• There was a time when playing on MTV Unplugged carried a weighty value. Clapton’s reimagining of “Layla” for the over-40 set, LL Cool J changing the rap game by taking it unplugged. But MTV went young as most of us grew old, but it reckons that some of those who passed on flannel for khakis will get a kick of the latest Unplugged participant: Vampire Weekend. Click the band’s name to watch the episode.

• The wealth of tribute albums in the market could make anyone’s head spin. From the epic to the gutter, tribute albums range in variety, range, and style. Yet the idea of a new tribute toward the Thin White Duke, David Bowie, is due in May via Manimal Vinyl. The titleless tribute will feature contributions from Vivian Girls, MGMT, and Duran Duran among others. All proceeds will benefit the charity, War Child.

• Although a Smiths reunion seems no closer to happening than when the group first split, former bassist Andy Rourke, who’s maintained a royalty dispute with Morrissey, joined the NYC-based Smiths cover band Sons & Heirs at Brooklyn’s Bell House on Saturday night. Though doubtfully paving the way to friendlier relations, Rourke went so far as to cover a couple of Moz’s solo tunes with the band.

• It’s been a few weeks since a peep from Animal Collective, so allow this newly released video of “Brother Sport” from Merriweather Post Pavilion serve as a refresher:

• Aside from hosting the wonderfully obtuse Spectacle, people may recall that Elvis Costello was and is a recorded musician with a pile of albums to his name. Now it’s time to add the second edition of Costello’s recent live series, Live at Hollywood High, to the top of the stack! The album captures a live 1978 show from Costello (with The Attractions).

• About a year ago, the Bay Area band Citay joined us for a mind-melting in-studio session. Now, they’re ready to release their third LP, Dream Get Together, and have asked their friends Jens Lekman, The Antlers, Suckers, Steve McBean of Black Mountain and Pink Mountaintops, Nicole Atkins, Bishop Allen, Akron/Family, and others to describe what their imagined “dream get togethers” would be. Merrill Garbus of tUnE-YarDs provides the first description on the band’s website and also guests on “Mirror Kisses” from the new album:

• There is a lot to hate Billy Corgan for: making kids whiny in the 90s, walking around with a bulbous head (and that’s not a Jessica Simpson joke), and the inflated size of his ego that grows three sizes larger per day. But then he wakes up one day with an idea that may actually work such as beginning his own label and signing The Germ to that label.

• Vampire Weekend again breathes life into the talk show circuit this week, which still features mostly repeats. But you can see them twice, on Conan and Ferguson if you’re so inclined.

  Monday, January 11

  Conan O’Brien: Vampire Weekend

  Tuesday, January 12

  Carson Daly: The Raveonettes (R)

  Wednesday, January 13

  Carson Daly: Lisa Hannigan (R)

  Thursday, January 14

  David Letterman: The Low Anthem
  Craig Ferguson: Vampire Weekend
  Carson Daly: Pete Yorn (R)

  Friday, January 15

  go see a live show!

photo by Kyle Johnson

• The road turned sour for King Khan & the BBQ Show earlier this week when the band was pulled over and the road manager arrested in Kentucky, forcing the group to miss a slate of weekend shows. The band is currently out on bail but their manager remains behind bars. St. Louis music blog Riverfront Times has been posting regular updates of the fiasco.

• Nonesuch has recently reissued Wilco’s fantastic second album, Being There, in a LP+CD package. While the album has long been available on vinyl, this marks another way to prove to Wilco naysayers that the band once showed a lot of talent and spunk before they were labeled ‘dad rock.’

• And as Wilco currently tour Europe, their surprise guests for Saturday night at Milan’s Conservatorio — Grizzly Bear — had to bail out due to a traffic accident as they were en route from Munich. While fortunately no one was injured, their tour bus was cracked up enough to require a replacement and held the band up in Austria. They continue their tour with St. Vincent as scheduled.

• In further tour mishap news, Dan Deacon, who has been on the road non-stop all year, it seems, checked in to a hospital last week for what turned out to be acute sciatica. As he recovers from the debilitating back pain, he’s canceled the final five shows of his tour with the intention of rescheduling as soon as he’s better.

• While it’s hard not to groan at the name, United Kingdom import Wolf People will be releasing their debut album, Tidings, through Jagjaguwar on February 23rd (and a day earlier for the citizens of Wolf People’s great homeland). Can we use this opportunity to begin a petition asking bands to stop using animal names such as ‘Wolf’ and ‘Deer’ as a part of their band? It’s getting difficult to keep track.

• No Age just released the title track video from the Losing Feeling EP. Life’s a garden, so dig it:

• The Cormac McCarthy good-time novel turned movie, The Road, is hitting theaters in time for Thanksgiving (a true holiday-inspired film if ever there was one), which means that the Nick Cave & Warren Ellis penned soundtrack for the film is also on the horizon. Mute will be releasing the score digitally on November 23rd with the physical release not slated until January 12th.

• Are you searching for the perfect holiday gift for your friend or family member who can’t get enough Neu! or Can? Look no further than the recently released Krautrock: Cosmic Rock and Its Legacy, released by UK imprint Black Dog Publishing. The book promises a comprehensive journey through the neglected and forgotten genre from its beginning.

• This week’s late night talk show appearances start off slowly but quickly pick up as Neko Case and The Avett Brothers turn up on Fallon, Death Cab on Kimmel, and Ray Davies serenades Letterman. Elvis Costello on Colbert this Wednesday should be a hoot:

  Monday, November 16

  nothing of interest here. move along.

  Tuesday, November 17

  Jimmy Fallon: Neko Case

  Wednesday, November 18

  David Letterman: Ray Davies
  Colbert Report: Norah Jones
  Jimmy Fallon: The Avett Brothers

  Thursday, November 19

  Colbert Report: Elvis Costello

  Friday, November 20

  David Letterman: Lyle Lovett
  Jimmy Kimmel: Death Cab for Cutie
  Jimmy Fallon: Elvis Costello

• While immediate implications are unknown, it appears that Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has gone off the deep end a bit. Rumors are circulating that the other band members are refusing to perform again until he gets sober, especially after a drunken fall from a stage left him with a broken shoulder, 20 stitches in his head, and a canceled tour. But, really? Steven Tyler sober? Dream on!

• Elvis Costello’s TV Show, Spectacle, will be released via digital download, Blu-Ray, and DVD on November 3rd. A vast range of guests came on in its first season to talk about music and frequently perform, including Jenny Lewis, Lou Reed, Sir Elton John, Smokey Robinson, Herbie Hancock, Jakob Dylan, She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward), The Police, John Mellencamp, James Taylor and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

• Local label Sub Pop has made the title track from the upcoming No Age release, Losing Feeling, available for download.

• Jay-Z took a jab at Bill O’Reilly on his new single and this video shows Mr. O’Reilly’s borderline culturally-ignorant response: “Hmm, a regular Otis Redding, isn’t he?”

• You may remember the hip hop classic “Roxanne’s Revenge.” If not from its 1984 release, then from VH1’s countdown of the 100 greatest hip hop songs ever (or other similar lists.) Well, revenge is sweet. Roxanne Shanté signed a record deal as a 14-year-old with Warner Music Group that included a clause that they would pay for all her education for life. After never receiving a penny from royalties after selling hundreds of thousands of albums, Shanté recently received a Ph.D from Cornell on $217,000 of WMG’s money. Congratulations, Doctor!

• Karen O, lead singer of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, has released a single from her first “solo” record, which will act as the soundtrack to Spike Jonze’s new movie, Where The Wild Things Are. Besides her regular bandmates, she’s also working with Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Dean Fertita, and Aaron Hemphill from Liars. The single “All Is Love” became available digitally on Tuesday prior to the full album release on September 29th and can be heard here.

• Chris Brown was formally sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to assaulting Rihanna. He received five years probation, 180 days of community labor, and a year-long domestic violence counseling program as his sentence.

• Ellie Greenwich, the songwriter responsible for an incredible string of hits in the 1960s including “Be My Baby,” “Leader of the Pack,” “Chapel of Love,” “River Deep, Mountain High,” “Then He Kissed Me” and “Da Doo Ron Ron,” has passed away at the age of 68.

• Fall Out Boy’s lead singer/guitarist, Patrick Stump, was arrested Tuesday night on an old warrant for driving without a license. Maybe it will make good songwriting fodder.

• Wanted to check out a music festival this year but were running low on funds? YouTube solves yet another of your problems! Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival will be streaming this year’s performances free of charge between Friday, August 28th, and Sunday, August 30th. It will feature a wide range of artists including headliners Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, Incubus, Black Eyed Peas, Tenacious D, Jason Mraz, and Thievery Corporation, but also The Dead Weather, Silversun Pickups, Raphael Saadiq, Cage the Elephant, Atmosphere, Akron/Family, Deerhunter, John Vanderslice, and Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, among many others.

Jonathon D. Colman

Happy 4th of July, everybody! Here’s a quick roundup of Independence Day related songs (and some not so much) to watch before you fire up the BBQ, head out to view the fireworks, or whatever else you may be doing on this day (just please don’t lose a finger!):

Jimi Hendrix playing the National Anthem:

Elliott Smith performing “Independence Day” live at the 2000 Fuji Rock Festival:

Galaxie 500’s official video for “Fourth of July”:

Animal Collective’s official video for “Fireworks”:

Siouxsie & The Banshees “Fireworks” from “Twice Upon a Time”:

David Bowie playing “Young Americans” on the Dick Cavett Show in 1974:

Wilco performing “Ashes of American Flags” on Austin City Limits:

Aimee Mann sings “4th of July” on Jools Holland:

John Doe and His Rockin’ Band play “Fourth of July” at Dante’s in Portland, OR, in 2007:

Shooter Jennings’ official video for “4th Of July”:

Elvis Costello & Lucinda Williams play “Indoor Fireworks” for CMT Crossroads:

The Muppets salute America with “Stars & Stripes Forever”:

Yes, yes, we all love to delve into those obscure bands that twelve people knew about when they were around and now nobody remembers, but sometimes it’s fun to check in with an old favorite - a legend, even. It is in that spirit that this week I bring you 1984’s Goodbye Cruel World, the eighth album by Elvis Costello & the Attractions (and Elvis’s ninth album overall). While it seems many Elvis purists regard this as one of his worst albums, it holds a special place in my heart, as I vividly remember sitting in front of the TV watching Elvis and Daryl Hall in the video for “The Only Flame in Town” (as well as “Everyday I Write the Book,” from the previous album Punch the Clock). Ahhhh, memories. Anyway, it seems that even the super-cool-dudes at KCMU had room in their hearts for this oddball of an album:

• Want to get in Alison Goldfrapp’s pants? Maybe Nick Cave’s? Or Sacha Baron Cohen’s? Guardian writer Simon Hattenstone requested signed skivvies from many celebs for an Ebay fueled fundraiser for New North London Synagogue. You can view all the available undies here. No comment on where these have been.

• Neil Young’s long awaited Archives Vol. 1: 1963-1972 (Warner/Reprise) is now available for preorder and will hit stores June 2. Three versions are available: a Blu-Ray edition priced at $299.99, a DVD edition for $199.99, and an eight-disk CD edition for $99.99. If you preorder, you’ll get some goodies, like a special 7″ single. Visit the preorder page for the full tracklist and more info. Here’s a new video to inspire you to.. ahem… “Cough Up The Bucks”:

• Elvis Costello has also set a June 2 release date for his upcoming Americana album Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane (Hear Music). The album features songs originally written for Johnny Cash and features Emmylou Harris on a track.

• Dinosaur Jr. has set the release date of their upcoming album Farm for June 23 on new label Jagjaguwar. Check out the trippy cover art; you have to wonder what they’re “farming”.

• To celebrate the re-release this week of Pearl Jam’s flannel waving classic Ten, MTV2 tapped a handful of artists to cover songs from the album. Among them was Minneapolis rapper P.O.S., who performs “Why Go” in his bedroom in the video below. If you’re feeling like you need a genre refresher, check out the Grunge primer on Newsweek’s Pop Vox blog.

• The Shins have had a busy week, announcing a short May tour with two dates at the Showbox at the Market, May 4 and 5. Also, amid the rumors of a split with Sub Pop, clarification has been given: The Shins’ contract has expired with Sub Pop and the band is on a “writing hiatus” with no definite future plans.

• In more tour news, Glasgow band Camera Obscura has set a North American tour with a June 6 date at the Showbox at the Market. These folks haven’t been to the US in a while, so be sure to check them out.

• Some big news from the Arts & Crafts camp in Toronto: Stars co-frontman Torquil Campbell has started a new project with Apostle of Hustle’s Julian Harris Brown, entitled Dead Child Star. Don’t fret Stars fans; he also announced that the Stars will align in April to begin work on a new record. In other Arts and Crafts news, Metric has a new video for their single “Gimme Sympathy”; check it out below as you wait for their upcoming record Fantasies, out April 14 (and released in the US by Metric themselves).