When The Lonely Island’s Incredibad first came out, I rocked the eff out of it. The charmingly hilarious look at rock and hip hop through their twisted eyes made me laugh and generally laugh my ass off and their humor was something I thought music was sorely missing. Everything I listened too had gotten far too serious and, well, it sucked. Lonely Island have made an art out of funny, though.

Incredibad is also a really competent blending of the group’s comedic talents and passion for the music; Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone (the three main members of the group and life-long pals who, evidently, simultaneously lost their virginity to an alien [listen to Incredibad for details]) really slammed a few out of the part with the album, and this song was among them.

With a guest vocal provided by Julian Casablancas (from The Strokes), Andy makes me never want to eat boiled goose or go to an old folks home ever, ever again. Still, it’s my favorite song on the album.

Check out the hilarious ass video “after the jump” …read full article…

Last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The National gave the audience a super cool preview of their new material. The song they chose was “Terrible Love”, a great little song that reminds me of “Fake Empire” without the acapella-epic chorus.

Yes, I made up a word.

May 11th is the release day for High Violet and, as we have said before, visit http://www.highviolet.com for more album info and tour dates.

Check out the clip “after the jump” …read full article…

Yay, a super great new video from She & Him. I needed more Zooey in my life, that’s for sure. I do have a thing for her, you know.

Lil Wayne, is a genius, we think. I think most people really agree and despite how disappointing many of us found his latest album, Rebirth, Weezy has our support as he is supposed to be stepping into prison today. As a sign of that support for our fave MC (plus Eminem/Slim Shady, who, let’s face it, needs some RE love), we’re going to post the video for the song that got us the most “hype” when Rebirth was announced: “Drop the World”.

Anyway, the track is great, the vid’s intense so puh-leaze check it out “after the jump” …read full article…

This week on Dirty Laundry, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Robert Levon Been, who took some time to hang down at the ‘mat before heading out on tour in support of BRMC’s new album: Beat The Devil’s Tattoo, which is out now. He talks about the band, growing up the son of a famous musician and the new album, so it’s pretty rad.

Grab the track “after the jump” …read full article…

Great clip for a ridiculously hypnotic track. Plastic Beach hits shelves next week.

Frenchkiss darlings The Antlers released a second music video from their 2009 breakout album Hospice on Friday. The video is for one of the album’s biggest track, “Bear,” shot in the bleak and snowy forest of… um… Bear Mountain, features beautiful cinematography and fantastical imagery, offering a perfect visual complement to the song’s moving lyrics. Rife with metaphors, despite the video’s initial dreariness, “Bear” maintains some of the same themes of hope that we saw in the bands’ video for “Two.”

Check out tour dates and more “after the jump” …read full article…

The old adage “I don’t want to be famous because…” pretty much applies here. Someone decided to grab Ke$ha’s middle school talent show in which she COVERS Radiohead. Yikes, not a nice move on that person’s part, but still sort of cool to hear that:

1) She can sing…a bit.
2) She is just following what’s popular and, right now, rap-pop/party-party/girl-pop b.s. is the music of the day.

Go Ke$ha. Make a dollar while you can before the major label model implodes and there are no big paydays left for anyone there.

And if you get a chance, work this cover into your set. It’s ballsy.

Sunset Rubdown [MySpace] just debuted the great new video for “Dragon’s Lair” at Pitchfork TV today. They could have debuted it here, but they weren’t sure if giving an exclusive to us would make sense. (That’s totally not true at all…I’m just talking shiiizzzzz.)

Either way, this clip = mind-bottling. Yeah, I went there.

Check it out. Above. Duh.

Dragonslayer is out now on Jagjaguwar.

Check out another track from the album “after the jump” …read full article…

?uestlove from the Roots sat down to discuss the importance and influence of Fela Kuti when he first discovered Fela Kuti’s music and the impact of his music on both his personal life as well as Fela’s impact on music and culture, showcasing works by Mos Def, Macy Grey, D’Angelo, X-Clan, and Leaders of the New School.

Over the next several months, Knitting Factory Records will be re-releasing Fela’s entire catalogue. The “Chop ‘N Quench” batch, containing 6 CDs (9 albums total) from 1964-1974, is available digitally and physically now.

Get a free track and check out more “after the jump” …read full article…

Yesterday marked the debut of Passion Pit’s official video for “Little Secrets” directed by Timothy Saccenti. The band is on tour this spring in the U.S. We’ve really liked their previous videos ["To Kingdom Come"] so check this one out, fo’ sho’.

More tourdates, etc. “after the jump” …read full article…

Holy gentle Jesus, this video is too funny. You know what? I was not at all surprised that Vampire Weekend, one of the “most buzzed about bands of the last half decade” (copyright: me!), might actually hang out with a Jonas Brother, RZA and Jake Gyllenhaal. Not at all. Well, they all made an appearance in the latest video from VW, “Giving Up The Gun”, and it’s a pretty great clip if I have to be honest, if not for the fact that there is a humor deeply ingrained in the piece. It can be overt at times, but there’s just a dry, subtle humor there.

Still I am shocked that VW like badminton enough to feature it prominently in a video. (Nice work, SMS. It was tennis. They were playing tennis. Seriously, wear your glasses in the morning, k?) They still seem like such a polo sort of crowd, despite their love of afro-centric beats and flavors.

Check out the clip “after the jump” …read full article…

The uber-sexified likes of NYC’s own The Phenomenal Handclap Band [MySpace] recently debuted a great new video for “Baby” with the good peeps over at Stereogum. The clip was “likened to a Dario Argento film”, and is a super saturated and atmospherically depressed clip from Steven Agnew, the genius behind The Futurehead’s “Walking Backwards” video.

The band’s self-titled album is out now on Friendly Fire Recordings.

Check out the clip and more “after the jump” …read full article…

On this week’s edition of “Dirty Laundry”, Har Mar Superstar (aka Sean Tillman) bares all. What he doesn’t do, however, is shed any layers of clothing, despite the fact that he’s IN A LAUNDROMAT. What better place to get butt-nekkid, right? They’ve got some autographed copies of his latest release, Dark Touches, so head over and check that out as well.

[mp3] Har Mar Superstar – “Tall Boy”

“Jónsi” [Official] might be more well known for his day job as guitarist and vocalist for the critical darlings, Sigur Ros, but there is no denying that he has an ear for rad music. With the band on hiatus while other members focus on families and babies, etc., Jonsi has a red hot solo career that needs to be focused on. I say, “good for him”.

His solo album (Go) was announced this past December and is sure to carry forth all and carries a April 5th worldwide street date on both Parlophone and XL Recordings.

Gorgeous video for another great song. Enjoy it “after the jump” …read full article…

Check out this beautifully shot video of San Francisco’s Morning Benders playing a Phil Spector influenced new song, Excuses, live in-studio. I could continue to waste ink over how great this video is, but I think the best thing to do is just watch it. Highly recommended.

Danish group Under Byen [MySpace] has released a brand new video, directed by visual artist Sidse Carstens, for the title track off their forthcoming album, Alt Er Tabt, out April 6 on Paper Bag Records. It’s amazing, frankly, portraying a woman losing her crap (which is how I feel when I am left alone in my own kitchen at home). I have no idea what I am doing.

Ha.

Check out the track as well “after the jump” …read full article…

After discovering the band on the FIFA 08 soundtrack, I was glad to hear that The Hours [MySpace] are finally releasing material on this side of the Atlantic. The band’s tune (“Ali in the Jungle”) was the most hypnotically likeable track among those that EA selected for their flagship footie game. The band made its avidly awaited stateside debut on January 26 with the release of Ali In The Jungle, a four-song digital EP available now on iTunes.

“Inspired by the historic 1974 world heavyweight bout between then-reigning champion George Foreman and former title-holder Muhammad Ali, “Ali In The Jungle” is a hard-hitting and hook-packed paean to the human spirit with an unforgettable litany of powerhouse triumph in the chorus.”

They even shot a gorgeous new clip for the song, featuring all sorts of steam punk and vaudevillian stop motion animation. Seriously cool, so check it out “after the jump” …read full article…

Yesterday, Black Gold [MySpace] debuted their new video for “Shine” from their spectacular album, Rush with the good peeps at Aol Spinner. Here’s what they had to say:

“Filmed on location in the California desert by director Josh Forbes, the video for Black Gold’s ‘Shine’ is indeed beautiful. But there’s more going on there than just a pretty setting — the hidden treasures may be revealed, partially, by the appearance and use of wish lanterns. The lanterns, which fill up with hot air and take flight — hopefully taking the original bearer’s wishes along with it — are a New Year’s Eve tradition in Thailand.”

Sound cool? It is.

Check out the clip “after the jump” …read full article…

Shellshag (Johnny “Shell” and Jen “Shag”) [MySpace] have built up a long reputation in the 1990s DIY scene in San Francisco. According to the press materials I just saw on this new album, these two ran “the now-legendary public arts space Starcleaners” which if you didn’t know (as I didn’t) was a home for the emerging talents of the Dandy Warhols, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Residents, etc. Insane sphere of influence, to say the least.

The new album, Rumors In Disguise (which is where this clip comes from) is out February 9th on Don Giovanni.

Check out the video “after the jump” …read full article…