It’s been a busy week in the weird and wacky world of The Flaming Lips. This past Sunday, the psychedelic-rock act was featured prominently in a Super Bowl commercial for the Hyundai Santa Fe, while on Wednesday they revealed that they were hard at work putting their indelible stamp on a full album cover of The Stone Roses’ 1989 self-titled debut
The tune first appeared on Queen’s 1975 release Night at the Opera
It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of AV Club’s Undercover series. Launched back in 2010, they’ve gotten an impressive array of indie-rock bands to come into their Chicago office and tackle songs from the likes of Wilco to Sufjan Stevens to Kenny Loggins to Adele. The pop culture site recently polled its readers to help formulate a new list of 25 tunes for an upcoming edition, offering up 68 song choices broken into categories like Ladies of the ’80s, Whistling Songs and We Used2 Like U (pre-1985 U2). Earlier this week, the site revealed the results with the likes of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire, Tom Jones’ What’s New Pussycat and Third Eye Blind’s Semi-Charmed Life all making the cut. This year’s edition will kick off on March 19, and will take two breaks, one for a some baseball songs and another to celebrate summer.
If we were to make one request, we’d love to see Phish be invited to come so they could tackle Sleater-Kinney’s You’re No Rock N’ Roll Fun, as a way to say thanks to Carrie Brownstein for her embracing the band’s music a few years back. Here’s the full list of what to expect…
Heart, “Barracuda” / Billy Ocean, “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car” / Backstreet Boys, “I Want It That Way” / Blackstreet, “No Diggity”/ Paul Simon, “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” / Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start The Fire” / Talking Heads, “Psycho Killer” / Faces, “Ooh La La”/ Cheap Trick, “Surrender” / The Supremes, “Come See About Me” / Tom Jones, “What’s New Pussycat?” / U2, “New Year’s Day” / Third Eye Blind, “Semi-Charmed Life” / Rollins Band, “Low Self Opinion” / New Radicals, “You Get What You Give” / Frank Ocean, “Thinkin Bout You” / INXS, “Need You Tonight” / Nine Inch Nails, “Down In It” / Sleater-Kinney, “You’re No Rock N’ Roll Fun” / Dinosaur Jr., “Not You Again” / Weezer, “Undone—The Sweater Song” / Modest Mouse, “Third Planet” / Eddie Money, “Shakin” / Robyn, “Dancing On My Own” / Radiohead, “Just”
As always, we’ve got fresh linkage for you to enjoy…
Finally, over the last few years, The Flaming Lips have taken to recording covers of full albums. The group put their indelible spin on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and King Crimson’s In The Court Of The Crimson King. Up next for the Oklahoma City-based band will be the 1989 self-titled debut
We’ve been enthusiastically touting the music of Rodriguez since his lost classic debut Cold Fact
Finally, normally you wouldn’t think that The Flaming Lips and football could be uttered in the same sentence, but come this Sunday the psychedelic-rock act will be featured prominently in an ad for the Hyundai Santa Fe during the Super Bowl. Earlier this week the Oklahoma City-based band, who will release their new studio album The Terror on April 2, dropped the non-album track Sun Blows Up Today, which soundtracks the irreverent commercial called Epic Playdate. Check it out…
Earlier today the trailer for a new movie called Inside Llewyn Davis came out. This film was created by the Coen Brothers and tells the tale of a fictional folk singer from the Greenwich Village scene which stars Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman. According to Rolling Stone, the film is loosely based on the life of Dave Van Ronk. No release date has been set yet.
Here’s the trailer featuring a Bob Dylan soundtrack…
In other news, here’s a batch of fresh links hot out of the HT oven…
Finally, as we previously reported, on April 18 the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame will hold its 28th induction ceremony at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, where they will honor their 2013 class of Rush, Public Enemy, Heart, Donna Summer, Albert King, Quincy Jones, Lou Adler and Randy Newman. Yesterday the Rock Hall revealed the first round of presenters and performers that will honor this year’s inductees, which included Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters inducting prog-rockers Rush, John Mayer and Gary Clark Jr. teaming up to honor blues-legend Albert King and Don Henley (The Eagles) who will induct singer-songwriter Randy Newman. The ceremonies will be aired on HBO on Saturday, May 18 at 9 PM EST.
We’re big fans of Marc Maron’s fantastic podcast WTF with Marc Maron around these parts. The comedian turned talk show host, has built his reputation around his very personal narrative, self-deprecating and self-analyzing humor, that often times involves stories about his cats, love life and past struggles in the comedy business. Maron’s podcasts typically feature interviews with comedians and actors, but over the last few weeks Marc has invited a number of musicians to stop by for some highly entertaining chats that we wanted to recommend. Marc’s recent episodes with Blues Traveler, Jakob Dylan and Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), all feature some great stories that are well worth blocking out some time to sit down and listen to. Today, Maron uploaded his most recent episode which features an interview with Dave Grohl, which we’re sure is a must-listen as well.
Since opening the doors of his Third Man Records store in Nashville back in 2009, Jack White has made vinyl lovers drool with innovative releases. Earlier this week White revealed the latest project from his label, as Third Man is teaming up with the fine folks at Document Records for a new reissue series that will document the complete recorded works in chronological order of an artist. Volume one of this series is set to feature the earliest works of revered blues artists Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell and the Mississippi Sheiks. Here’s some more info via Third Man Records…
This past weekend longtime HT faves the Felice Brothers completed a three-night New Year’s run that included two intimate sold-out shows at Maxwell’s in Hoboken and a New Year’s Eve gig at New York City’s Mercury Lounge. The upstate New York-based band - whose choice in covers typically leans towards the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen or traditional folk tunes – played a handful of unexpected new ones over the course of the run.
To close Saturday night’s show, Ian embraced his inner crooner tackling the Elvis classic Can’t Help Falling In Love, putting his unmistakable, ragged, whiskey-soaked vocal stamp on the tender ballad…
On Sunday night, the ramshackle folk-rock act upped the ante during their encore, opening up with the one-two punch of Golden Slumbers -> Carry That Weight from The Beatles’ Abbey Road medley, before turning the shoebox-sized club into a full-on mosh pit with a cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, a tune that Kurt Cobain probably never envisioned would be covered by a band with a fiddle player in it. Let’s check them out…
On Monday we kicked off the week with Polyphonic Spree’s gorgeous rendition of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s anti-war song – Happy Xmas (War Is Over), which can be found on the psychedelic choral-rock act’s new studio album, Holidaydream: Sounds of the Holidays Vol. One. Today we’ve got our second cover of the Lennon-Ono classic, that has some direct ties to the original, as last night the impressive pairing of Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples, the Harlem Gospel Choir and John and Yoko’s son Sean Lennon performed the song on The Colbert Report.
The trio closed out the political satire show’s Christmas Carol Week that had previously seen Diana Krall, Elvis Costello and Marc Ribot perform Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Audra McDonald with Baby, It’s Cold Outside and Michael Stipe and Mandy Patinkin doing Good King Wencelas – who were all assisted by Mr. Colbert on vocals. For their take on the tune, Tweedy, Staples and Lennon swapped verses, with some gorgeous assistance from the choir. Let’s check it out…
In the spirit of the season both Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and Good King Weneceles are currently available as digital downloads via iTunes with all proceeds going to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
[via The Audio Perv]
Rhino Records will celebrate the 35th anniversary of Fleetwood Mac’s landmark Rumours album in January with an expanded anniversary reissue that includes assorted outtakes and demos. An expanded edition also features Rumours on 140-gram vinyl, the 1977 documentary The Rosebud Film on DVD and more outtakes. Rumours 35 is slated for a January 29th release.
Finally, our friends at Boing Boing posted this crazy clip of John Lennon teaming up with Chuck Berry for a version of Memphis, Tennessee on The Mike Douglas Show in 1972. Our favorite part has to be Berry’s bemused look when Yoko Ono stars screaming. Check it out…
The Polyphonic Spree got into the Christmas spirit early this year, dropping Holidaydream: Sounds of the Holidays Vol. One
[Photo by Steve Wrubel]
Originally recorded by the Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir, the tune was released on December 1, 1971, and reached number three on Billboard’s Christmas singles chart. With the anniversary of Lennon’s passing this past weekend, it seemed only appropriate to feature The Polyphonic Spree’s wonderful animated video for the tune, which they released late last week.
Polyphonic Spree – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
The Polyphonic Spree are in the midst of their 10th Annivesary Holiday Extravaganza tour, which brings the troupe to Chicago’s Logan Square Auditorium tomorrow night.
During their appearance at September’s Global Citizens Festival, Dave Grohl announced from the stage that it was going to be the Foo Fighters last gig for awhile, as they were headed into an extended hiatus after touring the globe in support of their 2011 release Wasting Light
Grohl is also directing a new documentary about the studio, which is set to feature the likes of John Fogerty, Tom Petty, Trent Reznor, Joshua Homme, Fleetwood Mac, Krist Novoselic, and Cheap Trick.
Check out the trailer…
Check out the full schedule for Dave Grohl Presents Sound City…
As the story goes, when Pete Shapiro was gearing up to re-open Capitol Theatre, he reached out to the members of Strangefolk to see if they would reunite to play the legendary venue. The conversation eventually led to the ’90s-jam-favorites getting back together for the first time in 12 years for a series of reunion shows that began with a sold out mini-tour last spring, continued with an appearance at this summer’s Gathering Of The Vibes, and this past weekend with the four-piece act returning to the Port Chester, New York rock hall for the first time since 1998 for a two-night stand.
Over the course of the their four sets, Strangefolk offered up a mix of their “hits” with some deep cuts, sounding every bit as good as they did back their their heyday. Adding to the old-school jamband vibe of the run, was moe. guitarist Al Schnier, who served as the opening act, and sat-in with the band and the end of the first set each night. Al-Folk dipped into moe.’s songbook for collaborative takes on Moth and Mexico, while also tackling Strangefolk’s Gone Fishin’. On Saturday night, in a nod to the venue’s rich musical history, Schnier invited out the members of Strangefolk at the end of his set for a fantastic spot on cover of the Grateful Dead’s Jack Straw, which saw Al and Reid trade off on the verses.
As we mentioned last week, Strangefolk have announced that they will appear at moe’s Snoe.down festival on Saturday, March 24, while the indie-jam act will kick off a short West Coast swing on November 30, with a two-night stand at the Ogden Theatre in Denver.
The Capitol Theatre – Port Chester, NY
Friday, November 23
Set I
Fountain-> Poland, What Goes On, Blue Grey, So Well->Funky Town->So Well, Pawn, Moth (moe. w/ Al Schnier) Lines and Circles
Set II
Furnace, Valhalla, Faces, So Far Gone -> Strange Ranger -> So Far Gone, Woman Child-> Reubens Place-> Sanford and Sons theme-> Reubens Place
E: Roads
Saturday, November 24
Set I
Stout Hearted–> All The Same, Sometimes, Angry At The Sun, Dance, Mexico (moe. w/ Al Schnier), Rather Go Fishin’ (w/ Al Schnier)
Set IIBurned Down, Sinner, Walnut, Alaska, Whatever, Great Long While, Westerly (with Lone Tree lyrics)E: Cabin John
Here’s LazyLightning55′s incredible vid of Al-folk’s Moth…
As the Northeast continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy, it’s no surprise to hear that celebrities and musicians are already eager to get involved in benefit shows to help relief efforts. NBC has announced that it will air the first of what will likely be many such specials with “Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together” on Friday. The special, which will air at 8PM ET on NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, E!, Style Network and G4, and online at NBC.com, Today.com and NBCNews.com, is currently set to feature Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Sting, Jimmy Fallon and more. Money collected will go to the American Red Cross, which is providing food, shelter and other support to those affected by the hurricane and other disasters. You don’t have to wait till Friday to donate though, as you visit RedCross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS, or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
Finally, Mumford & Sons are looking to continue their dominance of the music world. The English folk-rock act’s sophomore album Babel
DVD Tracklisting
Lovers Eyes, Little Lion Man, Below My Feet, Roll Away Your Stone, Lover of the Light, Thistle & Weeds, Ghost That We Knew, Awake My Soul, Whispers, Dustbowl Dance, I Will Wait,The Cave
Over the last few years the brewers at Dogfish Head have rolled out a handful of their “uniquely off-centered ales” that have had a direct correlation to the music world, honoring Miles Davis, Robert Johnson and Pearl Jam with their own signature beers. For their latest crossover, the Delaware-based brewery is teaming up with the folks at Grateful Dead Productions for their latest collaboration, which will be called American Beauty. The beer, which is still in the development phase, will be a strong pale ale with all-American hops and barley, but they are reaching out to fans of both the band and the brewery for help in choosing a special final ingredient, and asking for their the Dead-inspired story behind it. The brewers at Dogfish Head will be accepting suggestions online starting in December, with a joint panel set to select the ingredient they feel works best in the context of a strong pale ale recipe. American Beauty is set to hit taps and shelves in October of 2013, we can’t wait to try it!
Finally, in what seems like a sure fire sign of the apocalypse, CBS has inked a deal with The Big Bang Theory’s writer/co-executive producer Dave Goetsch to produce a multi-camera family sitcom to be called Smells Like Teen Spirit. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the show “revolves around an 18-year-old budding entrepreneur who forgoes Harvard and instead opts to launch a multibillion-dollar Internet company from his garage with the assistance of his sister, best friend and his 1990s indie-rock parents.” Somewhere, Kurt Cobain is crafting a t-shirt that reads “Corporate Sitcoms Still Suck.”
If he wasn’t busy enough with his many gigs, ?uestlove is going to now have to find time to grade papers, as The Roots drummer has revealed that he will be teaming up with Universal Music Enterprises vice president Harry Weinger to teach a course titled Classic Albums, next semester at the Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. According to Billboard, the two credit course, “will focus on the concept of what it means for something to be called classic or seminal, as well as take a close look at the music, lyrics, production, business aspects — such as promotion and marketing — that informed the release and reception of the album, and try to provide a context as to why these albums have stood time.” Albums expected to be covered will include Sly & The Family Stone’s Stand!, Aretha Franklin’s Lady Soul, Led Zeppelin’s IV, Prince’s Dirty Minds and the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique.
Finally, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame will celebrate one of the pioneers of the genre, as they will honor Chuck Berry with a new exhibit Roll Over Beethoven: The Life and Music of Chuck Berry, and a week long celebration of his career culminating with an all-star tribute concert at the State Theater in Cleveland. Opening today, which also happens to be the legendary guitar player’s 86th birthday, the multimedia exhibit will include Berry’s 1958 recording contract with Chess Records, a vest he wore at the Toronto Rock and Roll Festival in 1969 and a handbill from a 1961 show in Jamaica.
As we’ve dutifully pointed out a number of times around these parts, 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of The Rolling Stones. While the band is still playing coy on whether they will actually celebrate this milestone on stage this year, the iconic band’s time on the big and small screen will be the subject of a new multimedia exhibit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Set to run from November 15 through December 2, The Rolling Stones – 50 Years On Film, will feature “comprehensive retrospective chronicles the band from the mid-1960s until today through documentaries, fiction features, concert films, music videos, experimental shorts, and archival footage, tracing the film careers of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Ronnie Wood, as well as former band members Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, and Bill Wyman, both collectively and individually as composers, performers, producers, and actors”.
The exhibit will open with “a rare screening of Robert Frank’s S-8 Stones Footage from Exile on Main St (1972), and Cocksucker Blues (1972), chronicling The Rolling Stone’s 1972 North American cross-country tour; and closes with screenings on December 1 and 2 of Peter Whitehead’s The Rolling Stones Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965″ – and also include screenings of Gimme Shelter(1970), The Stones In The Park (1969), The Rolling Stones Rock N’ Roll Circus (1968), Shine A Light (2008) and more.
Finally, since debuting in August of 2007, Nickelodeon’s Yo Gabba Gabba! has become something of a pop culture phenomenon not only among its legions of pre-school age fans, but parents as well, with its mix of smartly written sketches and slew of hipster-leaning musical guests. On October 9, those musical guest spots will be released as the compilation Music Is Awesome 4
Yo Gabba Gabba! Music Is… Awesome! vol. Four Tracklist:
Yo Gabba Gabba! – “Live Show Intro” (remix) / Biz Markie – “Pancakes & Syrup / Yo Gabba Gabba! – “That Is What Friends Are For” / The Roots – “We Have Fun”/ Yo Gabba Gabba! – “Teamwork” / Peter, Bjorn & John – “I Wish I Was A Spy” / CSS – “Dinosaur Dinosaur” / Yo Gabba Gabba! – Mixing Up Colors Remix” / Rocket From The Crypt – “He’s A Chef” / Yo Gabba Gabba! – “Balloons” (live version) / George Clinton – “Atomic Frogs” / Cut Copy – “Fantastic Voyages” / Yo Gabba Gabba! – “Dinosaurs Are Really Really” / YMCK – “Fruit Song” / Yo Gabba Gabba! – “Let’s Be Awesome While We Wait” / Metric – “Everybody Has A Talent” / The Aquabats – “Share” / Yo Gabba Gabba! – “Summertime” / Belle & Sebastian – “You Can Do It If You Try” / Yo Gabba Gabba! – ” Clean It Up” / Mariachi El Bronx – “Friends Can Make You Smile” / The Bird And The Bee – “Cover Your Mouth” / Yo Gabba Gabba! – “Rest Up” / Paco – “Listen” / Digital Unicorn – “Green Remix”
