Thomas Mars might have messed up a quick line at the beginning of Phoenix‘s still-infectious track “Lisztomania” but the Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix single still rocks. The chic Frenchmen blazed through a live rendition on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon last night. Enjoy. Jimmy: “That’s what I’m talking about!” (via Prefix)
Sufjan Stevens
“There’s Too Much Love” / “Age of Adz” / Impossible Souls” (New Songs Live at Castaways) Video
Our dreams have come true. Sufjan Stevens announced his current intimate fall tour awhile ago and many hoped he would bust out some fresh jams since he’s got that new audio-visual masterpiece on his hands. Oh yeah, and Illinoise came out forever ago. Nobody really expected “There’s Too Much Love.” It’s a glitchy, breakbeat-backed, jazzy onslaught for the senses. Lots of slurred brass to sink your teeth into on this one.
For all you techies out there, the high-quality YouTube clip was recorded on a Panasonic Lumix ZS3 / TZ7 instead of a crappy iPhone camera. You can view all the front row glory above. It’s from a cozy Ithaca, New York, concert from Wednesday night. I’m insanely jealous… (Also, the cameraman might have a slight infatuation with Cryptacize’s Nedelle Torrisi [they open for Stevens the whole trek]). Other videos will most likely start trickling in because many reviews are stating that the ambitous singer-songwriter plays around four new cuts at each venue. Stay tuned folks.
Here’s the setlist, with new tracks such as “Alien Attack,” “Age of Adz,” and “Impossible Souls.”
01 Alien Attack 02 Age of Adz 03 Impossible Souls 04 All Delighted People 05 Majesty Snowbird 06 The Transfiguration 07 Casimir Pulaski Day 08 The Dress Looks Nice on You 09 To Be Alone With You 10 Chicago 11 In the Devil’s Territory // 12 There’s Too Much Love 13 John Wayne Gacy, Jr
UPDATE: Told you! Here’s the clip for “Age of Adz,” which in my mind approximates an alien spaceship attack. Can’t wait to actually hear “Alien Attack.”
First and foremost: introductions are in order. Boston indie rockers Mean Creek (named after the 2004 indie film/Rory Culkin vehicle of the same name) are Chris Keene (vocals/guitar), Aurore Ounjian (vocals/guitar/harmonica) and ex-Tulsa members Erik Wormwood (bass) and Mikey Holland (drums/percussion). The scrappy quartet’s ‘90s re-appropriations on successful 2007 debut, Around the Bend, quickly evoked R.I.Y.L. bullet points for Built to Spill, The Lemonheads, Pixies and Throwing Muses. The group is moving past meager beginnings two years hence.
The project that started as a folk duo in May of 2006 finally mutated into a full band last fall, with the additions of a bassist and drummer. Their sophomore longplayer, entitled The Sky (Or the Underground) follows in the wake of lineup changes. (That’s the zombified Abe Lincoln cover to the right.)
Whimsical boy-girl vox, meandering lead guitar and head-over-heels percussion typify the new direction on “Light Into Dark” (offered above for the first time). “Gotta stop burning our hands on the stars / find somewhere to level out / even if we’ve got to fly up to Pluto or Mars,” emotes Keene and Ounjian on the smoldering rocker. The twosome’s starry-eyed wonder bring to mind Viva Voce’s early albums. Added bonus: check out the band’s YouTube channel for some behind-the-scenes clips.
The new album is out digitally now but a physical release is slated for October 13th, on Old Flame. As a band blog mentions, “You can purchase it at Amazon.com, iTunes, or for SUPER cheap HERE at Aime Street!” “Level out” at Mean Creek’s remaining tour dates below (for more click here):
09-27 Central Square - Cambridge, MA 10-04 Live on Boston Emissions WZLX 100.7 - Boston, MA 10-06 The Space - Portland, ME 10-09 Piano’s - NY, NY 10-10 The Paradise - Boston, MA % 10-28 Middle East (Downstairs) Cambridge, MA $
% w/ The Everyday Visuals, The Great Bandini, Magic Magic $ w/ The Whigs, The Features, The Dead Trees
As you can tell, we’ve got a boatload of music clips to share this week. Norwegian folk-pop twosome Kngs of Convenience (Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erlend Øye) emote for attentive art easel ladies on the official music video for new single “Mrs. Cold.” Their incredibly soft guitar music feels cozy in a park setting just as well as the bedroom. Bask in the sad and sexy glow above. Their third official LP, Declaration of Dependence, is out October 2nd on EMI.
The eclectic L.A. collective Fool’s Gold has a new video for the great Afropop single “Surprise Hotel.” In it, a gonzo party erupts at La Villa Serena on a hot summery day. Old dudes spray themselves with soda like hot college co-eds and ladies pet a squirming iguana in the pool.
Matthew Lessner directed the sun-drenched clip. The band says “it represents a typical summer day for Fools Gold…nothing was staged and fun was had by all. And of course, no animals were hurt in the making of the video.” Well, I’ll be damned. Purchase Fool’s Gold’s summery debut here.It’s out on IAMSOUND September 29th. FG tour dates can be found here. Also, be sure to check out a behind-the-scenes feature of the video through IFC.
The Very Best
Javelin
“Julia (Javelin Remix)” MP3
Sep 24, 2009
“Julia” is a woozy, late night dance cut for the ages. In fits in well amongst the other eclectic tracks on The Very Best’s (or Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit’s) debut longplayer, Warm Heart of Africa. Here, we have a hyperactive, sped-up version from Brooklyn tropical-crunk production mages Javelin. Eat a ton of Cocoa Puffs and then bounce around to this one. Click above to peep the re-reub. It isn’t slated for release in any format for the moment. (via P4K)
Arctic Monkeys stopped by the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night to play a chill live rendition of their new single, “Cornerstone.” The Humbug track may not be as flashy as the rifftastic “Crying Lightning” but it’s an album highlight. An unbelieveably heartsick Alex Turner delivers an earnest vocal take. The lyrics follow a dude who keeps hitting on women who look like his ex-girlfriend, only to screw up his game by asking if he can call them by her name. Yes, it sounds lame, but Turner employs a few sly turns of phrase to make it work.
This cute video for The Flaming Lips’ future concert sing-a-long, “I Can Be a Frog,” consists of just a girl in a bikini miming animals, with sketch-like, yellow animations drawn over the footage. It’s a nice time-waster while you wait in the doctor’s office or whatever. The track, is from The Lips’ forthcoming LP, Embryonic and features the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O on backing animal noises. MySpace debuted the video yesterday.
“Julia” is a woozy, late night dance cut for the ages. In fits in well amongst the other eclectic tracks on The Very Best’s (or Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit’s) debut longplayer, Warm Heart of Africa. Here, we have a hyperactive, sped-up version from Brooklyn tropical-crunk production mages 
