Many sane people hate The Cardigans’ sappy pop ballad “Lovefool”, and they’re probably right to do so. But I like it. And apparently The Morning Benders do to. If that hurts our indie street cred, so be it. Here’s the band with an acoustic take on the “classic”:

The Apples in Stereo are back! And they brought a hobbit with them… Robert Schneider and crew are getting set to release an album called Travellers in Space and Time, and they’ve released the video for the first single, “Dance Floor”. The song is a departure for the band, bringing them into a sort of electro-pop-dance world. The video features Elijah Wood, who, in addition to being a hobbit, owns Simian Records, the company behind the album. And he directed the video for the band’s awesome song “Energy”. Check out “Dance Floor”, and let me know what you think:

Travellers in Space & Time is out Tuesday, but you can pre-order it now.

via You Ain’t No Picasso

I could complicate this with some kind of diatribe about the merits of the buddy cop genre, and the possibilities inherent in turning them on their heads, but let’s just focus on the fact that Samuel L. Jackson and The Rock are playing a pair of superstar cops, and Will Ferrell and Marky Mark Wahlberg are playing The Other Guys. That’s either a recipe for complete disaster, or a funny-ass movie. The trailer shows some potential:

The Other Guys hit theaters August 6th.

Last week we got to hear Bruce Springsteen pay homage to one of his heroes. This week he’s the object of another homage, this time from Justin Townes Earle. Earle stopped by The AV Club as part of their Undercover series, and he chose to cover Springsteen’s classic “Atlantic City”. Nebraska is my favorite Springsteen album, and “Atlantic City” is my favorite song on the album, and I think that version of the song perfectly captures the bleak scenario laid out in its lyrics. So it takes a lot for me to really like a cover of it. But Earle knocks it out of the park. Check it out:

I have to admit, when it comes to Sweden I have a bit of a musical bias. I don’t think I’m alone though. Abba has emotionally scarred a lot of people, and I think it’s fair for all of us to hold a grudge. Plus, the country is also home to a thriving death metal scene. But I suppose I should ease up on the Swedes a bit, and take a bit of time to explore the rest of their music, which lies somewhere between the polar opposites of 70s synth-pop and gloom, doom, and screaming. Nestled deep in that musical valley is Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man on Earth, a man who holds little in common with Abba or In Flames.

Matsson’s stage name is misleading, because he’s apparently quite normal in height. What he lacks in extraordinary height he makes up for in songwriting ability though. With just his distinctive voice and an acoustic guitar he’s able to command a stage and tell an audience a complete story. He draws a lot of comparisons to Bob Dylan, and there certainly is something Dylan-esque about him. But Matsson is just beginning his career, so any comparison is going to be inherently unfair. He seems to recognize and acknowledge the comparison though, winkingly referring to Dylan’s song “Boots of Spanish Leather” in his song “King of Spain”.

Matsson’s recorded his debut album, Shallow Grave, in his home in Sweden, with just an acoustic guitar, a banjo, and his voice as instruments. The album’s simplicity is part of it’s power though. With nothing to hide behind the songs must stand on their own, and they succeed. Critics loved the album, and its success got Matsson a gig opening for Bon Iver on tour. Once he started playing for US audiences they started to realize that this guy is real. And they started spreading the word.

Fast Forward a year and Matsson is set to release his follow up album. The Wild Hunt sounds like a logical progression to Shallow Grave. The songs and production are a little more polished, though not distractingly so. He builds off Shallow Grave without losing the simple power that made it so good.

“The Wild Hunt”

 
 
 
“You’re Going Back”

 
 
 
 
Videos
“Where Do My Bluebird Fly?”, live on KEXP

“The Gardener”, live on La Blogotheque

“King of Spain”, live

Links
Buy Wild Hunt
MySpace
Facebook

Sometimes you have to love the iPod’s Genius feature. You’re in the mood for a certain type of song, so you put one on and hit the Genius button, and the iPod magically finds more songs that are similar to it. Kind of. Sometimes it gets a little confused. For instance, today I started a Genius playlist on Jimmy Buffett’s “Kick it in Second Wind”, and the next song that came up was Bruce Springsteen’s “Pay Me My Money Down”, from We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. Not exactly similar. One of Buffett’s more straight-ahead rock songs into The Boss doing essentially a folk/bluegrass song. Sorry Apple, you’re no genius this time. But…

I hadn’t listened to that Bruce album in a while, and this little Genius slip up made me go back and listen to it again. And I then I remembered just how much I love the whole album. So tonight we’re going to get my favorite song from it, performed live. Here’s Mr, Springsteen, paying homage to Pete Seeger, with “Jesse James”:

Thanks Apple! Your screw up actually paid off this time!

Have you heard about Beck’s Record Club? It’s a really cool idea. He gets a group of friends together and they cover a whole album. In one day. They’ve done this a few times already, covering albums by Leonard Cohen, Skip Spence, and The Velvet Underground. This time they’re taking on INXS’ album Kick. Here’s Mr Hanson, joined by St. Vincent and Angus Andrews from Liars, doing a slowed-down version of “New Sensation”:

via Stereogum

It’s a beautiful spring day here in the mid-Atlantic, full of blue skies, gentle breezes, and plenty of sunshine. So it seems appropriate to feature a band that comes from a land of sunshine and plays the kind of top-down pop songs that sound best under clear skies. The Little Ones hail from LA, and their songs are as bright and clear as the California sunshine.

The Little Ones make a type of music I tend to really enjoy: music that sounds simple, while actually being complicated. There are plenty of sing-along melodies, tight harmonies, and catchy lines. You can appreciate the songs as simple, mindless pop, or you can dig deeper and appreciate well-written lyrics. It’s the type of music that appeals to casual fans and snobby critics alike.

The band has only been around, in their current incarnation, for a few years. Before forming The Little Ones, singer Edward Reyes and guitarist Ian Moreno were in an emo band called Sunday’s Best, but found the genre too limiting. They added Ed’s brother Brian on bass, Lee LaDouceur on keyboards, and drummer Greg Meyer, and set out to make music that was a little more upbeat than their emo days. And they’ve succeeded.

The band put out an EP called Sing Song in 2006, and it established them as up-and-comers on the indie scene. They followed up with Morning Tide in 2008, and it cemented their reputation for producing solid, memorable pop songs.

“Morning Tide”

 
 
“Ordinary Song”

 
 
 
 
Videos
“Oh MJ”

“Lovers Who Uncover”

“Face the Facts”, live

Links
Download Morning Tide
Official Site
Facebook
MySpace

Saturday Night Live has produced a ton of terrible movies over the years. Many of them came from funny sketches, but had a tough time translating a few minutes of laughs into a 90 minute film. The MacGruber sketches aren’t all that funny to begin with, and they have a hard time carrying a 2 1/2 minute red band trailer. Ouch. Check it out, if you dare:

MacGruber limps into theaters May 21st.