be set free

A little Langhorne love this morning:

Zach Galifianakis and Will Oldham - Can't Tell Me Nothin'

Via KanyeWest.com: In another brilliant move by Kanye West to garner indie blog attention, he has commissioned funnyman Zach Galifianakis and folkster Will Oldham to redo his music video for "Can't Tell Me Nothin'." The original video and single was catching a lot of flak, because, well they both kind of suck. This video parodies the seriousness of the song, and seeing Kanye's more lighthearted side makes me like the single more. Even though he doesn't appear in the video, I've read that the spoof was his idea. Check it out for yourself here at KanyeWest.com. It's worth the couple minutes especially for fans of Zach's. If you watch you can catch Will cracking up in the silhouette shots.

Bright Eyes Animations

Via saddlecreek.com: Polydor Records has commissioned 5 animators to make short videos for songs off of Bright Eyes' latest release Cassadaga. The songs are "I Must Belong Somewhere," "Clairaudients," "Lime Tree," "No One Would Riot For Less," and "Soul Singer in a Session Band." So far I've only seen the "I Must Belong Somewhere" one and it's pretty cool. Check out the story and links to all the videos here at DigitalArts.

Decemberists - Los Angeles I'm Yours (w/ L.A. Phil)

YouTube's best sounding clip of The Decemberists performing with the LA Philharmonic last Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl. This song is pretty cool and the orchestra add a lot of oomph to it. I'm excited to see Bright Eyes perform with them as well later this summer. Check out this Playlist that someone set up on YouTube to view most of the songs from this show.

YouTube Evidence: Avril Lavigne Steals

Via Ms. Lisa Kelley: Avril Lavigne is being sued by the 70's pop group The Rubinoos for allegedly stealing their hook for the song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" - and this YouTube video is blatant proof. Her representatives at Nettwerk Music Group are denying all claims of copyright infringement - but reports are saying they'll probably end up settling anyways. According to the Billboard article, Lavigne's manager Terry McBride says, "Our musicologist says there is no similarities of melody, choral progression or meter." Check it out for yourself...yikes!

July Mix - 1. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

There's a lot of pressure in selecting the opening track to an Opening Track themed mix tape. So I went the safe route and chose the most obvious song for the spot. For anyone in my generation "Smells Like Teen Spirit" should be a little special. Even if you don't like the song - you still have to respect what it did for pop music. Now I know the sounds of Teen Spirit had been heard before this song came out, but never by such a wide audience. Having heard a couple people in the music industry recount their stories of exactly where they were when they first heard this song on the radio makes it even more seminal to me. Anyways, you've heard it all before - so here's the music video:

Bright Eyes and the State of the Nation: MTV Video

On MTV.com right now, they are running an MTV News special on Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. The video is actually pretty cool, with John Norris interviewing Oberst about politics, songwriting, and the future. Well worth the five minutes to watch it. You can check it out here. It even features some vintage video and sound clips (albeit very short) of the pre-'MTV gives a shit' days of Bright Eyes.

New Rilo Kiley Video - The Moneymaker

I know everyone else is reporting on this video this morning, but I couldn't resist putting in my own two cents. Everything about this story is really slick, except for maybe the actual song. Warner Bros. Records' concept behind the whole marketing scheme is pretty cool. The idea of creating a faux porn site to "release" the new video, making the viewer sift through almost 10 minutes of porn-star interviews and then the actual video are all kind of a neat, um, package - but it still doesn't make the song any better. I have to commend Rilo Kiley for trying out something different - their last three or so albums have all been made up of the same aural palette. I just wish that this "different sound" was good, because I really like this band. I guess the fact that I keep waiting for Jenny to bust into the BeeGees' "Stayin Alive" at every chorus might have something to do with it. Check it out for youself by clicking here... you can actually skip through the interviews by sliding the little green thing about 5/7's of the way through.

Coming Attractions: The DeathSet

The DeathSet is another awesome punk duo that I've been getting into lately. They run around with Best Fwends, Dan Deacon, Japanther, No Age, and are one of the bands getting attention from promoter extraordinaire Todd P. They play a guitar frenzy to preprogrammed iPod beats, and before you know it the song is over. The part about this duo that I really latch onto, is that amongst all of this racket and noise that they are creating, the songs remain very pop-sensitive. All it took was one listen to their song "Paranoia"'s chorus and I was wide-eyed. They're set to come to town to play The Smell with Baltimore friends Ponytail on Friday July 6th. Here's a video shot for the song "Negative Thinking" off their new 7''.
And check out the song Paranoia from one of their older EP's To:

June Mix - 13. The Allman Brothers Band - Blue Sky

This song has been part of my consciousness since I can remember. Everything from the guitar tone, to the key it's in, to Dickey Betts' down on the farm vocals makes this song perfect for driving around in nice weather with the windows open. The song comes off of The Allmans' Eat A Peach LP and was the first song that Betts ever sang lead on. A cool FYI about the bridge solo in the song is that Betts and Duane Allman both play it. If you listen closely you can hear the switch about halfway through the solo @ the 2:30 mark of the song. The two guitarists sync up on a riff - signaling the trade-off. Here's a video of the ABB doing it live in 1981, except without Duane unfortunately. Check out that dude in the red pants playing tambourine!

The Polyphonic Spree - Lithium

A video of The Polyphonic Spree doing a Nirvana cover from their homecoming Dallas show the other night. I love this song, and it's a good choice for them - I just wish they would have made it their own and put a little more of a twist on it. But those shows look like a lot of fun. This makes me want to go buy tickets for their L.A. date.

New Kanye Video - Stronger

Kanye West has released his second video already from the forthcoming album, Graduation - and it's not a minute too soon after how poorly the first single was received. This time around Kanye and director Hype Williams approach the Daft Punk-sampled song with robots and Japanese subtitles (instead of over-glamorized shots of Kanye in the desert.) With such lofty expectations placed on Ye's shoulders for this song, a lot of people are starting to voice their disappointment for the song and the new album in general. I like this song. Yeah, the Daft sample probably could have been used a tad more creatively, but overall I think the song shows the classic Kanye flow and as always - an interesting beat.

New Bright Eyes Video: Hot Knives

Bright Eyes has released a new video today for the song "Hot Knives." To be honest, I'm rather surprised at this choice for the second single off Cassadaga. This is one of the weaker songs off the album, and I'm even more surprised to read that Stereogum is calling it a "standout." I guess then it's fitting that the video is kind of lame as well. I'm never a big fan of videos that only feature live footage of the band playing the song - the format seems to allow for so much more creativity (see my post below about the Bats For Lashes video if you want to see a visual concept.) I've really been trying hard to like this new album - and there are definitely some great tracks on it - but I don't think this is one of them. I'm still really pumped for the Hollywood Bowl show and I hope to god he pulls out some back catalog with that symphony. Oh well, you can check out the video for yourself:

New Bat For Lashes Video - What's A Girl To Do

The concept behind this video is the reason why music videos are still worth doing. It's a simple idea, and it's pulled off extraordinarily. I might also be impartial to the Donnie Darko influences as well as the "all-in-one-shot" concept. It keeps the viewer (i.e. me) captivated, instead of breaking the moment with an edit. I don't really know a lot about British songwriter Natasha Khan AKA Bat For Lashes, but from what I've read she's praised by the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Devendra Banhart and Thom Yorke. Everything I've heard from her is kind of a mishmash of retro style and feeling with modern instrumentation. The video is directed by Dougal Wilson and it's for the upcoming single called "What's a Girl to Do."

On Repeat: Best Fwends

I stumbled upon Austin Duo Best Fwends through some MySpace Top 8 band surfing and couldn't stop listening to them. I'm not sure if it's the quick, catchy synth leads, or the half-retarded lyrical content - but it's probably someplace where the two meet that make this band so irresistible. Their latest release, Alphabetically Arranged runs 29 tracks long with the longest track under three minutes. They bring to mind an even more lo-fi sound than Gil Mantera with even tighter wound hooks. Check out this song called "Skate or Live":

Also, check out this Bacardi ad you may have already seen and heard that features Best Fwends:

New Menomena Video - Rotten Hell

The Portland trio are back in the news again with a brand new video for the song "Rotten Hell" off of the Barsuk release Friend and Foe. This is a really great video with these kids having the times of their lives. Stereogum referred to it as "'300' with kids and food instead of pecs and quads." I thought this an odd choice for a single off the new record, but every song really is a standout in its own way, so it must have been a tough decision on what to pick. It does fit the concept of the video, so that might have had more to do with it.

Artist Spotlight: Ghosthustler

Denton Texas' Ghosthustler packs a punch - literally in their new video for the song "Parking Lot Nights", with a Powerglove nonetheless. This unsigned electronic trio play danceable vocoder fueled laptop rock. They're a GvB favorite, and have a couple higher profile shows coming up with the likes of Parts and Labor and Faux Fox. They've recently been in the news for their brand new aforementioned Pete Ohs (of Ohio fame) directed video. You can check out some of their other songs at MySpace. Pretty cool:

June Mix - 8. Presidents of the U.S.A. - Peaches

Released in the summer of 1995, Presidents of the Unites States of America's self-titled debut confused me. "Are these guys supposed to be a joke? Why are they singing about fruit?" - my 5th grade mind asked. But turned out, rock music can indeed be silly and fun, and fun these guys are. "Peaches" is clearly the standout track (at least of the three that I can remember.) The pretty opening melody line and slide guitar work their way into a flannel shirt swaying chorus and the underlying fruit theme make this song a perfect opener to Side B. I can remember humming this song to myself while riding my bike en route to a rousing game of mush ball. Thanks to Katy for the reminder. Check out the video for it complete with Kung Fu fight sequence:

Streaming Live Video of Bonnaroo 2007

Click HERE to see a live video stream of a ton of the acts going on down in Tennessee for this year's Bonnaroo. Maybe you'll even catch a cameo by Naked Guy. Here's the schedule of which bands AT&T will be streaming:

June 15th Lineup
12:30 PM Uncle Earl
01:15 PM Cold War Kids
02:15 PM Brazilian Girls
03:45 PM Kings of Leon
05:00 PM Paolo Nutini
06:15 PM Gillian Welch
07:45 PM The Nightwatchman
09:00 PM Lilly Allen
10:00 PM The Roots

June 16th Lineup
12:45 PM Old Crow Medicine Show
01:45 PM Spearhead
02:15 PM Regina Spektor
03:30 PM The Black Keys
04:15 PM Damien Rice
05:45 PM Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
07:45 PM The Hold Steady
08:15 PM Mago: Billy Martin & John Medeski
09:45 PM TBA
10:15 PM String Cheese Incident

June 17th Lineup
12:30 PM Robert Glasper Trio
01:00 PM John Butler Trio
02:00 PM The Flaming Lips
03:00 PM Bob Weir & Ratdog
04:30 PM Wolfmother
05:30 PM Wilco
07:15 PM The White Stripes
08:45 PM Widespread Panic

Dan Deacon - Best Show of the Summer?

I hope that I'm not building this show up to something that it can't possibly live up to, but I haven't been this excited to see someone perform in years. Dan Deacon is coming through L.A. this weekend at the pinnacle of his hype machine (I've read countless arguments of genius vs. retard) - and videos like this one back up the claim of genius. Known more for his live performances and crowd participation than his actual recordings, the Deacon live show has been built up as one of those, "yeah I was there" type moments. I've seen all the pictures, all the videos, and read all the reviews, and tomorrow it's finally time to get drunk and dance with this guy. This video is crappy quality but it's the most recent one I could find that showcases not only how fun this is going to be, but also how incredibly bad some people are at dancing. And the best part about it- no one seems to care.