One of our favorites, the under-appreciated American singer-songwriter-humorist, Chuck Prophet, recently released a new video for The Right Hand and the Left Hand off of his great heart-in-San-Francisco album, Temple Beautiful (you can get a better feel for for Temple Beautiful’s songs and a live performance of The Right Hand and the Left Hand HERE).

While Prophet wrote the song with the infamous, underworldly Mitchell Brothers of San Francisco, but given the sound setting we can’t help but think of some of the tragic musical-sibling break-ups: Beach Boys, Ray and Dave Davies, Liam and Noel Gallagher (OK, so that latter one’s not so tragic), you pick ’em).  The video adds a nice off-kilter touch to the lyrics.

Prophet has this to say about the song and video on his website:

“At one point I’d envisioned a kind of “buddy movie” for this song, ya know? Like Turner & Hooch or Tango & Cash or Thelma & Louise? What the hell happened, you ask? Well, Albert Birney, the director, took it places. Much weirder places.

I wrote this Mitchell Brothers inspired song with my friend Kurt. We figured if Cain and Abel had gone into the strip club business it would have been these two. It’s about them but it’s also a song about brothers (I think). What do I know, I have three sisters. [psychoanalyst/editor in my head: that might go a ways towards explaining why you think you’re so great].

These guys are the mother’s milk of San Francisco mythology – porn kings, free speech advocates, long-game hustlers. . . born troublemakers born into troubled times. I’ve never been in their club myself (as far as I know – how could I be certain?), but it’s legendary. I know this much: it’s an institution. A Mecca of sleaze. An unregistered National Historic Landmark in the guidebooks of the profound, perverse, profane, divine, confused, and insanely lucrative. A physical embodiment of all of San Francisco under one roof!

So yeah; Albert Birney made the video and it’s epic. It’s already been compared to “The English Patient” (if you cut out the gratuitous romance and panoramic sand dune shots). Two brothers, once close, simply fall out. Murder, drugs, mayhem, a stack of rare vinyl and the dusty glitter and neon glow of the after-hours afterlife. All acted out by two hands. Albert’s own grandfather’s hand even makes an appearance. Pretty cool. Somebody give those hands an Oscar!

Go easy babies,

-CP”

Prophet is currently on tour in Europe with his band The Mission Express, but will be making his way back across America starting this Friday.  Check out the dates HERE.  He’s phenomenal live and not to be missed.

It’s been a while, but Animal Collective and their addictive electro-harmonic swirl are back with a new 7-inch single titled Honeycomb / Gotham featuring two brand new songs which you can listen to below.  AC have only released smatterings of songs since their January 2009 album, Merryweather Post Pavilion, but the band is rumored to be recording a new album for release later in 2012.  In the meantime, the Honeycomb /Gotham digital bundle is available today on Domino Records, and the physical 7-inch is available to pre-order now.

Pre-order the single HERE.

The music world is in mourning after the passing of Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys after his three-year fight with cancer.  Check out a couple of odes/memorials to Yauch below.

First up is Coldplay’s covering of the Beasties’ (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party) last night at the Hollywood Bowl. It smacks of River-era Springsteen (never a bad thing), and the last 30-45 seconds will send you in particular.

Following are the great Jimmy Fallon and The Roots tributes last night to Yauch, along with a flashback. The Roots performed covers of Sure Shot, Remote Control, and Sabotage in between segments. You can check all of the episode below with Fallon’s homage at 11:40, and The Roots’ Sure Shot at 4:15. The other covers take place before and after each break.

Many lost a hero yesterday.  Undoubtedly more honoraria are in the works. It’s been a bad couple weeks for music icons. RIP Levon Helm and Adam Yauch.

The band Of Montreal recently appeared on Bandstand Busking in London’s Lincoln’s Inn Field Bandstand.   Kevin Barnes and his band Of Montreal have done it all from early twee-pop to ultra-pop colossus.  This band’s sound has varied sound-wise from ’60s pop, to funk, to psychedelic, to electro-disco, and back again.  Barnes and crew are a regular party of sounds.  But it’s rarely without electric effects and affect (though with violin, horns, flute, etc.).  It’s also rare when the words “Kevin Barnes” combined with the words “stripped-down” doesn’t have a lascivious connotation.  So check out this rare acoustic performance by the band below, warts and beauty all.

First up is a fun cover of Melanie’s 1971 chestnut, What Have They Done to My Song Ma:

Next is Like a Tourist from the band’s 2010’s False Priest album.  This version of the song features “doo-da-doos” straight outta Lou Reed’s seminal (no connotation intended) Walk On the Wild Side:

Finally, check out Forecast Fascist Future from their album Satanic Twins.  Check out the doo-wop/psychedelic vocals starting at 2:05:

Brooklyn’s White Rabbits are prolifically appearing on the Letterman Show.  They performed there again last month and blew the doors off Letterman’s studio.  Check ’em out playing their song Temporary.  You gotta love the dual-drumming attack and particularly the joy evinced by the drummer on the left.  The song continues to ramp throughout, with a nicely off-kilter guitar solo tossed in.  Reminds of early Gang of Four.  We’ll write more about this band another time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYTuwerLcNc&feature=related

The Shins performed today on KCRW and played new favorite Simple Song and old favorite New Slang backed by The Watson Twins (Jenny Lewis, etc.).  Check ’em out below. Update: Check out the entire show at bottom.

It’s been weeks since we’ve posted anything about Sharon Van Etten or her phenomenal album, Serpents.  So without further adieu, checkout below Van Etten and band members performing Life Of His Own, Give Out, Leonard and Serpents on WBEZ’s Sound Opinion show.

North Carolina’s Bowerbirds‘ new album, The Clearing, is one of our favorites so far this year.  Coincidentally, the band recently performed for North Shore Sessions in the warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis, singing their songs Overcome With Light and Brave World.  Rarely has a song (Overcome With Light) sung by a band suited a sound space so well.  Warehouses simply rule for sound. Check it out and then check out a video about the band’s making of The Clearing (these are real humans), which you can purchase HERE or on Dead Oceans Records.

Jack White’s new album, Blunderbuss, is breaking all “indie” sales records and the blogosphere is enraptured.  To see why Jack is jackin’ it, just check out this performance of Ball and Biscuit, Sixteen Saltines and Freedom at 21 on Later with Jools Holland.  Some day this boy will learn how to play guitar.  Oh my!

As we’ve written about before the “supergroup” dubbed New Multitudes (Jim James, Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, and Anders Parker), have taken a page out of the Billy Bragg/Wilco songbook and released a commendable new album that combines newly-crafted music and arrangements with previously unsung Woody Guthrie lyrics.

Today the band’s label, Rounder Records, has released the third in a series of videos of the highly-hirsute band playing songs unplugged from the new album.  First check out below the newly-released Fly High performance featuring Anders Parker on lead vocals.  And in case you missed ’em, after check out the Jim James-sung Talking Empty Bed Blues, followed by the familiar (too familiar?) vocals of Jay Farrar on Careless Reckless Love.

Fly High:

Talking Empty Bed Blues:

Careless Reckless Love: