Jenny Lewis Is a ’60s Spy

Or at least she is in her latest video, Fernando, debuting on Perez Hilton’s blog today.  Can anyone confirm, are those the Watson Twins in the one scene? See all three perform the tune live below:

MP3: Jenny Lewis-Rise Up With Fists [ysi]

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Minneapolis’ Legendary First Avenue Has a Podcast

Prince’s Minneapolis’ historic music venue First Avenue, along with its loyal sidekick the 7th St Entry, has a weekly podcast filled with music and Twin Cities music news.  It’s definitely worth checking out for any midwestern guy or gal.

MP3: Atmosphere-The Woman with the Tattooed Hands [Live at First Avenue]

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Wale Out With New Mixtape: Back to the Feature

Coming off one of the best albums of 2008, The Mixtape About Nothing, Wale has released another pop culture referencing mixtape. Only heard a couple tracks, but it sounds like it’s full of steam:

DOWNLOAD WALE’S BACK TO THE FEATURE MIXTAPE

It’s worth checking out merely for the N.A.S.A.-like number of collaborators on the album: Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Duffy, Beanie Sigel, Black Thought, Talib Kweli, and many more.

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Some Quick Updates From the Break

During the brief hiatus this blog has just experienced, music has seen some significant moves.  Spoon’s got a new song out, Beck is channeling his inner-Lou-Reed, and of course…MJ. Check out the details below:

Spoon

No album details here, but web sites and blogs have got their dirty paws on a new track from the band. The song is an immediate stand-out, like “The Underdog” was when first leaked from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. The more plays this one gets, however, the more you can begin to recognize the grooviness of the sounds they combine here: subtle ’70s guitar riffs played against shoe-gazing guitars that create a uniquely dissident sound, plunking and driving keys that have given Spoon nice weight in the past, and Brit Daniel’s half-rebelious, half-hopeless voice singing about having “nuffin to lose.”

MP3: Spoon-Got Nuffin

Beck

Beck, the man who has more genres than Joseph has colors in his coat, has taken up a new project called The Record Club. In this exercise, Beck and his bandmates get together and record a cover of an entire album in one day’s time.  Then, they slowly post the videos onto the internet, one song at a time. Their first effort has produced some beautiful results, as they have been working releasing their work covering 1967’s revolutionary work, The Velvet Underground and Nico, the Andy Warhol-produced debut album from The Velvet Underground. Thus far, Beck has unveiled three tracks: the opening track “Sunday Morning,” the Harlem/drug dealer-inspired “I’m Waiting for the Man,” and the song Warhol asked Lou Reed to write about Factory Girl Edie Sedwick “Femme Fatale.”  All three are worth repeated listens, and I am very excited to see how this is released in some sort of purchaseable/downloadable format once the entire project is released.

MP3: Beck-Sunday Morning (Velvet Underground cover)

MP3: Beck-I’m Waiting for My Main (Velvet Underground cover)

MJ

Too much has been said already. Just enjoy the video, and if that isn’t cathartic enough, head over to NME to vote for your favorite MJ songs.

MP3: Jackson 5-I Want You Back

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MN MP3 Monday VIII: Heiruspecs-5ves

Known for their perennial touring around Minnesota and its surrounding states, the Heiruspecs are that MN hip-hop group that can throw down for a crowd of 50 or 500. Notable in the band is the beatbox master Muad’dib and tubby white bassist Twinkie Jiggles. They are label-less, but seem to be one of the most popular statewide acts in the land of 10,000. Check out this song, where Muad’dib really locks it down.

MySpace

MP3: Heiruspecs-5ves

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St. Vincent…

St. Vincent’s second album, Actor, is pretty darn good. She’s also a goddess… and is on tour. We’ll be seeing her in a couple weeks in SF and you should see her, too. Dare you not to fall in love.

5/5: Virgin Megastore, New York
5/20: Webster Hall, New York
5/27: Bimbo’s 365, San Francisco
6/4: First Avenue, Minneapolis

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M@M: Johnny Cash-Get Rhythm

Check out this REALLY old Johnny Cash, mid-to-late ’50s.  Whenever you’re feeling down, boogie down=good advice.

MP3: Johnny Cash-Get Rhythm [ysi]

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MN MP3 Monday VII: The Hold Steady-Party Pit

This tune by mostly Midwestern The Hold Steady has some of the best references to the Twin Cities in the history of Minnesota music: “I saw her walking through the Crystal Court,” and “So I walked across that Grain Belt Bridge/Into that brand new Minneapolis.”  The cheering chorus at the end urgently begs for open liquor laws in the metro area: “Gonna walk around and drink some more.”  Enjoy the video, live at Lollapalooza, 2007.

MP3: The Hold Steady-Party Pit [ysi]

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MN MP3 Monday VI: The Jayhawks-Save It For A Rainy Day

The Jayhawks are one of those few great stories to come out of the Minneapolis rock scene in the last 20 years. Through great songwriting and a mellowed out alt-country sound, they were able to move from a completely unknown outfit to one of the shining examples of Minnesota magic.

MP3: The Jayhawks-Pray for Me

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Billy Bob Thornton Imitates Bob Dylan

From the Superficial…

Reminds me a little of…

Keep going, Billy Bob. You’ve got a little work to do. (I also enjoy the fact that he doesn’t even perform with his band at the end of the interview.)

Check out Billy Bob’s The Boxmasters on MySpace, if you dare.

MP3: Bob Dylan-Shooting Star [ysi]

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