am/fm

Jack White and Alicia Keys' theme to the forthcoming Bond movie, "Another Way to Die" is out now. As far as a Bond song goes, it definitely fits in the cannon. Recent songs have been either forgettable or downright awful (Madonna anyone), so it's good to see the franchise getting back to the overblown diva style of songwriting.

Does it stand on its own as a song? Thanks to the arrangement, it's hard to hear this without thinking James Bond, so I'm not sure. But is that a bad thing?

Anyway, for comparison purposes, I've rounded up the Bond songs so you can here them all in one place. I've tried to find the original titles where I could, but some of the videos are artist performances instead. But they are presented in chronological order. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Enjoy, after the jump.

(via)

I've been listening to Folds' latest album for a few weeks, and I'm having a hard time getting my head around it. Upon first listen, I actually hated it. Which for me is a big deal. Ben Folds is one of my musical heroes and I've loved everything he's done without question up until now.

Of course, I had to give it another six chances, and to me it still sounds like a really angry record. There's a lot of broken-heart relationship stuff, and on a lot of the songs, he drops the distance of the third person and it sounds like he's really singing from the heart (or the spleen, rather). Which may just me confusing first person storytelling with Ben Folds speaking directly to me about all his feelings and problems. No, he probably is speaking directly to me.

Anyway. There is some good stuff here. His duet with Regina Spektor on "You Don't Know Me" (video here) is a lot of fun. "Cologne" takes the story of astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak and turns it into a really poignant meditation on fading love, kind of the reverse emotion of "The Luckiest" off "Rockin' the Suburbs."

Folds plays around a lot with instrumentation, adding electronic noise to his traditional piano and rhythm section set up. I hate change, so this doesn't really work for me.

In all, I think I'm still digesting the album. The stuff I like definitely stays closer to his work of the past — I'm sorry, Ben. I know what I like from you, and I don't like when you toy with me like this.

—eh

Coming off of her epic sweep of the MTV VMAs (/sarcasm), Spears has a follow up to last year's "Blackout" due December 2 (which is apparently her 27th birthday; I thought she was much younger than that). The first single, "Womanizer," leaked here, and it's pretty catchy. It's vaguely anonymous pop, but it's crafted pretty well, reminiscent of, dare I say, "Toxic" (which is the go-to track for people of indie leanings to support the idea that Spears can turn it out when she's on track — and to prove that they can appreciate pop just as much as the next club kid).

MTV is reporting that the song could be available for digital download as early as Monday.
And you can read an internet report of the video shoot for "Womanizer" here. But use your critical thinking caps as you consider the source, i.e., unnamed sources on the internet.

—eh

Sam Champion's Jack Dolgen has started a new website to spread the musical Obama love even further: Barack Rock.

It's cute. A few left-leaning indie bands (actually, I'd be interested to meet a right wing indie rocker) have donated songs for free download with the option to make a donation. Sam Champion has already posted theirs, and we can expect more from Jens Lekman, Antibalis, Via Audio and others up through election day. The songs themselves are not necessarily political, but what's up there so far is cute.

—eh

I caught up with this week's episode of Gossip Girl last night, and it was awesome. I don't want to spoil it, so I can say no more, except that the last scene unfurls to Santogold's "Shuv it," my new favorite song.

—eh

My high school friend Jaymay was featured on NPR's Second Stage podcast today!

I haven't spoken to her in a few years, but she was always a really cool person and I've been her biggest fan since she started coming up through the Sidewalk Antifolk scene. I am clearly biased, but I love her music. I think she has a great voice, a vivid lyrical imagination and interesting musical ideas.

—eh

• So apparently Kanye was listening when I said that his new song at the VMAs was boring. It was all for me, and only me that he remixed "Love Lockdown," right? Listen here.

• TV on the Radio released their video for "Golden Age," the new single off of their forthcoming album, "Dear Science."

I love the dancing on the mountaintops thing. It's kind of like their hanging out on the set of an art rock "Neverending Story."

• The Teenagers (the music group, not the age group) decided that what the ultra-preppy Vampire Weekend needed was more synth. I'm not sure I agree with them, but their makeover of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" makes it an entirely different song. (via)

• I really didn't like Cold War Kids when their album first came out, but they definitely grew on me. And now I'm really into the lead singer's yelly singing voice. Their sophomore album drops next week, but you can hear their new single "Something is Not Right With Me" over at MTVu. I don't know if it's the economy/election/war/Amy Poehler or what, but I feel like a lot of people are feeling like this right now. C'mon guys! Let's get it together.

—eh

The rock band Oasis canceled its Terminal 5 show Friday night, but the group will still be in the city promoting the new album in some interesting ways.

There are even rumors you might find one of the Gallagher brothers crooning in a subway station near you like any other subterranean busker. If the rival siblings don’t make it, however, there definitely will be authentic New York street musicians performing songs from the latest Oasis album, “Dig Out Your Soul in the Streets,” coming out Oct. 7.

The band teamed up with the MTA and NYC & Co., the city’s tourism agency, to bring its music to the streets. In fact, the group taught more than 30 city street performers songs from its new album to be sung at a number of subway and transit spots. A full list of street locations can be found at nycvisit.com/oasis and oasisinet.com.

— Garett Sloane

Back in the days of 10 CD Thursday (yeah, that's dead), I discovered (for myself, not anyone else) a little Brooklyn band called Locksley. Their sound is pure early-'60s-handclaps-loving Beatles, but they're fun. And now they're MTVs Band of the Week! They're currently on MTV's Choose or Lose tour, which hits NYC Nov. 1.

Way to go, guys!

—eh

A few weeks ago, we rounded up some songs people have written for Barack Obama ("Obama Over the Rainbow" is still my favorite). Now, and I know you have all been waiting for this, Boy George gets in on the act. The song itself is pretty basic, "Yes we can" repeated over a simple dance beat, but the cartooning in the video is genius. Well, by genius I kind of mean insane. You've gotta watch it.

—eh

Vampire Weekend has been accused of lifting their sound straight from Paul Simon's "Graceland," who himself learned more than a few things from Ladysmith Black Mambazo and friends. So with that, it's interesting to hear Esau Mwamwaya (hailing from Malawi and London, according to their MySpace), cover VW's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa." It's totally cool.

(French class was long enough ago that I can vaguely make out what the text says on the above link: the take away is that he wants you to imagine you're on vacation while you're listening to this music, it makes it fun.)

They've also got another good track with the ever popular M.I.A.

—eh

The Submarines, "You, Me, and the Bourgeoisie"

The above song was used in a recent iPhone commercial, and the duo just did an interview with Jesse Thorn's intern on the most recent episode of Sound of Young America, but the news here is: doesn't Blake Hazard sound so much like Nina Persson?

—eh

Bonus:

Here's Persson covering The White Stripes' "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground."

You may have already seen this if you went to the Murakami exhibit at Brooklyn Museum this spring. (Backdoor compliment translation: I saw this video months ago, kids. I'm so cool.) It's cute, right? I go back and forth on Murakami (those Luis Vuitton bags annoy the crap out of me), but I think his self-consciously commercialized J-pop style works here. And Teddy Bear Kanye is adorable.

The song itself is pretty understated as far as 'Ye goes. In a good way.

— eh

(It's cheesy, but I love putting words together to make new ones; that's called a "portmanteau." Anyway, the post ...)

Musicians are rallying for Obama, with some pretty neat tunes. Above is "Cumbia de Obama," by Fosforo. You can download it and read the bilingual lyrics here.

Extra Golden is featured on Ear Farm for their Afropop Obama salute.

And local band Clare and the Reasons, who I've mention before, is giving away their Obama song, "Obama Over the Rainbow."

Stereogum is not so hot on ex-Eurythmic Dave Stewart's prObama contribution (neither are we, when it comes to it), but there are a lot of high profile people (Whoopi Goldberg, Forest Whitaker, Joss Stone, Macy Gray, Barry Manilow, Margaret Cho...) in the video.

And, not a song, but an interview with NY Mag reveals that Obama has locked up the RZA endorsement (though as he mentions, he himself can't vote because he's been convicted of a felony).

— eh

YACHT has released this barnstormer of a warm weather jam just in time for fall. According to their bulleted press release:

• The Summer Song was originally recorded as a love letter to tourmates LCD Soundsystem, and released for free online
• YACHT is as surprised as you are that DFA wanted to release the song

It's a sweet little ditty; the video (and the song, a little) is thematically similar to that Matt & Kim video where they get food thrown at them.

—eh

TVOR is streaming a new track, "Golden Age," from their website to promo their forthcoming album, "Dear Science," which drops Sept. 23. All I can say is, wow, this is a departure. They've still got the anxious, tightly knit harmonies going, but the '80s-style dance party in the background is new. This one is going to take some digesting. I'm looking forward to the rest of the album, though.

—eh

Radiohead has released a new video for their song, "House of Cards." It's, well, kind of cool. They're making a lot of fuss about it because they didn't use cameras in the making of the video at all. Instead they employed a 3-D motion capture system that "produce structured light to capture 3D images at close proximity." (Although, let's get philosophical here: isn't a camera at its essence a machine that uses light to transfer a live panorama into a static image?)

This video explains the technology further. OK, it's neat, but I don't get how a light-receptive sensor is not a camera. But I'm obviously getting caught up in semantics here.

The grainy, bare-bones electronic aesthetic of the video is a good fit for Radiohead's sound, and it's cool to see Thom Yorke's lonely, Max Headroom-ed crooning to no one.

And, of course, this being Radiohead, there's more. They encourage you to download the data here to create your own video and post it here.

eh.www.amNY.com

On the heels of the recent release of Islands' "Arm's Way" (of which The Morning News recently did a trenchant analysis) frontman Nick Thorburn is releasing another album with Jim Guthrie under the name Human Highway. Pitchfork has a good interview with Thorburn (who I always want to call Thorburton, for some reason).

Here's a sneak peak:

Much lighter than Islands, right?

BTW, see Islands at Siren Fest next week. It's gonna be awesome.

eh.www.amNY.com

If you've read any recent criticism of classical music, you probably have heard the lamentation that the traditional form of the genre is in trouble (in the west, that is; a recent New Yorker article points out that classical music is thriving in China). But this doesn't mean that people aren't doing interesting classical-based things with music.

I've written about them for the paper before, but local string quartet Ethel combines just about every genre to come up with a really cool sound. Listen.

And now East Village Opera Company is working on a project where they reimagine great arias as rock operas. It's pretty awesome, especially if you're familiar with the originals. Their "La donna e mobile" (done in a Queen-reminiscent style with a mid-eastern beat) made me laugh out loud. I'm not sure what this means about me. (Yes I am; It means I'm a dork.)

You can hear a couple of selections on their MySpace page.

If that's too much new for you, here's a more traditional version of the Habanera from Carmen, done by an orange.

eh.www.amNY.com

The man premiered "Chemtrails" on his website a while ago, but now you can hear that one as well as two other new songs from "Modern Guilt" at iLike.

I am really excited for this new album. Can you tell?

eh.www.amNY.com

(This is a terrible look for Beck.)

OK, it occurs to me that Beck's PR company is doing this on purpose -- releasing a steady trickle of news about the album until it drops -- and I'm playing right into their hand reporting every time Beck sneezes, but whatever, dude.

Today's tid-bit: For those of you who can't wait until July 8th, "Modern Guilt" will be available on TouchTunes jukeboxes around the country July 1st. If you've been to a bar in NYC, you've seen these babies before. If you're unsure of what I'm talking about, you can text BECK to 40411 and get the nearest TouchTunes location -- if you're desperate enough, that is. (That's probably a text that costs, BTW. Also, assuming a rate of $.25/song, you'll be ponying up $2.50 to hear the album once in a loud bar. Beats iTunes, but still ... )

Not from the press release: The album is coming out on vinyl!

Sorry to start the week off so quietly; we're switching design programs at the paper, and learning the new way is taking up a lot of my time. So this will probably be a quiet week on the blog.

But, I'm not too busy for any new Beck news. Check out a preview (they're calling it a "trailer") of the new album at Amazon. Sounds good!

eh.www.amNY.com

Her CD came out in late 2006, and she hasn't made a big splash (though she was nominated for a Grammy, in the Best Urban/Alternative category), but I was listening to Alice Smith's "For Lovers, Dreamers and Me", and I remembered how much I really liked it. Sometimes, I think that women singer/songwriters get marginalized unfairly; stuck on Starbucks compilations and largely ignored. But Smith is cooool. Her sound is easy and soulful, and she's got a strong voice that doesn't try too hard. Listen.

Completely coincidentally, she's playing Terminal 5 June 26.

"Dream"

eh.www.amNY.com

Here are a few good bands that I've come across recently.

We Are Scientists, "After Hours"

I love these guys. Their output is a little uneven, but when they're good, they're good, and their live show is so much fun. They downsized from a trio to a duo sometime last year, and their new album "Brain Thrust Mastery" is out now. Hear samples here. They'll be at Music Hall of Williamsburg July 31, and Bowery Ballroom August 1.

Josh Fix, "Don't Call Me in the Morning"

I have been really digging this guy recently. Yeah, it's cheesy glam rock, but that's what makes it good. He's playing Arlene's Grocery tonight! I'm going! Listen here.

The Submarines, "Peace and Hate"

This band, my friend Ted turned me onto. This duo initially got together, both musically and romantically, in 2000ish and played with each others' bands. Then they broke up and wrote songs about that. Then they got married and wrote songs about that. Cute. Listen here.

eh.www.amNY.com

A Chris Crocker appearance and an "All Your Base Are Belong to Us." That, plus Rivers' Earl mustache make this video awesome.

Also, the "shoes" guy. Apparently there are 15 YouTube references in the video. Can you find them?

This song is really growing on me.

eh.www.amNY.com

On a recent episode of NPR's All Songs Considered (this one, as a matter of fact), the show opened with a one Miss Laura Gibson. The song, as played on ASC (her MySpace has a different version), features a certain familiar haunting whine ... but I don't think it's a theremin! Her cast of characters includes a saw player, so as far as I can tell, that's what this is.

Whatever it is, her music is beautiful. You can here more here and here. As Daytrotter (the second link) puts it: "Without getting too mushy, Laura Gibson makes you want to cuddle. She makes the sort of soft sound that feels like bedding and comforters and logs crackling above a tame, but toasty fire."

eh.www.amNY.com

More on Islands ...

From their latest album, "Arm's Way," check out "In the Rushes" (in addition to all of the other tracks) on the band's MySpace page. The multi-part song ends with an homage to The Who's "A Quick One While He's Away." But the lyrics are all Thorburn-ed up, of course.

The original here (Part VI: You Are Forgiven).

Island's lyrics:

Cellos, cellos, cellos, cellos (x2)

I can't believe it
Believe that I had seen it
Remember who was in my arms
Remember when I had arms

It's like a dream the way that it unfolded
Like I'd been in the rushes without knowing

I kissed it but I must admit
I missed it now I do forget

Like I had been in the rushes without knowing

You are forgotten (x100)

Ah ... I remember fondly those days, back when I had arms ...

eh.www.amNY.com

You can't really generalize about a given label's sound any more; the big labels all sound alike, and the "indies" sound alike, just in a different way. What makes a Sub Pop act different from a Touch and Go or a Barsuk or a Merge these days? (I'm not even going to get into the idea of indies owned by majors.)

That being said, I pretty much always like the stuff Ghostly International puts out. Their identity is predicated on electronica music that's a little bit weird, as far as I can tell.

This is all to say, I really like The Chap — who claim to "have never been influenced by anyone or anything at any time, ever."

Their new album comes out July 1, but there are already a few tracks making the rounds.

"Ethnic Instruments"

(I like the use here of what Pitchfork refers to as "some kind of boinging instrument.")

eh.www.amNY.com

She's got more here (including original stuff).

eh.www.amNY.com

• Scarlett Johansson's album is out today, and Idoator rounds up the critical reaction. Pretty mediocre, everyone seems to be saying. Hear for yourself here.

• In better music, download a new Aimee Mann track at Brooklyn Vegan. She is so awesomely awesome and she totally downplays it, making her awesomer still. The song is a lament for turning 31 and she totally nails the slacker depression of a tail-end Gen Xer. Also, she was recently part of a New Yorker article about L.A. club Largo, that made me alternately want to be in with that crowd and punch them in the face.

• Also from the New Yorker, a list of 100 Essential Jazz Albums, jumping off from David Remnick's excellent piece on Phil Schaap a local jazz expert/historian.

• Spinner.com has their own Commercial Watch: Kraft Salad Dressing with "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song," by the Flaming Lips.

• Today on Stereogum, Death Cab for Cutie guest blogs. First up, a long-winded discussion of Roger Waters and "Dark Side of the Moon." It's the kind of thing that's deeply interesting to a specific audience, and impenetrable to everyone else.

• Beck gives us a taste of his forthcoming Danger Mouse-produced album with the single "Chemtrails." It sounds like something (not Beck), but I just can't place it. The bass line is really nice.

• Check out Aquarium Drunkard for some Replacements tracks.

So I saw "Iron Man" this weekend.

Suicidal Tenancies, "Institutionalized"

Apparently Tony Stark is a punk fan. The movie has him listening to this song while he's working on his cars down in his workshop. Nice.

Also, because I know you care, I like that Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts has freckles. I hope she wears sunscreen ...

eh.www.amNY.com

"Going On"

Scifi-licious!

I love the supersaturated picture with the '70s-style titles. Neat video, neat song. Yes, there's nothing on "The Odd Couple" as ear-wormy as "Crazy," but I think the album as a whole is stronger than "St. Elsewhere."

If you still haven't heard it, download a backwards version here. And then ...

eh.www.amNY.com

I missed this while I was away, but here's the video for ScarJo's cover of Tom Waits' "Falling Down." When on road trips, listening to music and staring out the car window, I always think that that POV would make a great music video, which is what they're doing here. Turns out, if it's not you that's doing the actual traveling, that view is pretty boring. The song itself is alright, but I still like her "Anywhere I Lay My Head" better. (Get some real Tom here. It's everything great about the man.)

People.com has a preview of New Kids on the Block's new single "Summertime." It's not any worse than any of the other pop crap that's out there.

Trent Reznor (whose old house I saw in New Orleans; it's currently owned by John Goodman) is offering the latest Nine Inch Nails album for free download.

eh.www.amNY.com