Are you as excited to see Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are as I am? The movie stills look absolutely gorgeous and the songs composed by Karen O seem as wild and fun as I hope the entire project will be. For the soundtrack, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman enlisted “The Kids,” composed of an untrained children’s choir along with many of her friends: Bradford Cox (Deerhunter), Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age, The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs), Aaron Hemphill (Liars), Greg Kurstin (The Bird and the Bee), Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes), Imaad Wasif (New Folk Implosion, Alaska), Nick Zinner, (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and more!

Those of you seeking further escapism will find adventure in the World-meets-Indie friendly acts including the anticipated debut from Fool’s Gold (our current Song of the Day podcast, in fact), the David Byrne-endorsed Forro in the Dark, the Brazilian stylings of Bebel Gilberto, and the groovy beats of Breakestra.

Those looking on our own dusty shores should pick up the latest from The Avett Brothers, Langhorne Slim, Richmond Fontaine, Frank Fairfield, and Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons. And save a bit of your weekly allowance for the new releases by Zero 7, Ghostface Killah, Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions, 7 Worlds Collide. Take Largehearted Boy’s list as your map for adventure and stock up with these selected highlights before setting sail for your local record shop:

On Saturday, during Musicfest NW, KEXP and Caffe Vita presented a series of mostly acoustic performances at The Woods, an old funeral home turned new music venue in Portland. Musical guests included John Vanderslice, Bobby Bare Jr., The Lonely Forest, Black Whales, Fences, and Port O’Brien. Opening the day was Langhorne Slim (who you can also hear live on KEXP today!). Enjoy two songs from his set and check back on the KEXP Blog for more!

Hilary Harris

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Afternoon Show host Kevin Cole, is “Say Yes” by Langhorne Slim from his 2009 album Be Set Free on Kemado Records.

Born Sean Scolnick, Langhorne Slim takes his name from the tiny Pennsylvanian town of his birth. My original best friend in the whole wide world came from Pennsylvania, so most people hailing from the great state of horse-drawn buggies, Hershey Park and cheese-steaks usually start off on the right foot with me. As kids, we rode our skateboards around town, sliding this, grinding that and just hanging out the fuck out. It was with this friend that I remember first talking endlessly about music. His opinion was the first that made me hear things in a different way. Basically, I didn’t think too much about what was spinning through my walkman before this guy from PA rolled into town. Yeah, we used to wax on about which Beatles songs were most important (he was all George and oddly enough I was all Paul). Anyway, we also liked to talk about moving to Philly one day, white-heads, dogs, our parents, having wives, hippies (we didn’t like them but the girls were ok) and making art. I guess this moronic digression is just the sort of thing that pops into my head when I hear mention of Langhorne Slim. I think that original best friend of mine might’ve enjoyed a little Langhorne in his ear. “Say Yes,” from the upcoming release, Be Set Free, sees Slim moving strongly in the direction of blues and gospel. Backed by the surprisingly full sounding War Eagles the tune overflows with the blind exuberance of youth and the untarnished positivity of someone experiencing love for the first time. Do you remember that? The way your heart swelled at the thought of her waiting for you with those brown eyes? Oh hell yes, that was good. This song is the opposite of adult-life induced panic and discouragement. “Say Yes” is a flutter not a murmur. The bouncing piano track summons Jerry Lee Lewis, kicked stools and married cousins. OKAY, not the last one but I wanted to make a joke — this song has me smiling and thinking about first this’s and first that’s. Someone from Jersey once said, “’Remember when’ is the lowest form of conversation” but I call bullshit — it’s good to remember simpler times and the lightness of being brought on by a good old fashioned foot stomping sing-along.

Langhorne Slim will be playing in the Northwest really soon, near the end of September, in fact, as he tours a series of free record store appearances surrounding the upcoming release of the new album. His MySpace page has the details. Here he is singing “Be Set Free” at the Portland Pickathon from back in 2007: