Barbara and not driving down to LA ages ago to catch one of their prior tours.  We haven’t seen them live, but our motivation to see them is on high-alert after re-visiting this fine song off 2003’s “The Black EP.”  Check out the band performing The Specialist in Dallas in 2003 (for effect) and then the studio version of the song (for the sublime sound).  The drums and bass alone are worthy of wow, and then the staccato guitar simmers and slays.

Sometimes we just relent and wallow in the wretched gray that won’t relent here on the coast.  And frequently we give up to a sorrowful soundtrack that ultimately provides comfort and catharsis.  Oupa’s songs provide that soundtrack this morning.

Oupa is the soft-side project of Daniel Blumberg of the un-yucky band, Yuck, and its first album, “Forget,” was released this past week on Fat Possum.  Check out the official videos of Oupa’s songs, Windows and Physical, below.  We particularly like the effects in the Windows video and the harmonies that wash in at 2:53.  No musical ground is being broken here, but there’s beauty to be found in this minor-chord melancholy.

Oupa – Windows from Boiled Egg on Vimeo.

Oupa – Physical from Boiled Egg on Vimeo.

The New York Times is exclusively featuring the new video for the new Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks song No One Is (As I Are Am) in advance of the release of their new album (“Mirror Traffic”) on Tuesday.

In the Times blurb accompanying the video we learn that Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to Billie Joe inspired the song:

“So if the song in the … video, called “No One Is (As I Are Am),” seems to evoke Bobbie Gentry’s dusty Delta ballad “Ode to Billie Joe,” it’s no coincidence: that’s the tune Mr. Malkmus cited as his sonic inspiration for the track. (Though lyrics like “I cannot even do one sit-up, sit-ups are so bourgeoisie” are purely his invention.)

As for what gave rise to the video itself, that remains as mysterious as the unknown item Billy Joe MacAllister threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge in Ms. Gentry’s song. But we are told that, among the adorable children seen running around at the end of the clip, are Mr. Malkmus’s own offspring. So at least things worked out better for him.”

Check out the video HERE.  We love the song’s laconic vibe and especially when the horns kick in at 1:56.  Beck should stick to producing.

Honestly, we had not heard of Diego Garcia or his album, “Laura,” until yesterday.  And now we can’t stop listening.  We’re especially enamored with the acoustic performance below of  You Were Never There on KCRW this summer, but also that same song done full-band stylee at the Standard Hotel in NYC.

Garcia’s parents are Argentine, but he was raised in the United States.  Fittingly then, Garcia combines nylon-stringed Latin sounds with English-lyric romanticism.  Thematically, “Laura” is a nine-song reflection on a love that begins where a couple has split up (Garcia is now married to said love).  Musically, we at times hear Lloyd Cole and at others Harry Nilsson (along with a tinge of B.J. Thomas, circa Butch Cassidy).  Those influences say it all right there.  Sold.

Check out the two videos of You Were Never There, and then his performance of the very Nilsonn/Thomas-esque Separate Lives from his show on the roof of the uber-hip Standard Hotel in downtown LA (what’s up with the Standard standard?).  And you can view the entire KCRW show HERE.

Finally, Radiohead has put up on YouTube their stunningly rendered From the Basement performance of their album of the year, “The King of Limbs” (plus songs Staircase and The Daily Mail).  If there were any doubts as to the best live band on the planet, they’ve been put to rest.  Check it out soon, as it will be available for a limited time only.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192MiKNk03c