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Kick out some sad bastard jams today at EMusic.

VIdeo: Miss Piggy Sings Peaches' "Fuck The Pain Away"

I like parody YouTube clips as much as the next guy, but this is some next-level shit.

Blog Friday

If you don't have a good set of earbuds -- by which I mean if you're still using the ones that came with your iPod -- let me recommend the Etytomic ER-6i's, which are $50 on Amazon right now. They've served me well and believe me, they'll make a big difference.

"LOST" Season 5 Trailer

AGHHHHHHHH!

Video: Hold Steady - "Killer Parties," 11.25.08

On the last night of the epic, opposite-of-disappointing Rock And Roll Means Well tour, the Hold Steady and the Drive-By Truckers closed out the extravaganza with "Killer Parties." It was glorious. I was there. And thanks to YouTube, you can be too -- most of the show is here. File firmly under: things I'm giving thanks for this year. See you next week, folks, and have a happy holiday.

Video: Pas/Cal - "Summer Is Almost Here"

Is Casimer wearing a corduroy peacoat on the beach in this video? God, I love this band. (Apologies for this blog turning into Bespectacled Peacoat Popsters this week.)

Previously: First Look: Pas/Cat - "I Was Raised On Matthew, Mark, Luke and Laura"

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Click below for more Videos.

First Look: Dent May - "The Good Feeling Music Of Dent May & His Magnficent Ukelele"

2009 is here and I still have 20+ albums to listen to before I make my 2008 list! Argh! Anyway, Dent May is a Jens Lekman fan if I've ever heard one. His mostly lovable debut album, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and His Magnificent Ukelele, is full of silly, strummy, self-deprecating odes to foreign cities, drinking and beautiful women crooned in Dent's best affected accent. Unlike his idol, though, Dent has some trouble striking the delicate balance between humor and profundity that has served Jens so well, leaving some of the songs more mocking than Magnificent -- but it should more than hold us over until Our Man In Sweden makes his triumphant return.

Dent May - "Meet Me In The Garden": mp3

(The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and His Magnificent Ukelele is due February 3, 2009, on Paw Tracks)

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Looking for new music? Click below for more recent and upcoming 2008 releases, or visit our MP3-filled 2009 Album Release Calendar.

If Barack Obama Can Win The Presidency Of The USA,

Then surely you hard-Rawkers can elect The Rawking Refuses To Stop! in Stereogum's Gummy Awards. Let's get out the vote, people -- apparently I Guess I'm Floating and I Am Fuel, You Are Friends already got some warm 'n fuzzy e-mails from the 'Gum crew saying they're off to early leads. I'd like to feel warm 'n fuzzy too, but remember, this election has never been about me -- it's about you.

Vote: The Gummy Awards

Live: Jon Brion @ Largo at the Coronet, 11.22.08

Last night's gig was my first time seeing Jon Brion in his new house since the move from Fairfax, and sure enough, he was right at home. After his final two shows at Largo The First brought my JB concert tally up to six back in April, I figured we both needed a vacation, and he certainly returned well-rested. [Continue reading...]

He invited the audience to join him on two sing-alongs, one incredible (Bowie's "Space Oddity") and one "Democratic" as Jon jovially cut us off halfway when we flubbed the words to "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." He was in good spirits throughout, pounding through a '70s cock-rock block highlighted by a Kraftwerk-y take on "Hot Blooded," a straightforward renditoin of "the good part of 'Layla,'" and a jog to the aging Largo piano for athletic versions of his own "Trouble" and "Ruin My Day." The "Space Oddity" cover, punctuated by Jon's rocketing guitar work, was the set's best moment, but better still was seeing that the restless musician didn't lose anything in the moving van.

(Jon Brion photo by John Vanderslice)

Previously: Aimee Mann at Largo at the Coronet, 6.10.08
Previously: New Music: Jon Brion - "Croatia"
More In: Jon Brion | Concert Photos

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Click below for more new Concert Photos and reviews or visit the Archive.

Hear Kanye West's "808s & Heartbreak"

Go stream it. I could do without some of the sillier shit ("Robocop's" absurd Stephen King references and the Dido-ready strings [Jon Brion's lingering influence?]) but dude's take on New Age dystopia is surprisingly, well, heartbreaking. Jam City, Yeezy's the mayor, etc. etc. "Paranoid" and "Love Lockdown" are the obvious bangers, but even through the Autotune, it's hard to ignore the hooks on "Street Lights" and beyond.

Listwatch 2008: Paste's Top 50

It begins! Paste's year-end top 50 is typically, well, Paste-y -- the No. 1 spot goes to She & Him (an upset pick, but not an unexpected one) and strummy, folky fellas like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes placed top 10. Vampire Weekend was high as well, as it's likely to be on every list this year. So let's pick out a few of the surprises after the jump. [Continue reading...]

2. Sigur Rós - Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust
This is a nice catalog record from a consistently great act, but, uh, what?

7. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
I'd say I know the magazine's taste pretty well, and it's a little awkward to see a record like this -- and also two Santogold albums, Jesus -- shoehorned in to fill up the trendy/dance music quotient. A top 10 pick for this smacks of career Oscar; dude's last record was hipper, and better. (And won't be anywhere near my list.) And Hot Chip but no Cut Copy? Sheesh.

19. Gentleman Jesse and His Men - Introducing Gentleman Jesse and His Men
Admittedly it's rare that I'm early on the cool-hunt, so I'm glad that Gentleman Jesse has caught fire since my July post -- the band has picked up deserved nods in Gorilla Vs. Bear, Pitchfork and now Paste.

22 No Age - Nouns
See No. 7. Glad Gentleman Jesse beat them but depressed not to see my boy Chad VanGaalen on here or Women's s/t debut, a much better record than Nouns with all of the noise and none of the hype.

47. Laura Marling - Alas, I Cannot Swim
Props! Not a surprise, really, just a great, great album that's likely to go unnoticed elsewhere. The female singer-songwriter contingent was particularly strong this year, but Paste passed over Rawkblog faves Leona Naess and White Hinterland for that Lykke Li bullshit. Oh well.

50. TV on the Radio - Dear Science,
Dear Brooklyn: Paste hates you.

??. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology
Did he really not make the list? A year after scoring a cover story for a weaker album? For shame, fellas.

The full list is here... what do you think? More to come, I'm sure.

First Look: Leona Naess - "Thirteens"

Note: Google/Blogger decided to delete my original post and not e-mail me about it, apparently. Here it is again sans MP3.

The legacy of Lilith Fair, much like the remnants of grunge (now billed as "flyover rock "), is a disappointing one. The grunge-infused feminist folk-rock of the mid-90s sounds dated, same-y and trapped in a four-chord box in 2008; its daughters are wafer-thin pop props like Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton or worse, Miley Cyrus. Hardly examples for America's insecure youth. But there's some hope in the new generation of kinda-rockin' female singer-songwriters -- Feist is the obvious bright light, and fresh-faced strummers such as Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles are bridging the gap between art and charts. [Continue reading...]

Better than all of them is Thirteens , an unexpected gem from New York songwriter (and Ryan Adams sometime-collaborator) Leona Naess. She arrived to the embers of the Lilith scene in 2000 with Comatised , an album complete with an angsty '90s cover and a similarly grrrrly first single, "Charm Attack." But she was late to the party, and the next wave of prettier, poppier young things quickly paved her over -- until now. Thirteens , her first album in five years and fourth over all, is a wise, beautiful record that moves with the ease and comfort of an old friend -- a collection of understated folk-pop gems that occasional erupt into speaker-pushing choruses but never reach for the radio.

Not that this isn't a pop album for everybody -- it should be handed to every 14-year-old girl in America on the first day of freshman year, and their brothers, too. Neither empty empowerment anthems nor heartbreak hotel ballads, these songs deserve to soundtrack girls-night film montages and romantic walks through leaf-strewn parks for years to come. The songs are admittedly complex; there's a tenderness and delicacy to a song like "Not the Same Girl" that will keep it off the dial, and maybe even out of Starbucks. The track finds Leona singing about the cynicsm of aging with lines such as "You're not the same girl who has butterflies and believes them," but it's sung with more nostalgia then regret, and soon she changes the subject to "we."

On Thirteens, Naess is that rare songwriter who realizes her experience should be a window, not a mirror -- she often begins with a personal narrative before addressing the listener, or better, that all-inclusive "we." In a way, she reminds me of Elliott Smith; I can think of no higher compliment. Her songs are neither self-help mantras or solipsistic navel-gazing; they're simply a set of sisterly storytelling. "Lipstick" is a Feist-y jazz-chord runaround that finds her in a "dress that shows my legs," making some former lover "run around like a fool." "I walk into the room, talk to everyone but you," she winks, admitting "I know I'm acting like a little girl." The album's finest moment is "Leave Your Boyfriends," a track which culminates in a chorus of men and women chanting, "So let's go out late, drink a lot, stay up past 8 and then dance, dance all night / leave our boyfriends behind / leave your girlfriend behind." It's an ode to joy and possibility, even with its undercurrent of escapist pain -- a singalong for adults with a lesson for all ages. Thirteens is full of them.

Learn To Love: Magritte

Happy 110th, fella.

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Learn To Love: An introduction to awesome. Every Friday. Click below for more.

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

Boys becoming men. Men becoming wolves.

Deeper Into Movies: The Flaming Lips' "Christmas On Mars" (2008)

The Flaming Lips at All Tomorrow's Parties 2004 / photo by David Greenwald

Say what you will about the Flaming Lips, there's no denying that the greying Oklahoma City act is one of rock's most colorful bands. They've written songs about pink robots, giraffes and Superman; they released an album, Zaireeka, as a set of four discs meant to be played simultaneously; and live, frontman/madman Wayne Coyne routinely walks over and onto the heads of their audiences, Jesus-like, in a giant plastic bubble. On the way into the L.A. premiere of the band's long-awaited film debut, Christmas On Mars, I couldn't help noticing the lengthy line of earnest fans dressed in Santa costumes and Halloween leftovers and feel my Grinchy critic's heart grow two sizes. It grew larger yet after I downed a Belvedere cocktail and chewed through half a bag of complimentary popcorn as the Lips' underrated At War With The Mystics reverberated through the Montalban Theater. But then the film started. [Continue reading...]

Christmas On Mars is, in many ways, an outright rejection of everything that makes the Flaming Lips great. A drudging, laconic narrative of on-edge astronauts celebrating a Martian Christmas Eve with an alien visiter (Coyne, of course, complete with antennae) filmed almost entirely in grainy black-and-white, the film eschews the band's psychadelic sci-fi bent for, well, close-ups of dudes talking. About being on the space station. And worse, walking around the space station. Then talking some more. With its faux-vintage cinematography, it hints at bad b-movie homage, but there's so little to Christmas that even the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew would have trouble adding a laugh track. It's boring, an adjective that the critical lexicon has likely never before applied to Wayne's weird worlds.

The film does have some scattered moments of inspiration. Coyne the Alien -- a sort of interstellar Joe the Plumber -- opens the film by popping a glowing bubble out his mouth, which promptly expands to human height, sucks him in and zooms off into a vagina nebula. You read that right. The film -- so really, writer/director Wayne -- is fascinated by female genitalia; at one point, an astronaut envisions a vagina-headed marching band. It's horrifying, which is at least better than boring.

To call the film a fans-only project even feels like a stretch; though the premiere's Santa-hat-clad attendees shouted out "Acid!" and "Vagina!" with the energy of a Rocky Horror crowd, it's hard to imagine them weeks from now, sans Belvedere, turning to each other and saying, "Bro, you know what I wanna watch right now? Christmas On Mars!" On the bright side, we got to drink and shout "vagina" with the Flaming Lips. If only you could buy that on DVD.

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Deeper into Movies is a Yo La Tengo song and on this blog, a film review column. Click below for more.

The Week In Rawk, 11.16.08:

Jamz: Learn To Love Ben Folds Five; hear a solo piano take on Jon Brion's "Ruin My Day".

News: The Pipettes become a parallel universe Destiny's Child after losing another member; Danger Mouse and James "Shins" Mercer bro down at the Christmas on Mars premiere; Fleet Foxes play a Take Away Show worth taking home.

Film & TV: The new Watchmen trailer is ridiculous.

(Ben Folds photo by David Greenwald)

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The Week in Rawk: Last week's greatest hits. Click below for more.

Ryan Adams' "Elizabethtown Sessions" Leak

You'll have to find this one on your own, obviously, but five songs in, Ryan Adams' Elizabethtown Sessions already sound better than Cardinology. Considering that the 18-track set -- recorded for the titular film and as yet unreleased -- is likely to stay locked in the Lost Highway vaults forever with Suicide Handbook and 48 Hours, I don't think it's unethical to tell you to click over to Google while you can.

Previously: Preview: Ryan Adams - Cardinology

Learn To Love: Ben Folds Five

In honor of Mr. Ben Folds playing in Los Angeles tonight -- which will, unfathomably, be my first time seeing him proper, not counting a quickie gig he did at the Virgin Megastore a few years back -- we have the second installment of Learn To Love.

Ben Folds Five seem horribly under-appreciated these days, perhaps thanks to the ubiquity and one-hit-wonderishness of "Brick," but they're so much more than that. Billing themselves as players of "punk for sissies," Ben Folds Five were a relative anomaly in '90s indie rock, matching the era's teen angst against '60s pop harmonies and musical chops on the level of previous piano men like Elton John and Billy Joel (but so much more gloriously unhinged). Over three albums and a b-sides & rarities collection, their songs ranged from ironic anthems ("Underground," the best ever song about being a hipster/loser/whatever) to thoughtful ballads ("Don't Change Your Plans"), from bass-heavy to Bacharach-tinged. They were my first favorite band; I love them dearly, and I hope you will too.

(Ben Folds Official Site)

Previously: Learn to Love: Beulah
Previously: Video: Ben Folds Five Reunion - "Don't Change Your Plans"

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Learn To Love: An introduction to awesome. Every Friday. Click below for more.

Video: New "Watchmen" Trailer

Holy.

Shit.

Can We Call A Moratorium On Hip-Hop Christmas Songs

Judging by the above Gap ad and my last trip to Coffee Bean, they're always a bad idea. Feel free to prove me wrong in the comments. Can J. Crew do one of these commercials with actual celebrities?

The Pipettes Are Now Destiny's Child

Indie rockers of a certain age will remember when Destiny's Child quietly removed the two members who weren't related to Beyonce Knowles and snapped up Michelle Williams, going from a quartet to a trio. Girl-group heart-stealers the Pipettes are in a similar boat, as Rosay and RiotBecki (pictured at right, left) dropped out earlier this year and remaining member Gwenno (center) brought in her sister, Ani, and obvious ringer Anna McDonald. It was announced today that Anna is leaving, too -- making the Pipettes the Gwenno Show, for better or worse. Guess if we liked it, we should've put a ring on it.

Previously: Live: The Pipettes, 10.25.07

More Jamz For Fall From VanGaalen, Shugo And More

Refinery 29 has a sick fall MP3 playlist for you featuring Rawkblog favorites from Chad VanGaalen (pictured), Morgan Geist, Shugo Tokumaru and more. Check it out. [Via Gorilla Vs. Bear]

Chad VanGaalen - "Molten Light": mp3

And while you're at it, don't miss our own list of the best fall albums.

Danger Mouse and The Shins' James Mercer: Bros!

Spotted these guys walk in and sit together in the VIP balcony, complete with matching beards, at the Los Angeles premiere of the Flaming Lips' cinematic opus Christmas On Mars last night. Reasonably sure they were right next to Shirley Manson, too. Given the hi-fi, watery quality of the production on the Shins' last album, Danger Mouse might be a good fit for their next effort, which reportedly will likely be self-released. Update: According to Variety, of all places, these guys have been hanging since June.

Review of Christmas On Mars on the way. Spoiler: Wayne Coyne loves vaginas!

The Shins - "Phantom Limb": mp3

(James Mercer photo by David Greenwald)

I'm Glad Johnny Marr Is Still Cooler Than Vampire Weekend

At least according to The NME, who placed the former Smiths and current Modest Mouse guitarist at #15 on their 2008 "Cool List" -- V-Dubs' Ezra Koenig was #16, and neither is apparently as cool as Lil Wayne. I guess that's OK with me. Stereogum has the full list.

They've also got the Rolling Stone top 100 singers (embarrassing) and the Pitchfork 500 (right artists, wrong songs; misguided reactionism is the new ahead of the curve, apparently) in case you need 40-year-virgins rock critics to tell you what to listen to these days. (I know, I know, someday I too will be an aging writer with a post-punk axe to grind. Hold me tight.)

Video: Fleet Foxes - Take-Away Show

No band has sounded this good in so much reverb since My Morning Jacket circa At Dawn. It's a typically great Take Away Show video from Vincent Moon, but it's the performance that reminds me of why Fleet Foxes is the year's best debut -- and damn near the year's best album.

Video: The Acorn - "Crooked Legs"

My camera, light-devouring, ISO-hungry beast that it is, refused to play nice at the Acorn's Oct. 24 Spaceland show. But luckily you can get more than a taste of the band's invigorating folk thanks to the LaundroMatinee, who just captured four songs from the Ottawa act. As on their recordings, the Acorn play with clean, well-woven arrangements, becoming more forceful live without dirtying their songwriting. The songs of their debut, Glory Hope Mountain, thump and step in South American rhythms (and the story of singer Rolf Klausener's mother, Gloria Montanya Esperanza) even as their melodies soar in Bono-esque ascent. Glory Hope Mountain beat out Iron & Wine's percussion-minded The Shepherd's Dog on last year's albums list; the precocious Acorn are not quite there yet live, but as you can see, they're well on their way.

The Acorn - "Crooked Legs": mp3

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Click below for more Videos.

Today In LA: Jon Brion @ UCLAradio.com

MySpacin', soundtrackin' madman Jon Brion is Laura Katz's guest today on Automatic Stapler on UCLAradio.com from 4-6pm PST -- presumably he'll be kicking out a rare set of solo jams. Much like this one below. Don't miss it!

Jon Brion - "Ruin My Day" (live, solo piano): mp3

Hear Jon live on UCLAradio.com.

"Lost" returns Jan. 21, 2009, with two episodes

Everybody's (OK, my) favorite zany sci-fi show will return on Jan. 21, EW.com reports. Counting the days till more Sayid!

Previously: Kicking Television: LOST

New Music: Loney Dear - "Airport Surroundings"

Loney Dear (formerly Loney, Dear), one of my favorite folkies of the last few years, just announced a new album due Jan. 27 on Polyvinyl called Dear John. First single "Airport Surroundings" is a little more TV on the Radio than Sufjan, but the Swede's sweet latest is still a jam for Brooklyn and beyond. Emil's last record, Loney, Noir, was my No. 10 of 2007, so surely he's aiming higher in 2009.

Note: Busy week at work -- Learn To Love will be back next week. Send in your suggestions to rawkblog at gmail dot com.

Happy Birthday, Ryan Adams!

Today just keeps getting better, huh? Ryan is 34, believe it or not.

Ryan Adams - "Born Yesterday" (live, 1999): mp3

Final decision on Cardinology: It's fine, but I can't take it seriously. Ryan sounds like he's going to start cracking up on every other track. First RA album in years that won't make my year-end top whatever.

It's Been A Long, Long Time

The Week In Rawk, 11.02.08

Jamz: We launched our latest column, Learn To Love, with a look at power-pop geniuses Beulah and counted down the Top 10 Autumn Albums.

Videos: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin rocked a radio station sesh, "Paper Planes" got an un-ironic cover, and we discovered the most rand0m (read: vomit-inducing) hipster on all of YouTube.

News: Neil Young may drop his box set in January, Wilco is done with its new album demos, MTV posted every music video ever and we got our first DMCA take-down notice. And by notice, I mean they straight-up deleted a legal (enough) post and wouldn't respond to my e-mails.

Live: The Chapin Sisters (above) serenade the Echoplex.

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The Week in Rawk: Last week's greatest hits. Click below for more.