K'NAAN

We have mentioned this Somalian MC before, but if you have not had time to check out his album Troubadour then indulge in the video below. The first song "Take a Minute" is so good.

Hot Chip - Free stream

Hot Chip's - One Life Stand is available for stream at their myspace page. Expect electro, get electro. Title track below.

Hot Chip - "One Life Stand"

Worth a Listen

Stream

Midlake - The Courage of Others

Stream the Entire New Record from The Knife

NPR has The Knife's entire new album up for free stream.  It's a 90-minute electro-opera inspired by Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species.  Stream Tomorrow, In A Year here.  The first single, which is 11 minutes, is available below.

The Knife - "Colouring of Pigeons"

It's waaay strange, but what can you expect from a brother and his sister who did this...

New Video: Broken Bells - "The High Road"

The collabo that is James Mercer of the Shins and Danger Mouse has released a video for their first single.  The self-titled album comes out March 9th via Columbia.

The High Road

Broken Bells | MySpace Music Videos

Passion Pit/Lady Gaga remix

Not that great, but probably worth a listen.

WU x The Beatles

Whoa. 27 tracks of Wu-Tang rhymes backed up by The Beatles music. Interesting. Download Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers here.

NPR Music Full of Good Things

I have recently found myself perusing the NPR music site quite often. The site, which you can visit here, has tons of videos, interviews, reviews, concerts on demand, and free streams. One of the things that has really caught my attention of late is the Tiny Desk Concert where they bring in some great musicians, unplug them, and give them a three to four song showcase. I posted one from the band The Low Anthem below. Here is a cool one from John Vanderslice.

New Track: The Tallest Man on Earth - "King of Spain"

This Swedish guy came out of nowhere and had a great home-recorded debut album out in 2008 called Shallow Grave. Now he's signed with label Dead Oceans and plans on releasing his sophomore effort on April 13th of this year.  Check out the first single from the record entitled Wild Hunt below.

The Tallest Man on Earth - "King of Spain"

In Case You Missed It...

You can watch the entire Austin City Limits episode featuring the Avett Brothers and Heartless Bastards that aired this past Saturday here.

Also, Beach House made their TV debut on Jimmy Fallon last week.  Watch their performance of "Zebra" below.

TV Notes

Last night's final Tonight Show w/ Conan O' Brien was great.  He bowed out hilariously with plenty of shots at NBC, but also a great moment of class where he was almost in tears.  Watch the full episode here.

Here's a clip of Conan, Max, La Bamba, Jimmy V, Will Ferrell, Beck, Ben Harper, and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top doing "Free Bird" from last night's final show.

Conan Says Goodbye with Will Ferrell & Freebird - watch more funny videos

Also, The Heartless Bastards were on Jimmy Kimmel last night in case you missed it...


And be sure to set your TiVos or DVRs for Austin City Limits tonight for more Heartless Bastards and The Avett Brothers performances.

New Video: Beach House - "Silver Soul"

In my opinion, this is easily the best song off the forthcoming album Teen Dream.   It's also arguably the best song so far of 2010. Teen Dream comes out next week. I would call you silly if you don't get it.

Beach House "Silver Soul" from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo.

New Track: She & Him - "In the Sun"

The collaboration of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel is set to release Volume Two via Merge Records on March 23rd.  Here's the first track off the upcoming album, which features guest vocals from Tilly and the Wall.  To download the track, right-click and "Save Linked File As" or "Save Target As".  Enjoy.

She & Him - "In the Sun"

The Low Anthem in Your Home (almost)

The Low Anthem, whose 2009 release Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, recently sat down in NPR's home studio for a 'Tiny Desk Concert.' The slowly meandering folk melodies will ease your sorrows. Enjoy. Make sure you at least watch to the end of the second song. The lead singer does a pretty cool whistling trick with his cell phone.



"And when you go, where the winds are strong
When you go where flowers bend
Please take along all the best of my luck and come back unchanged" - from "To the Ghosts Who Write History Books."

New Video: The xx - "VCR"

In Case You Missed It...

Spoons performs "Written in Reverse" on Conan 1/19.  Conan takes a nice little shot at the network before introducing the band.  Transference is out, so get it.

New Video: Sanders Bohlke - "Fighter Pilot"

Fighter Pilot_Sanders Bohlke from bradley adair on Vimeo.

New Track: The Besnard Lakes - "Albatross"

If you know anything about me and my musical tastes, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm a sucker for tracks that feature pretty heavy "oooooohs" and "aaaaaahs" in the vocals.  This new song from the band's forthcoming album ...Are the Roaring Night, handles that vocal sentiment pretty perfectly.  The band has released 2 albums previously in 2003 and 2007, and the new one is due out on March 9th of this year via JagJaguwar.  Check out the first single below and see if you feel it, and go to their MySpace for some follow up listening if you're so inclined.

The Besnard Lakes - "Albatross"

New Video: Sanders Bohlke - "Wolves"

Shot in a downtown Jackson, MS loft this past December.  Filmed and edited by Bradley Adair.  Sound by Drew Davis.  Good job, boys.

Wolves_Sanders Bohlke from bradley adair on Vimeo.

If you find yourself w/ 21 minutes...

...check out this little doc, and get a glimpse into who Jay Reatard was.

Waiting For Something - a short documentary about Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard | MySpace Music Videos

R.I.P. Jay Reatard

More on the story here.
Jay Reatard - "My Shadow"
Jay Reatard - "Nightmares"
Jay Reatard - "Wounded"

New Video: Girls - "Morning Light"

Two New Yeasayer Tracks

Some more Yeasayer tracks have surfaced off their upcoming release entitled Odd Blood.  From the sounds of these two and the previous post on "Ambling Alp", this is shaping up to be a pretty solid record.  Be on the lookout February 9th.

Yeasayer - "Madder Red"
Yeasayer - "I Remember"

New Video: Sade - "Soldier of Love"

Here's the new video of the title track for Sade's upcoming album due out February 9th.  I grew up to my parents rocking her old stuff...Know what I'm saying?

Free Streams

Vampire Weekend and Ok Go offer their 2010 releases, Contra and Of the Blue Colour of the Sky respectively, for free stream here.

Little Piece of Nothing

My brother introduced me to this song, perhaps I am way behind. As for the video, what is going on?

Free Dirty Projectors EP

You can download a free EP from Dirty Projectors that includes two songs, "Ascending Melody" and "Emblem of the World" by simply entering your email address.  Use the widget below and confirm and download via your inbox.

  

Spoon - Transference

You can hear the entire new Spoon album here at NPR.  One person at NPR made the bold claim that "this might be their best album yet."  Check it out.

The Man

In case you haven't noticed our top 50 tracks of 2009 post has been taken down.  I got an email from Google saying that I had violated some copyright mess.  Whatever.  I'll get up a cleaner version of the list over the weekend.  Prepare yourselves.

New Video: Animal Collective - "Brothersport"

Julian Casablancas on Letterman

Julian Casablancas demonstrates pop glory with "Out of the Blue" on Letterman.

Toro Y Moi

This "chillwave" pop dude from Columbia, SC has released his first full-length album today via Carpark Records called Causers Of This.  Toro Y Moi is the brain child of 23 year old Chaz Bundick, and I must say I'm digging it pretty hard.  It's not out physically today, but digitally and you can grab it on iTunes.  Sample some tracks on his myspace if you'd like or check out the song "Talamak" on the the playlist.

Some More Best Coast

You can download for a limited time only the b-side from Best Coast's When I'm With You 7" entitled "This Is Real".  It's free and from a strange place, NikeWomen.  She keeps rolling out the hits.  Spin it below.

Best Coast - "This Is Real"

#1 - Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Pheonix

No other album stayed on repeat longer or made me have the desire to sing out loud more than Phoenix's this year. Their show at Bonnaroo was superb and their video's and TV performances were fun. They crossed boundaries from the 'indie' music junkies to the avant garde and seemed to make a splash wherever they landed. Poppy enough to just listen and fresh enough to critique. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was the best album of the year.

#2 - Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion