Live at KEXP V4 is available now! This
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Les Savy Fav, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Angelique Kidjo, Pela,
Atmosphere, The Hold Steady, and more. Click here to buy!
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Election Day is here! As expected, the increase in voter turnout this year is causing lines to snake around buildings and even city blocks. A bit of a wait, though, should be no reason to neglect your civic duty. We’re here to help with this selection of election-related videos that will motivate you to get out there and, if you have a suitable portable device, provide you with plenty of entertainment while you wait. Oh yeah, and do yourself a favor: bring snacks and don’t forget to hydrate!
This week’s selection of videos commemorates the visit today of astronaut Stan Love to KEXP. In 1998, Dr. Love, who had earned his Master of Science in Astronomy at the University of Washington in Seattle, began training for a future NASA mission, and in February of 2007, he traveled to space on the STS-122 Atlantis. On this, the 24th Shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station, Dr. Love brought along with him a copy of Live at KEXP, Volume Three. Yes, Stan is a fan of the station and of new music in general, and we welcome him on his visit today as he explores the far reaches of KEXP.
Tune in at 9:30AM to the Morning Show to hear Stan Love answer the question that’s been burning in John Richards’ mind: on what soundstage was the Apollo landing actually filmed… and what does rattlesnake taste like?
David Bowie - Starman:
Sinatra - Fly Me to the Moon:
Beastie Boys - Intergalactic:
The Rolling Stones - 2000 Light Years From Home:
The Beatles - Across the Universe:
The Church - Under the Milky Way:
Parliament - Mothership Connection:
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space:
According to British psychologist Cliff Arnall, who declared January 21st to be “Blue Monday,” the most depressing day of the year, today, June 20, is the happiest day of 2008! Using a series of calculations, Arnall added together all of the factors that improve our lives, like time spent out doors, increased socialization, recurrence of childhood memories, and anticipation of pending vacations, and surmised the date. Oh, yeah — today also happens to be the Summer Solstice. Rejoice!
Spiritualized - Oh Happy Day (live @ Wintercase, Madrid 2007)
Choeur Gospel Célébration de Quebec - Oh Happy Day
Doing the S’quatch this weekend? With all the amazing bands and between the three stages, there’s no way you’re going to be able to see everything you want to check out. Thinking about playing it by ear? But what if you miss the one performance everyone is talking about afterwards? Isn’t it better to make some informed decisions? All you need is a little research. Crack open the Sasquatch schedule, turn on the ‘Tube, and start searching. To get you started, here are some live performances of bands you might choose to see:
R.E.M. - Supernatural Superserious (live on Austin City Limits
Although Radiohead has previously asked their fans to create videos for any of their songs on In Rainbows (the contest deadline is over, but voting continues now), they have decided to create one video of their own for “All I Need,” in conjunction with MTV, specifically for its EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign, whose goal is to to combat human trafficking and exploitation. (As you’ll see in this split-screen video, the lives of two children are compared: one is privileged and the other works in a sweatshop.) The video is set to premiere on MTV tomorrow (though is it a “premier” if it’s already on Stereogum?) Check out the Hollywood Reporter for more about it.
Good causes certainly aren’t beyond Tapes ‘N Tapes. Coinciding with their release of Walk It Off, their sophomore release, the band was promoting Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer events in effort to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research. According to their website, they’re now promoting American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life, the largest walking event in the country, coming up in August. While you get your power-walking stride back in form, check out their new video for “Hang Them All”:
The Shins aren’t so bad either! While they aren’t exactly championing a specific cause, they are providing words (and melodies) of encouragement to kids on the goofy, surreal Yo Gabba Gabba. Here they are with “It’s OK, Try Again”:
Is Scarlett Johansson doing anybody any good covering a whole album’s worth of Tom Waits songs? Judge for yourself. Here’s “Falling Down”:
Always all about causes, particularly those involving the environment, is Cloud Cult. You may remember their request for video participants a couple months ago. They had asked for anyone on willing to stand in a field, saying, “No experience necessary, so long as you can stand and look expressionless, and jump on command.” Watch the intrepid volunteers brave the St. Paul cold (and jump!) in the resulting video for “Everyone Here Is A Cloud”
In a characteristic moment of prescience, blog writer Spike in that same paragraph mentioned the City-to-City challenge during the then-rolling Membership Drive. Guess who won? Ballard again, but guess who’s going to be performing during Ballard Day? Cloud Cult! See how small our words are? Join ours and come down to Ballard Day on May 9.
Surprisingly, there were few music-related pranks pulled on April Fools Day yesterday. Sorry, but the New Kids on the Block reunion is no joke — at least not in the strict literal sense — and as far as I can tell, the free Radiohead show in London actually happened. However, a few did try. In an industry press release, Ben Gibbard revealed a fabricated side project: “Born out of an interest in exploring music free from rules and convention, Just Jazzin’ offers the world a chance to see another side of Ben. ” Sorry, Ben. Nobody bought it.
Ben Gibbard - Just Jazzin’
But recently there has been a slew of very imaginative videos for which you’ll be more than willing to suspend your disbelief. Check out the amazing animation on Bjork’s “Wanderlust” and The Acorn’s “The Flood Pt. 1″ and the silly Python-esque lunacy of Goldfrapp’s “Happiness.” Here are a handful of clips you’ll want to believe:
During the SXSW Music Festival this year, KEXP was broadcasting at two locations over three days — and while we had fantastic bands performing live in-studio, bands like The Breeders, Holy Fuck, DeVotchka, The Raveonettes, and Tapes ‘N Tapes (check out our coverage here), the KEXP staff was stuck inside for 10-12 hours at a time. I’m not complaining, mind you, but while we were broadcasting to radio listeners in Seattle and to the rest of the world online, there was a whole other world of music blaring on the streets of Austin, TX, one that never reached our ears. We can try to console ourselves, of course, with the notion that with all of the showcases every day and night no one can see everything… except, thanks to Youtube, they kinda can. And fortunately, they can also go back and listen again and again. Gathered here is a selection of performances recorded live at SXSW in 2008, ones that we wished we could have attended were we not committed elsewhere:
First of all, imagine just walking down the street and running into Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip leaning out a window and performing “Thou Shalt Not Kill” to an excited crowd:
You get the sense of how impromptu some of these performances seem, but many of them were also long thought out and anticipated, such as this year’s tribute to Lou Reed, for which you can see Joseph Arthur rehearsing “Pale Blue Eyes” with Jen Turner:
or the appearance of R.E.M., here performing “Second Guessing,” at Stubb’s:
or Perry Farrell whipping out “Jane Says” at Pangea:
While some veterans like Billy Bragg remembered those even older than he, as with the sort-of-titled “Old Clash Fan Fight Song”:
…mostly it was about who was hot now, like the Swede pop singer Lykke Li, whose name you’re sure to learn to pronunciate correctly soon enough, here on the SXSW Day Stage performing “Little Bit,” a song that you’re just as likely to learn to sing aloud:
Beginning tomorrow, KEXP will be broadcasting from SXSW in Austin, TX, and we’ve got a killer lineup of live bands!
On Thursday, March 13, KEXP joins NPR Music as they present Music from the Right Brain from The Parish. We’ll be broadcasting live performances from Shout Out Louds, Jens Lekman, Yeasayer, Bon Iver, and Vampire Weekend (note the use of the Oxford comma).
On Friday and Saturday, KEXP will be broadcasting live from KLRU Studios, home of the legendary Austin City Limits television program. Along with Kid Hops spinning Positive Vibrations Saturday morning, DJs Cheryl Waters and Kevin Cole will host a whole bunch of live performances from Devotchka, The Breeders, Handsome Fur, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Holy Fuck, These New Puritans, Tapes ‘N’ Tapes, and The Raveonettes. Also, Moby will drop by for interview and the first ever Austin remote of Audioasis, the NW music show, will feature Blitzen Trapper.
Check out the lineup here, and be sure to listen in while checking back here for lots of photos.
Bon Iver - The Wolves (Act I & II)
Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have To Leave It
Jens Lekman - The Opposite of Hallelujah (live @ Studio Virtanen 9/5/07)
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk (live on SNL 3/8/08)
DeVotchKa - Mad And Faithful Telling EPK
Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Let’s Make Out
Holy Fuck - Milkshake
These New Puritans - Elvis (older version)
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation
We’ve already offered videos to you from many of the bands participating in the KEXP broadcast from SXSW, but just in case you missed them before, here they are:
Which 2008 releases are you still waiting for? It’s been a good year so far, no doubt, but the new albums have only just begun to arrive — and just to make you want them even more, the labels are releasing early videos and sending bands around the talk show circuit. Here are a few recent videos for releases that we’re dying for:
The Presidents of the United States of America - Mixed Up SOB from (3/11)
De Novo Dahl - Shout from Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound (3/25)
Gnarls Barkley - Run from The Odd Couple (4/8) (Warning! May cause seizures!)
The Kooks - Always Where I Need To Befrom Konk (4/15)
Elbow - Grounds For Divorce from Seldom Seen Kid (4/22)
The Roots - 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction) from Rising Down (4/29)
Hearts literally entwined, an avenging disco chicken, beetles at the dawn of creation, a costumed keg party, creepy ceramic cats, and a queen of magnetic tape — what do these things have in common? Nothing, just that they’re collected here on this week’s Video Roundup, a gathering of the newest videos on the ‘Tube. Regardless of the random imagery, this is one booty-shaking mix:
