Here's some sun-drenched reggae/dancehall for your June BBQ and inner tube party. Naturally, the first single from Sean Bones' forthcoming Frenchkiss debut, Rings, is entitled "Dancehall." The Brooklyn musician, who stars opposite Norah Jones in the politically-themed road film Wah Do Dem (patois for 'What They Do') also persuaded the piano chanteuse into a guest spot on his album, which is out July 21st. Rings was recorded by Jon Spencer's Jay Braun and is an Afrobeat/reggaeton/disco romp. The Jones-Bones film vehicle is set to premiere this June at the Los Angeles Film Festival (June 18th - 28th).
The Beatles
Under the Radar @ E3 2009 The Beatles: Rock Band “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”
Here's Steve Earle covering longtime friend and mentor Townes Van Zandt. David Letterman chats a little bit with the musician about the short time he lived on Zandt's driveway. (I always dig when the musicians get to talk because they often have better stories than the TV personalities yappin' away on the couch before them.) Anyway, Earle performs an acoustic "Colorado Girl," with no accompaniment. Letterman prefaces the performance with a succinct Van Zandt biography ("he was an interesting fellow and led a bit of a tortured life"). Dave ends the night with an offer for anyone buying Earle's new LP: "If you buy this now, we'll throw in the carpet." Earle's Van Zandt cover collection, Townes, is out on New West. [Culture Bully]
This is some joyous hippie revival music. Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros are a 10-piece epic circus of insanely talented musicians, fronted by Ima Robot's Alex Ebert. This video is part one of a 12-part feature-length movie musical that band is putting together. Part One is "Desert Son." The song is supposedly about Ebert coming to grips with the middle name his father secretly wrote on his birth certificate—a Native American name which means 'Devil' or 'Demon.' The opening shot is of his father chanting in Monument Valley—shot by his mother. The song is taken from the band's forthcoming ablum, Up From Below and the video is directed by Benjamin Kutsko and Cory Marrero. Up From Below comes out on Community Music/Fairfax Recordings/Vagrant on July 14th. Under the Radar is featuring The Zeros in our Summer '09 issue.
The Danish songwriter Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, known as Choir of Young Believers, is joined by multi-tracked female vocalists on this swirling, clattering single. The call-and-response vocals, coupled with the track's symphonic grandeur, make this a very pretty track indeed. "Action/Reaction" comes from Choir's Ghostly debut This Is For The White In Your Eyes, which is due August 18th.
This may not be as cool to look as the pastoral clip for "Evident Utensil", but this video for Chairlift's "Bruises" is at least as entertaining as their multi-colored iPod commercial; which the tune also soundtracked. Singer Caroline Polachek is trapped in a room of video screens broadcasting her lover's almost strange images. There's also a whole lot of making out and leg shots. We interviewed Chairlift way back in the Fall '08 issue of Under the Radar.
