Joanna Newsom isn’t exactly the chatty, ostensible type — hell she rarely even does any sort of interview. So it comes as no surprise that when Newsom announced that she’d be making her second T.V. performance to date, people tuned in (rumors of SNL’s Fred Armisen, Akiva Schaffer, and John Mulaney stopping by to check out even circulated, according to ‘Gum.)
On Friday night, Newsom dropped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to perform “Soft as Chalk” from her impressively ambitious latest triple album Have One On Me. Yes Newsom’s performance is as awkward as you’d imagine, but equally as flawless. Check it out below.
Pill Wonder, the latest artist to emerge from indie label Underwater Peoples, just dropped his debut LP Jungle/Surf on February 28, which can be purchased on vinyl from their site or on Itunes.
Lately, Wonder’s been releasing a series of videos entitled “Portraits of the Inspired Lights of the World” as a mini series that feature an array of images that possess some sort of illuminative quality along with Wonder’s music within.
There have been three different videos thus far, with the third dropping late last night. Check’ em all out below.
With her first performance in spirit of her forthcoming release New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), Badu dropped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to perform her first single from the album “Window Seat”. “Window Seat” is simple Badu, mellow and refined.
New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) will be out on March 30 via Universal Motown.
The Drums made a splash in indie music last summer with their debut EP Summertime! Channeling their upbeat, poppy music with that of 80’s New Wave and alternative acts like the Cure.
This new song/video entitled “Best Friend” sees the Drums, well, continuing on that path. A little iffy on this one, but I simply can’t deny it’s catchiness factor.
“Best Friend” will appear on their forthcoming, as-of-yet untitled debut full length.
Pavement kicked off their reunion tour for the first day yesterday in New Zealand and from the looks of it, they didn’t hold back. Malkmus and the boys brought everything from “Summer Babe” to “Spit On A Stranger,” while looking solid as a functioning unit once again, and more importantly, like they were enjoying themselves.
Earlier today, P4k hunted down these performances of “Cut Your Hair,” “Rattle By The Rush,” and the ever-pleasing, “Range Life” — they left the Pumpkins and STP references in as well! Check ‘em below along with a list of all the tour dates.
As mentioned earlier, Shane MacGowan recently recruited a rather impressive punk leaning lineup in the likes of Chrissie Hynde, Nick Cave, Mick Jones, Johnny Depp and others to take on Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put A Spell On You” as per Haiti charity relief, proving that these things, on rare occasions, can actually be cool.
The charity of choice is Dublin’s Concern Worldwide,Prefix reports. “I Put A Spell on You” will be officially released on March 7 and can be pre-ordered here at this very moment.
Below,you can find a video of the track being recorded. Doesn’t it make you all warm and fuzzy on the inside? C’mon, be honest.
“Dragon’s Lair,” a near 11 minute track off of Sunset Rubdown’s highly impressive Dragonslayer of 2009 made it’s premiere on P4k and has been posted here for your viewing pleasure. Spencer Krug’s fronted Sunset Rubdown, a side-project of Wolf Parade, explores the more mythological side of the past and present, offering their slanted view of the world through their music.
With being a bit more adventurous than the rest in Wolf Parade, I’ve always viewed Krug as being the outlander of the group, with Sunset Rubdown posing as the perfect model to explore any such artistic freedom.
“Stick to My Side,” one of the highlight moments of Pantha Du Prince’s fascinating latest LP Black Noise, gets some well deserved visuals thanks to this P4k provided music video. Check out the half human, half tree complexities that these creatures face their in every day lives. Boy, the things that we take for granted.
Spreading his artistic wings even further, Kanye West unveiled a brand new video for a song that’s over a year old. “The Coldest Winter,” featured on West’s minimalist 2008 release 808’s & Heartbreaks, retells a relationship gone south for Mr. West, questioning whether he will in fact, “ever love again” (looks like he’s had no problem recovering in the interim.)
The eery, (overdirected?) video was shot by Nabil Elderkin and looks, quite frankly, like something straight out of Lord of the Rings, taking nerdom to a whole new level.
Much like Raekwon’s stunning 2009 release Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… PT. II — One of Neon’sfavorites of last year — Wu-Massacre, an album that features key Wu members Ghostface Killah, Method Man and Raekwon, has had it’s fair share of pushed back release dates. But good things come to those who are patient.
With a now confirmed set release date of March 30 via Def Jam, Wu Massacre will consist of 12 tracks, featuring guest spots from other Wu-Tang members, Sun God and to my surprise, the awesome Tracy Morgan (for a skit!)
