Sounds like of the day

Fronted by Swedish musician Simon Balthazar, the UK band Fanfarlo sounds like...









BEIRUT!!!

Phoenix

New album ~ Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix ~ US release date: May 26th. These Parisians are playing two sold out shows in NYC in June. It's pop.

RadioWest

Kanye's Love Lockdown via Radiohead's Reckoner



via DJ Earworm. Check it.

Go See This Guy of the Day

His name is Bob Log III. He's on tour. Thirty~three nites in a row.

There are no images. There are no videos. There is no audio. Here. But ~

There is Bob Log III.

Solid Gold

From the Minneapolis based Solid Gold's 2008 EP Get Over It.

It doesn't look like they're performing too much outside the Twin Cities at present. Check back for tour dates nearer you. I think they're onto something...

Solid Gold - Bible Thumper

Too Cool for School of the Day

morning dose of Passion Pit

• Passion Pit's new album MANNERS comes out May 19th.
• Live in NYC: June 19th and 20th.

Video of the Day

School of Seven Bells

Burt, you sonnofahbitch.

Burt Bacharach has written a total of 70 Top 40 hits in the US, won three Academy Awards, six Grammy Awards (including the prestigious Trustees Award with collaborator and lyricist Hal David), is now into his sixth decade of composing and recording, nine #1 hits, 48 top ten hits, and more than 500 songs composed.

Burt's cool. He's allegedly involved in Dr. Dre's 2009 yet-to-be-released album Detox. And he used beats mixed by Dr. Dre in his 2005 solo album, At This Time; penning his own lyrics on an entire album for the first time since the late 70's. Guest stars included Elvis Costello and Rufus Wainwright. Yeah, bitches.

Burt. Happy Birthday you s.o.b.

More of same that hasn't happened yet.

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Yes, this is a repeat post. And I'll probably post it once more... Passion Pit's new album MANNERS comes out May 19th.

Live in NYC: June 19th and 20th, both already sold out. But come on, you know you can get tickets if you really want them. And you do.

Tonight! In a Brooklyn near you.

An event formally held at Union Hall: The Union Hall Secret Science Club.

Outgrowning the people under the stairs vibe at Union Hall, the SSC is now held near the river Gowanus at The Bell House. Tonight's topic : your brain! Let's find out how it remembers stuff, what drugs to take to remember stuff better and what's up with those lab mice? Starts at 7.30pm and costs zero dollars.



Here is a topical episode from my favorite radio program ever. It's called Radio Lab ~ So listen to it and come feeling all smarter than everyone else and shit. Don't forget.


*Radio Lab episodes from all 5 seasons ~ plus extra podcast features ~ are here.

Artist of the Day

Stephin Fucking Merritt. I'm pretty sure that's actually his middle name. Or at least how I envision how he introduces himself to people.

With not only the most distinctive voice, but one of my truly favorites, Stephin Fucking Merritt holds a big middle finger to leisure time. He's created and played significant roles in these bands:

• The Magnetic Fields
• The 6ths
• The Gothic Archies
• Future Bible Heroes

They can all be found under Stephin's House of Tomorrow umbrella.

* Not an official MF video, but I think it was put together well and I like that song*

He has also collaborated with children's book writer Daniel Handler, more familiarly known as Lemony Snicket and his series of unfortunate events. Under the name The Baudelaire Memorial Orchestre, Merritt wrote the soundtrack for the Tragic Treasury audio book.



Merritt recently scored the music and wrote the lyrics to Coraline the musical which opened May 7th at the MCC Theatre in NYC. And, yes, that Coraline with the rad 3-D that's probably still in a theatre near you. This stage adaptation has been in the works for over five years but has been all caught up in movie legal strife. Well, now it's playing, but only til June 20th. Here, the talents behind the curtain talk:

Animal Collective; live and in your livingroom. Tonite!

They will be playing music at the 930 Club in Washington DC tonight and NPR is there to webcast the performance in its entirety.

It starts at 10pm EST. Learn more.

Come on in. The water's fine.

And in case you're home on Friday night, click on over to Last Call. The Friendly Fires will be there for you.

Found of the day

This found is fantastic. They share what others have not meant for you, or them.

Check out the tour page for an event near you. There were two in NY this week but I didn't find out until today. Don't let it happen to you.

And, yes. There is a dirty version.