Sean Connery: Man Talks and Butt Slaps

Sunset Rubdown do "You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)" @ P4k's Brooklyn Office

This is probably may favorite song of Sunset Rubdown's most recent release, Dragonslayer.

Somewhere In Chicago

Kings Of Leon Do "Use Somebody" On Conan

Per usual, the band sounds excellent. As RAB pointed out to me last night, the drumming is impeccable. I've never really seen the band look this confident/comfortable live before. They've established themselves as a forced to be reckoned with long before now, but they finally seem to be getting comfortable with themselves as live performers, a little looser, a little less tightly wound. Here's to hoping that the newfound confidence translates to something special for the next album.

Trailer: Lemonade

A bit of inspiration for those out there that have recently lost their job or are having one hell of a time finding one.

Donora: I Think I Like You

I realize that there's no shortage of piano-pop-sultry-female-vocal-driven tunes out there, and we're probably past the saturation point, but this is still a pretty fun song. A little duskier, a little dancier. Dig the ocean outro. Grab the song then check the video below.

donora :: i think i like you

Oh dang! This is a new jam for sure.

washed out :: belong

Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT Talks About New Album to NME

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE. Doesn't sound like they're all that close to being finished.

Trailer: The Last Airbender

Looks like M. Night Shyamalan may redeem himself on this one. Some potential.

New Jay-Z Video: "Run This Town" (ft. Rihanna & Kanye)

Video for Jigga's most excellent new song, featuring one of Kanye's best raps in awhile. Miss the old Yeezy.

Jay-Z |MTV Music

Trailer: Youth in Revolt

New Michael Cera movie based off of a pretty well-received book that came out awhile ago. As for the plot, think Fight Club but without the fighting. But more importantly, Michael Cera with a mustache and high-water pants. 'Nuff said.

Trailer: Avater

The Avatar teaser/trailer looks cool/confusing. WATCH IT HERE.

Trailer: The Wolfman

There are some good movies coming out, y'all. Check out this trailer below. Anthony Hopkins looks wired.

Helloooo interwebisphere. Sorry I've been lax on the posts, but I've been doing a bit of traveling around this great country of ours, seeing new places and faces. Also sorry to say that I won't be back to regular posting till September 1st. But for those of you that have stuck with me this long, I thank and love you.

Y'all come back now real soon, ya hear?

RIP Guitar Legend Les Paul

Interview With Jesse Lacey of Brand New

A nice interview HERE with Brand New's frontman about the growth of the band and the new album (Daisy, due out Sept. 22), which I'm hoping is a bit more Deja than Devil, although I have a feeling I'm it's going to sound closer to the latter.

Trailer: It Might Get Loud

The premise of the movie: three guitar legends walk into a room full of amps and guitars. Sold.

New Justin Vernon

My bff Justy has a new side project, working with fellow Wisconsinites Collections of Colonies of Bees, called Choir of Volcanoes. They've given away a free track on the interwebs. It's gorgeous. As p4k points out, Justy's traded in the acoustic guitars for some Four Tet-styled sampling on this one, which is pretty sweet because I love Four Tet. Download it below.

volcano choir :: island, is

Learn How To Speed Read.

It's Always Sunny TV Spot: "Kitten Mittens"

Also, props to the team for using Peter Bjorn and John for the music.

The Truth Behind 5 Monsters That Fooled Me

THE TRUTH BEHIND FIVE MONSTERS THAT FOOLED ME (and maybe you, too).

A Quality Commercial From A Quality Brand

Kewtest Kat Momentz

My favorites are #6 and #3.

Jeff Buckley Biopic??

I've been down in New Orleans for the past few days, and last night I went to the Howlin' Wolf (a super legit venue down here in the Big Easy), where there was a screening of the new Jeff Buckley DVD, Grace Around The World, which consists of live performances of (nearly) every song on Grace in different locations around the world. It was pretty sweet. They also aired some footage of the forthcoming documentary, Amazing Grace, which looked extremely promising as well.

But the real highlight of the night was the Q&A with Jeff Buckley's mother, Mary Guibert, which provided numerous insightful tidbits regarding Jeff and his music, including Mary's favorite of Jeff's songs (a solo cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Wind Cries Mary", which he would play whenever she walked into the room). But the juiciest piece of info came in Mary's response to a question about the possibility of a Buckley biopic.

In response to the question, Mary said that for years she had rejected numerous Hollywood offers and scripts because she did not think Hollywood capable of doing justice to Jeff's legacy. And then Walk The Line and Ray came out, and she started to rethink her justification for rejection. As Mary eventually warmed to the idea, she was still finding herself to be somewhat leery of the capabilities of those proposing scripts and screenplays to her, so she decided to start her own film company, joining up with the people that had a hand in creating Control (the phenomenal biopic on Joy Division singer Ian Curtis) and Finding Neverland (also excellent). And although Mary and her team are in the earliest stages of development (no script, no actors, no nothing), it seems likely that this project will eventually see the light of day.

Any thoughts on who could be picked to play Jeff? I feel like James Franco could pull it off. But then again, I think James Franco can do anything he puts his mind to...so dreamy.

Kings Of Leon Live DVD Confirmed

Back in June, KOL drummer Nathan Followill hinted not so subtly about a forthcoming live DVD being filmed at their London O2 performance. Said DVD now has a release date: September 29. An audio CD of the live performance will accompany it.

Evolution of the squirt gun.

Trailer: New York, I Love You

New York, I Love You is the followup to the Kappy-acclaimed Paris, je t'aime, which was not so much a movie as an anthology of short films, each done by a different director, and featuring a knock-out cast of knowns and unknowns. NYILY follows in the same mold, featuring great directors and great actors, including Rachel Bilson, Bradley Cooper, Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci, Ethan Hawke and Shia LaBeouf, among others. Watch the trailer about the original Brown Bear's city of birth below.

New She & Him Video: "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"

Who knew Joseph Gordon-Levitt was such a good dancer? Channelling a bit of Walken.


Thanks to Thom for the tip.

Where The Wild Things Are Trailer #2

I feel like this movie is going to freak my mind, just like Cris Angel.

@ Yahoo! Video

Fred Armisen

Y'all know I love EVERYTHING Fred Armisen does.

Intervention Intervention with Fred Armisen from Fred Armisen

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I couldn't even type a title because I was so excited/pissed.

Excited :: Mac, Charlie, Dennis, Sweet D, and Frank will be taking Charlie's magna opus The Nightman Cometh on the road. That's right. Live show. The whole gang. Nightman. Getting inside the boy's hole.

Pissed :: not coming to Chicago.

MORE INFO HERE.

Happy Birthday Elliott Smith

He would have been 40 years old today.

R.I.P. John Hughes

You know who he is whether or not you realize it. Short list of some personal faves below.

National Lampoon's Vacation (European & Christmas)

Sixteen Candles

Breakfast Club

Weird Science

Pretty In Pink

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Great Outdoors

Uncle Buck

Home Alone (1 & 2)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

p.s. Without Ferris Bueller, this bit of comedy gold would have escaped me.

Rural Alberta Advantage: "Rush Apart"

Port O'Brien meets Deer Tick.

rural alberta advantage :: rush apart

Bon Iver: For Emma (a cappella)

Toro Y Moi Covers Michael Jackson

toro y moi :: human nature (mj cover)

Monkeys On Fallon

Some Lovely Lo-Fi

"Lo-fi" has been sort of the indie-scene buzzword of the past few blogoseconds, and I sort of hate it. Lots of times it seems to denote nothing more than a lack of musical complexity, poor production value, and painfully shallow lyrics (see Wavves) rather than an overarching "sound aesthetic." But there are a couple bands/songs out there that due justice to the genre (if lo-fi is even a genre), such as the Smith Westerns.

And these two songs by these two bands.

ganglians :: cryin' smoke

nurses :: man at arms

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

Read about these cats in the latest Rolling Stone, and when I sampled I realized I had heard the song from the video below ("Home") just the other day on NPR's All Songs Considered. The band is led by Alex Ebert, the former frontman of the now defunct band IMA ROBOT (sidenote: it was at their concert that I met a young baby goose a.k.a. Ryan Gosling), although the sound is pretty far from Ebert's old gig. Sounds sort of like some Devendra Banhart-fronted Arcade Fire/Mamas & Papas family band? I don't know. Feels 60s commune-ish. Most reviews have found the album a little flat, but I like what I've heard so far, especially the song "Home," which sounds like a big band take on a She & Him tune.

Amazon Daily Deal: Julian Plenti Is...Skyscraper

Interpol frontman's solo debut is going for a few bucks over at Amazon. Recommended if you like Interpol (duh). Check it HERE.

New Modest Mouse Video: "King Rat" (directed by Heath Ledger)

This song has been floating around since about Modest Mouse's last album, but is set to appear on the new catch-all album No One's First, And You're Next, a comp of unreleased, b-sides, and rarities from the past decade. It gets the video treatment, courtesy of Heath Ledger and The Masses, a film/music company in which Heath was a partner.

The message seems pretty clear: whaling is bad.

Vinyl Alert: Air France limited pressing

Acephale Records is releasing Air France's first two (amazing) EP (On Trade Winds/No Way Down) on double 10" vinyl. Only 500 copies will be available with NO REPRESSINGS.

Pre-order here.

Blitzen Trapper: "Black River Killer"

BT is giving away this mp3 in the hopes that you'll buy the full EP that accompanies it (which comes with some extra tracks that were not on Furr). I posted the video a bit ago, but the song is too good to not to repost.

blitzen trapper :: black river killer

New Zach Condon/Beirut Instrumental Track: "The 11th Arrondissement"

Zach and Perrin Cloutier (both of the band Beirut) contributed this instrumental track to the soundtrack for upcoming Michael Cera meta-flick Paper Heart. It's short, but quite beautiful. You can stream it OVER HERE. You can also learn about the real 11th Arrondissement of Paris, which is also quite beautiful (yeah, I've been there before...no big deal), OVER HERE.

Back From The Dead

Sorry for the absence, y'all. I was in a dark place. I was like Frodo, trying to destroy the one ring in the fires of Mount Doom in the depths and the gloom of Mordor. For realz. But I'm back, and will be once again throwing news and music in yo collective faces.