We All Want Someone To Shout For

It’s 8 A.M., and for once I am up. I usually am sleeping this time but I can’t quite fall back asleep right now. I checked out some music sites and then realized that Broken Bells were premiering their first song ever today!

Have you heard about Broken Bells yet? If not, I recommend getting acquainted with the band as soon as possible! The band has kept pretty secretive up until now, and that is sure to change. Broken Bells is composed of super producer/Gnarls Barkley member Danger Mouse, and James Mercer, the lead singer of The Shins! They are planning to release their debut self titled album on March 9th, 2010 and you can pre-order it now! They are offering their first single “The High Road” for free on their website for the cost of an e-mail address.

The song sounds like a more futuristic Shins song with glossier production, and electronic effects. James Mercer has a great voice, and Danger Mouse is able to work his magic around it. I was not sure what to expect from the collabrative team of such different artists, but the result is top notch! Together they have developed a really nice sound that should create one of 2010′s upcoming gems!

I am really, really, enjoying “The High Road”! See what you guys think:

[mp3] : Broken Bells – The High Road

Pre-Order their debut album right here!!!

BBC is known for there great live lounge session where various artists come to their studio to perform acoustic versions of their songs, along with some great covers of other bands classics!

I am chilling on the new music and giving my mind a rest for the weekend. I am relaxing, and trying to figure out my 2009 best of lists.

Here are some of my live lounge covers!

[mp3] : Lady Gaga – Viva La Vida (Coldplay Cover)

Gaga covers the Coldplay classic with some awkward, but funny changes. She forgets some of the words and adds some commentary, but do you expect anything different from Gaga? She really displayed some mean vocals here! She really does have a great voice!

[mp3] : The Kooks – Kids (MGMT Cover)

This is a live lounge classic. The Kooks manage to give the irresistible pop gem their own spin with plenty of there own flare!

[mp3] : The Kooks – Despair In The Departure Lounge (Arctic Monkeys Cover)

I don’t believe this is a live lounge cover, but I figured this deserved to be posted (and it sorta fits!) The Kooks nailed this Arctic Monkeys b-side, and I think even Alex Turner would push aside the grudge between the two bands, and admit that this is a mint cover! Luke’s voice cracks at one point, but it only adds to the raw performance. I can dig that!

[mp3] : Lily Allen – I’m Outta Time (Oasis Cover)

Oasis may be dead, but “I’m Outta Time” from their final album Dig Up Your Soul is still getting plenty of play from me. Lily Allen graces the song with her gorgeous vocals and makes it a cover that the Gallagher brothers themselves would be proud of!

There are plenty of more great covers that I would like to share with you, but I got company over! So this is all I have time for at the moment, but this should be good enough for a decent Saturday playlist!

I got a quickie for you guys today!

This cover is so simple, yet it is so sincere! It comes from a guy named Ruby Weapon, and not too much is known about him other than the fact that he put out a beautiful cover of Grizzly Bears “Two Weeks”

I can’t anything official about this guy, so if you find something please let me know!

[mp3] : Ruby Weapon – Two Weeks (Grizzly Bear Cover)

I just read an article on BBC about Interpol’s eventual 4th album!

The BBC reports that “Fans can expect “elegant orchestral” sounds on the next Interpol album”. Lead singer/guitarist Paul Banks has stated that bassist, Carlos has created “sophisticated orchestration” that sounds very different from anything that the band has done!” A month ago their drummer Sam Fogarino said that LP4 would recall the atmosphere of their debut album, Turn On The Bright Lights.

It seems the band is contradicting themselves a bit. Banks said that he thinks Sam was referring to the reverb sound of the guitars that the band is going to be bringing back.

So, the dark reverb guitars are back in full force, combined with elegant orchestral sounds? This album sounds bold, and risky. I have faith in them!! Our Love To Admire wasn’t their best work, and even they admitted that. Now they know what not to do, and I believe that they will create an absolute killer album! The world is sleeping on Interpol right now, but that won’t last!

Read the entire article right here.

Through my own blogging, I have made it a goal of mine to read all kinds of music blogs. There are so many out there these days, its hard to single out the true bloggers from the fake ones who just do it for the hits, posting mp3s with no substance.

One of the blogs that I found through their best of lists is the French blog Le Choix de Mlle Eddie! Even though I need to use a translator to understand what she writes, I still can get a sense of their great taste. So if you have a minute, check them out. The reason that I bring his wonderful blog up is because Eddie directly contacted me in order to let me know about something cool that the French music blogs did. 36 of them got together in order to compile the ultimate french blogger best albums of 2009 list. (One blogger from La Blogothèque contributed to the list!!!)

580 albums were selected, they voted, and narrowed it down to the top 20. The ultimate cream of the crop!

The list consists of plenty of artists that I have never heard of, as well as most of the artists whose albums have been universally praised (Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, The XX, St. Vincent, Fuck Buttons)

If anything this is a really cool idea, and one that should be noted! If anything, go look up some of these artists so you can be hip with the french bloggers!!!

Check out their list here!

I was checking out Pigeons and Planes when I came across quite an interesting video. The video shows a homeless man (nicknamed Mustard), covering “Creep” by Radiohead. It was recorded on the Opie and Anthony show. Apparently they do a segment where they pick a homeless person off of the street and buy them clothes. Mustard was chosen for it and mentioned that he was a musician.

They gave him a guitar, and this was the result:

I gotta say, it is quite a powerful performance. This man sings the lyrics with passion, and meaning. Thanks to Pigeons and Planes for finding this!!!! Let’s make this guy the next viral video celebrity!

John Frusciante has made it official that he is no longer a part of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. John cleared this up on his myspace, posting a note. He is basically just saying how he wants to make his own music, rather than continue with the RHCP. He released a solo album earlier this year called The Empyrean. He feels more invested in his solo work, which is totally cool!

This is a bummer but I guess it is not all that surprising. I got to say, I don’t know if the RHCP can keep it together again without John. I am pretty doubtful about them ever truly getting back together again.

So, RIP until then Chili’s!

Check out a song from The Empyrean below, its a beauty:

[mp3] : John Frusciante – Song To The Siren

I just woke up from a nap….It’s 1:24 AM. Sigh. I fell asleep watching Coraline with my brother and sister, and next thing I know, it’s 1 AM! All those all nighters have really destroyed my sleep schedule!

I woke up to the glorious news that during my nap, Ezra and VW posted “White Sky” on their myspace. Of course, we know have an mp3 of the song! My friend Rogo from It’s A Rap updated me on this song during my nap and I woke up to the delightful sounds of “White Sky”!

I had a lot of hope in “White Sky”, after all I did get to witness it’s live debut at Bowery Ballroom on January 2008 (you can actually see my head at times on the left).

So it was safe to say that I had high expectations for this highly anticipated song! Did it live up to expectations? Oh yes! The song is a treasure for the ears! It is everything that I hoped for and more when I first heard this gem live. Vampire Weekend really hit it out of the ballpark with “White Sky”. This is a track that acts as a bridge for their debut and Contra. It sounds like them, but with new found influences at the very same time!

I am just happy to finally have a recorded version! I can probably vouch for plenty of Vampire Weekend fans here!

So sit back, and enjoy “White Sky”:

[Stream it] : Vampire Weekend – White Sky (Stream only – Web Sheriff E-mailed me)

My fellow Arctic Monkey friend Blake made it his mission to follow the Arctic’s east coast tour. He did so catching both NYC shows as well as their Boston show! He was lucky enough to afford such a trip, as well as seeing the live debut of the excellent b-side “Catapult”!

He recorded it for us! I am extremely jealous of the excellent performance! Check it below!

Blogging is a lot harder than it seems. Ok – not hard, but it is a lot more time consuming than you think. Sometimes the new stuff just piles up and you forget to post things! I am trying to make up all those late posts with my free time during this winter break. Here is one of them.

The Chairs are a talented group of guys who have recently released their 2nd album Nine Ways. The album came out on November 17th, so like I said, I am pretty late on this post! My sincere apologizes to Alex Schaaf and the wonderful guys over at The Chairs camp! We have been pimpin’ The Chairs for as long as this blog as been around. They’re a talented bunch of guys that need some recognition!

Check out two tracks from Nine Ways below!!

[mp3] : The Chairs – David

[mp3] : The Chairs – Charlotte Pipe

Go support the band by buying Nine Ways at their website for only 7 bucks!