Gorillaz Advent prizes

Gorillaz has been doing an Advent Calender, with cool freebies like desktop pictures and such. Today's is pretty neat - a very nice animated music video. Check it out - be sure to try the HD version if you can, it's beautiful!

Broken

East River Pipe

East River Pipe is the name of Queens, NY resident singer/songwriter F.M. Cornog's project and there hasn't been a cut from there in a while. Looks like Merge Records will be bringing out his next one, We Live In Rented Rooms, in February 2011. Here's an early release from it:

Cold Ground

I've had East River Pipe on my "To Buy" list for quite some time. Here's a few other cuts from some previous releases:

King Of Nothing Never (The Gasoline Age 1999)
I Bought A Gun In Irvington (Garbageheads on Endless Stun 2003)
What Does T.S. Eliot Know About You? (What Are You On? 2006)

And here's a video from his first album, Shining Hours In A Can:

Helmet On

The Like

I've started using my "other" blip.fm account under the name Hieronymus, because I have way more "listeners" on that account, because I've been using it almost since the start of blip.fm - back in the good old days before they started getting all Youtube-y. But it remains a great place to discover music and I really liked the couple of cuts from the group The Like, off of their June 2010 album Release Me. A poppy "girl group" with a nice raspy edge, you can get a free MP3 of this song by signing up on their website:

Fair Game

And here's a couple great videos:

He's Not A Boy

Wishing He Was Dead

Jenny and Johnny on Conan

One of my favorite singles from 2010 was Jenny and Johnny's Scissor Runner. Here they perform it live on the Conan O'Brien show:

Kim Boekbinder

One of my favorite concerts from the past few years was Amanda Palmer's raucus show at the Paradise a few years ago. One of the opening acts was Vermillion Lies and a song from their CD What's In The Box became a favorite of me and my girls:

Global Warming

Well, the sisters have done on to do solo acts now.  Zoe Boekbinder has some great music:





And Kim has just released her first CD and you can download it at a Name Your Own Price on Bandcamp:

The Impossible Girl

Túcan

Sligo instrumental group Túcan plays an excellent cover of this Daft Punk song. In many ways, they remind me of Rodrigo y Gabrielle, one of my all time favorite bands.

 Around the world [daft punk cover]

The Hundred In The Hands

A free holiday download from the cool band The Hundred In The Hands. Enjoy!

  
The Hundred In The Hands - Gift of Four Downloads by Warp Records

Jeremy Messersmith

Listening to All Songs Considered 2010 Year In Music, I liked what I heard by Jeremy Messersmith, who has a series of self released titles, including The Reluctant Graveyard, all of which are available on Bandcamp via "Name Your Own Price". Here's the cut played on the show:

Violet!

And here's a video for another cut from it:

A Girl, a Boy, and a Graveyard

Glasser

Another exciting discovery from my Spin Best Of 2010 Napster playlist is Glasser, or Cameron Mesirow's, Ring. Lots of really interesting sounds, very reminiscent of Charlotte Gainsbourg, crossed with Tyondai Braxton. Here's a couple of cuts from it:

Home
Tremel (Astronomer Remix)

Here's a neat video for one of my favorite songs from the album:

Apply

Treasury of We

Blonde Redhead Session

A great "session" video from Blonde Redhead, doing several songs from their excellent Penny Sparkle CD:

Robert Plant

I took Spin Magazine's top 40 albums of the year and added AllMusic.com's "recommended" picks from each to create a "Spin Top 2010" playlist on Napster.com. You can find it here.

One of my favorite so far is an oldie but goodie - Robert Plant's rootsy Band of Joy album. Some really great stuff, with this one a real standout:

Angel Dance

Little Dragon

Little Dragon, a Swedish group fronted by Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano, plays some very nice "twee" pop.  Here's a song from their newest album, Machine Dreams:

Feather

And here's a great video for one of their songs from their debut album:

Twice

Jets Overhead

Really been enjoying the sounds of Jets Overhead's 2009 sophomore effort, No Nations. This Canadian band hails from Victoria, British Columbia, a big island just across from Vancouver. They make some tight, sparse, yet rythmic sounds that really stick with you. Here's a couple great tracks from the album:

Time Will Remember
Weathervanes (In The Way)

And here's a great video for my favorite song on album:

I Should Be Born

And finally, you can get the title track for free, with the usual trade for your email address. Get it, it's great too! And be sure to check their web site for lots more goodies, including several more excellent music videos.