Last night, a well-dressed Mos Def, The Black Keys, , and Harlem rapper Jim Jones played for the Late Show With David Letterman. The BlakRoc collective performed a smoothly psychedelic rendition of the song, “Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo).” Just like on the self-titled BlakRoc LP, the collaboration is pretty chill, nondescript, and to the point. Check out the star-studded clip above. As an added bonus: Check out Mos Def’s “Supermagic.” (Via Prefix.)
Malachai
“Fading World” MP3
Dec 09, 2009
The Bristol dub-pop duo of Gee (vocals) and Scott (music) recently changed their band’s name from Malakai to Malachai. To go along with that slight name rejiggering, the band’s debut LP, Ugly Side of Love, is postponed until February 2nd. Above you can download the single “Fading World.” The track has a ‘60s flower power vibe as seen through the lens of old school rap and dancehall. According to Gee, it was written after watching a news report on Hurricane Katrina. “I suppose I was taken aback by just how much at the mercy of the elements we are, but mostly at the plums who run things and where their priorities lay, ” says the Bristol vocalist in a press release. The North American version of Ugly Side of Love is coming out on Domino but earlier this year Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow released it on his own Invada imprint. We interviewed Malachai for Issue #25.b
Jawbox‘s anticipated one-off show on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon finally went down last night. It was the grunge/post-hardcore quartet’s first live appearance since 1997. The extra-special meet-up was to promote the recent reissue of their seminal 1994 LP, For Your Own Special Sweetheart. This extremely short reunion gig surely makes all the Jawbox fans teary-eyed: the group broke up shortly after Sweetheart‘s follow-up, ‘96’s Jawbox. Thankfully, the Washington, D.C. band also performed two more classic cuts.
During the band’s rehearsal, they did live takes of Sweetheart‘s incendiary “FF=66” and non-albun track, “68.” The latter was originally released on the “Savory” single. Footage of the extra songs can be seen here. Man, Jimmy gets all the cool musical guests!
Electropop fivesome Passion Pit stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform two songs from their debut, Manners. They played through “The Reeling,” and current single “Little Secrets.” Watch the latter above. Sadly, Michael Angelakos’ vocals are a tad low. He’s getting slightly less awkward as a live frontman after deciding to step out from behind his keyboard earlier this year. Anyhow, last night’s performance was much better than the young band’s late night TV debut on Jimmy Fallon. And yes, the band is pretty much touring non-stop (except for the holidays of course).
The Swedish blog PSL jumps in on the one-off performance video trend with this in-studio clip. Victoria Bergsman’s Taken By Trees band perform “Anna” from this year’s excellent Rough Trade full-length, East of Eden. Here, she’s not vocally accompanied by Noah Lennox (Animal Collective, Panda Bear) but it still sounds beautiful. Check out the studio version at the link above. We interviewed Ms. Bergsman for our Fall issue. (Via P4k.)
Disneyland’s Mainstreet Electrical Parade gets a serious dubstep/funk makeover in this ‘90s camcorder-quality clip for Joy Orbison‘s “BRKLN CLLN.” Those lights have never been trippier. Ahh, the beauty of Web 2.0! Also, be sure to check out Joy O’s excellent remix of Four Tet‘s “Love Cry.” (Via Fader.)
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
“There Ain’t No Chimneys In the Projects” MP3
Dec 08, 2009
When Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings bust out a Christmas song you can hear the difference in quality. “There Ain’t No Chimneys In the Projects” came out today on vinyl via Daptone. It’s also being given away for free as a download.
“There Ain’t No Chimneys” was written by Ms. Jones, and recounts her childhood in the Brooklyn projects, pondering how Mr. Claus was going to get presents to her. Thankfully, caring Jones’ mother thought up a magical solution. The holiday tune features the always soulful Dap-Kings as well as strings from the Bushwick Philharmonic. It’s funky soul shines as bright as freshly fallen snow.
The 7-inch is out now but Daptone is also giving the whole 45 away for free (in mp3 format). The flipside of the release features Dap King guitarist/emcee Binky Griptite. His instrumental piece, entitled “Holiday Breakdown,” promotes a seasonal message of “togetherness and tolerance.”
Here’s a very lo-fi, and slightly frightening video for Times New Viking‘s “Born Again Revisited.” It’s the title track to this year’s Matador album. The Columbus, Ohio band sure knows how to coax out such pretty melodies out of hazy dins. The clip was directed by Pelham Johnston and Brandon Reichard. (Via MBV.)
The Bristol dub-pop duo of Gee (vocals) and Scott (music) recently changed their band’s name from 
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