• On this day to remember a great man who spoke out against injustice and for the necessity of fairness and civil liberty, it’s hard to think of a more fitting opportunity to introduce a new video by another outspoken voice of the black community, Gil Scott-Heron. Now at 60, the poet and songwriter is as incisive as ever, and “Me And The Devil,” from his upcoming album, I’m New Here, his first in thirteen years, shows that while the sounds of his music may change (dubstep and downtempo here rather than jazz fusion and soul), the messages never change:

• Radiohead just won’t go away, much to the enjoyment of fans and bitterness of major labels seething over the band’s successes. On top of news of the boys working on a new album, Kid A has popped back up at #100 on the Billboard #200 charts. Apparently Best-of-Decade lists have numerous readers!

• With The Brutalist Bricks due in March via Matador, it seems that the time seems perfect for Ted Leo to rest up before the requisite touring that follows a new album. However, Leo has been busy releasing tracks for his Twitter followers, most recent of which are covers from Sade, Robyn, and Concrete Blonde.

• On the heels of Love 2, Air has announced their first tour of the states in over three years. At the moment the Pacific Northwest is getting no love from the French duo but if we stock our shelves with French loaves, fine wine, and aromatic cheeses then perhaps we can coax them this way.

• Help out Haiti and bid on test pressings from Fucked Up. The band has put up the Couple Tracks test pressing on eBay to raise money for Doctors Without Borders’ efforts in the Haiti.

• Have you forgotten about the heyday of Britpop? Let a Bernard Butler-less Suede rock gently remind you. The band is reuniting for one London show sometime in March to benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust.

• Icelandic collective Seabear, started by Sindri Már Sigfússon’s (aka Sin Fang Bous), who was just at KEXP a few months back, are due to release their second LP, We Built a Fire, in March, and they’re offering their first single of indie folk pop goodness as a free download:

• Speaking of fine musical reminiscing, Jon Spencer’s Blues Explosion are getting the compilation treatment with the 22-track Dirty Shirt Rock’n'Roll: The First Ten Years. The set is due March 22nd with promises of major reissues of the trio’s albums in the near future. Who’s got the flavor?

• Now we’re talking: the late night talk shows are finally filling up with some good stuff! Tuesday is a particularly good night, with Spoon, The Swell Season and The Mountain Goats all making new appearance, plus there’s a repeat of The xx on Carson Daly. Sure hope there’s room left in your DVR! Fallon has the most consistently good lineup with The Cribs, Beach House, and the cast of the musical, “Fela!” Here are the highlights:
  Monday, January 18

  David Letterman: Charlotte Gainsbourg
  Jay Leno: Ringo Starr & Ben Harper
  Jimmy Fallon: The Cribs
  Carson Daly: Weezer (R)

  Tuesday, January 19

  David Letterman: The Swell Season
  Conan O’Brien: Spoon
  Jimmy Fallon: The Mountain Goats
  Carson Daly: The XX (R)

  Wednesday, January 20

  date night!

  Thursday, January 21

  David Letterman: Blind Boys of Alabama with Lou Reed
  Jimmy Fallon: the Broadway cast of “Fela!”

  Friday, January 22

  David Letterman: The Heavy
  Jimmy Kimmel: Heartless Bastards
  Craig Ferguson: The Hot Rats
  Jimmy Fallon: Beach House
  Carson Daly: Gossip (R)

Greetings, my name’s Michele Myers and every week I spin a radio show on KEXP, choosing the music and telling you short facts and stories about the artists and songs. My show starts at 3pm on Saturdays and this week I’m featuring songs from some of my favorite soundtracks.

The holidays are over, thankfully. Not everyone has an easy time of it. Just the music alone is enough to drive me bonkers. I’m not sure that businesses realize that it can have the opposite effect it’s supposed to. The syrupy sweet redundancy drives me out of stores and restaurants. Home to my laptop and the sanctuary of my tiny silver screen. I get through the holidays by watching movies.

This year I watched 5 films to get me through the actual daze. The best was Everything Is Illuminated which a friend described as “It sneaks up on you and becomes a good movie while you’re not paying attention.” I also watched Bewitched. (Nicole Kidman is great but I think Will Ferrell is really losing it. Unfortunately rather forgettable.) Clueless was very 80’s and hilarious, and I’d never seen it. I love Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada (not my first watching of this) as the evil fashionista. And The Graduate is always good. Colors and compositions that remind me of more current director Wes Anderson. A young Dustin Hoffman’s not-so-slow disillusionment.

Which brings me to soundtracks. Long after the screen went dark I searched for the best soundtrack songs ever. The Simon and Garfunkel songs in the movie The Graduate are incredible. Instant mood. Here’s the opening sequence with the song “Sound of Silence” (love how it ends with the fish tank shot).

Another one that blows my mind is the soundtrack to Harold and Maude. I was 19 years old and working at an arthouse movie theater in Pennsylvania when I found this film. It was my turn for a break and I snuck in to the theater just as the opening scene came up. The movie starts with the music of Cat Stevens, who I had never heard, and a surprise that I won’t reveal in case you haven’t seen it. The songs from this movie weren’t (and still aren’t) available as an official soundtrack. But you can find most of them on Cat’s record Footsteps In The Dark. These songs literally changed my life, there’s something in Cat Stevens’ work that makes you feel like you can do anything. And a year later I was accepted to UC Berkeley. Started a whole new life and found radio as my calling. Here’s the scene for the song “Trouble.”

One of my favorite soundtracks to listen to all the way through is from Sophia Coppola’s film The Virgin Suicides. It’s filmed in a gauzy, hazy light and the music matches perfectly the intense vulnerability of these characters. Based on a book by a boy in the neighborhood who was struck by the beauty of this family of young girls, this film has captured something real. French band Air opens the soundtrack (all the songs are by them) with this incredible song, “Playground Love”:

As a producer, it fascinates me the way music is used to create tension. I think the best soundtracks don’t reinforce the mood with sameness (say, happy music for a happy scene, funny music for a funny scene, etc.), rather they contrast with what’s happening. And this Who song A Quick One While He’s Away does just that in my favorite movie Rushmore. The song is about being forgiven while the characters are exacting revenge.

I have a bunch more favorite soundtrack songs and movies, so I’ll continue this theme next week with a look at the movie The Life Aquatic and the music of David Bowie played acoustically by Brazilian singer Seu Jorge.

Michele Myers hosts Saturdays at 3pm on KEXP. She also hosts Wake Up Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-9am on WNYE New York 91.5FM and produces KEXP Documentaries, short radio stories on musical subjects.

One of the many reasons you love KEXP and would go out of your way to support us during our 2009 Fall Membership Drive (going on now!)? The fact that we go out of our way to bring you great music not just on the airwaves (and internet waves) but also for you to stream, watch and download on the KEXP Blog.

Just like every Tuesday, on Out This Week, where we scour the web to find the latest videos and legitimate MP3 links for your own guilt-free downloading, allowing you to sample each week’s new releases before you head out to your local record shop or online tone vendor. Not only is this a truly great resource for your own musical discovery, but it’s also smart thinking in these uncertain economic times. KEXP is here to help you!

And just look at today’s list of new releases! Yowza! Built to Spill (sorry, no MP3 but you can stream the whole thing here), Air, Lou Barlow, A Place to Bury Strangers, Dead Man’s Bones, The Dutchess & the Duke, Gossip, Califone, The Raveonettes, The Mountain Goats, The Very Best… and do I really need to keep going? Check out the complete list with links to buy from our friend Largehearted Boy, but don’t head out until you’ve had a chance to sample all of these fine tracks, compiled by the station where the music matters!