In honor of Kate Bush's birthday (known as Katemas to her legion of fans, including myself!), here's her famous Cloudbusting video, based on the life Wilhelm Reich, a controversial psychoanalyst. You can find this song on her classic Hounds of Love CD:
This is one rockin' song from Amanda Palmer's Who Killed Amanda Palmer CD. You think this video of Leeds United kicks ass, you ought to see her perform it live! I saw her in concert with The Butchers & The Builders, Vermillion Lies and the Danger Ensemble and she brought them all out for the song and I thought the roof was going to literally come down!
A truly bizarre video for a very nice song! This is Beach House's Walk In The Park, from thier Teen Dream CD. It is the official video and it's quite disturbing, especially for a nice bouncy song like this. But maybe that's the point?
Another Broken Bells video, this time for the wonderful song Ghost Inside. Really nice production, starring Christina Hendriks (aka Mad Men secretary Joan Holloway). Read interview about it with director Jacob Gentry on Pitchfork here.
High on my list of favorite 2010 CDs is Jakob Dylan's 2nd CD, Women + Country. With smooth backing vocals from Neko Case, this Americana from Bob Dylan's kid is a solid CD from first cut to last. Maybe on Vehement Flame #6?
Download I the Mighty's debut EP, Hearts and Spades, for free here . Some pretty interesting pop-rock stuff. Here's the video for the song Technicolor:
While their name will be harder to explain to my kids than The New Pornographers, Holy Fuck sure makes some great music. This is their latest CD, Latin, and has some great licks. Check out the official video for the song Latin America:
Really looking forward to this band's debut CD. I first heard Lower Dens on the NPR All Songs Consider Summer Preview - it was my favorite cut. Let's check in with the NSFW entitled song, A Dog's Dick, recorded live on a Brookline MA cable access show:
No, it isn't time for school yet! Social Studies is a group from San Francisco with a debut album, Wind Up Wooden Heart. Take a listen at the first video from it, Time Bandit:
Tokyo Police Club has been generating lots of hype. Here's their first video from their new release, Champ. Here's the song Wait Up (Boots of Danger) and lots and lots of dogs:
Spotlighted on Stereogum as a "Band To Watch", Computer Magic is a one woman act and has some great sounds. Danz is almost old enough to drink and is creating some good songs. Listen in:
Hot Chip showed up on Vehement Flame #1 with their infectious song Hand Me Down Your Love. Here's another cut from the One Life Stand CD, I Feel Better:
Kind of a rock icon, Alejandro Escovedo has released a rocking new CD called Street Songs of Love and it is some great rootsy rock! Wish there was a better example of the songs, but this simple version of Anchor will have to do for now:
Sorry, just had to add yet another version of The New Pornographers' Sweet Talk Sweet Talk, this time one that TNP did on Letterman last night. It even includes a 4 person handclap section!
Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and his wife, former West Indian Girl vocalist Mariqueen Mandig, combined to form How To Destroy Angels and the result is pretty intriguing. It is available for a free download from their website and is definitely worth checking out. Here's the official video for The Space In Between: