Australia’s Atlas Genius recently signed to Warner Bros. and appeared on The Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to play Back Seat and Trojan off their debut Warner’s release When It Was Now.  The band is another bloggist-band (we wrote about ’em in July) done well.  Check out their tight-nit, pop-rock sound below (and particularly in the last minute of Backseat wherein singer Keith Jeffrey kicks the sound up a notch with some Talking Heads-ish guitar).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiPASMjDPyQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuHsSvZmtsI&feature=em-uploademail

The multi-gifted Grizzly Bear showed up on Letterman Show last night to perform their song Yet Again off of their album Shields (which is showing up incessantly on the Best of 2012 lists).  As you will hear, three to four months of playing the new songs on tour has enabled the band to bring out the best in those songs.  This performance of Yet Again is a quantum leap forward compared to when we heard it live in October in Oakland.  Watch them below absolutely mauling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR3U9vCbLAU&feature=em-uploademail

Back in the desperate-for-rock, pre-punk days of 1976 we played Graham Parker & the Rumour’s Howling Wind and Heat Treatment (both produced by Nick Lowe) albums to death.  Sounding like a mix of Jagger and Van Morrison, Graham Parker brought a powerful grit and ferocity to his driving, passion-filled songs, and the Rumour was a tightly knit and phenomenally skilled ensemble.  Lyrically, Parker fit us like a glove with his sarcasm and vitriol, not to mention his confessional ballads.  Unfortunately, Parker and the band broke up in 1981 after putting out their mostly highly-regarded album, Squeezing Out Sparks.  And unfortunately for Parker, the incomparably talented Elvis Costello came along in 1977 in a similar vein and eventually eclipsed Parker (who continued to record without the band in the ’90s).  Parker & the Rumour are still held in high regard, however, and championed by many (see below) as one of the best bands ever.

Now Parker and the band have unexpectedly reunited (including Brinsley Schwarz) and recorded a great new album entitled Three Chords Good.  The reunion album was released in November in advance of Judd Apatow’s This Is Forty movie, in which Graham Parker & the Rumour provide a plot point.  As a result of the push by their fan Apatow, Parker and band have made it into the mainstream spotlight for the first time in decades.  Watch them below on Conan last night performing a beauty (Long Emotional Ride) off their brand new album Three Chords Good.  After, check out a relic from ’77.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtVKd7wz0Uk&feature=em-uploademail

Jazz-pop chanteuse, Diane Krall and her hubby, the multi-talented Elvis Costello, showed up on The Colbert Report last night to kick off Colbert’s planned series of guests covering Christmas carols.  Joining the talented spouses was none other than the host himself for an understated, sterling version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.  That helps.

In an apparent bid (jk) to up his tally on the year-end Best of 2012 lists, Jack White (and the gals version of his two backup bands) showed up last night on Conan to give yet another I-N-C-E-N-D-I-A-R-Y performance, this time of his song I’m Shaking off of his 2012 album Blunderbuss. Or perhaps the song was performed by White merely to provide comfort to all of those in Cali suffering from the cold/fever that’s currently shaking the state.  I’m shaking.  Indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3MCmjLtnns&feature=em-uploademail

Having hailed originally from hail-ridden Kansas, our ears are always open for songs evocative of small-town Midwest life.  Texan newcomer-with-a-bullet Kacey Musgraves nailed that life this year with her sad-and-sage song Merry Go ‘Round.  Musgraves has confessed her admiration for the great John Prine, and Prine’s positive influence on her lyrics is immediately apparent on Merry Go “Round (“Cause Mama’s hooked on Mary Kay, Brother’s hooked on Mary Jane, and Daddy’s hooked on Mary two doors down”).   Check out the fresh-faced Musgraves in the video for her phenomenally well-crafted song.  The last line always hurts ya in the heart(land).

Merry Go ‘Round:

“If you ain’t got two kids by 21,
You’re probably gonna die alone
At least that’s what tradition told you

And it don’t matter if you don’t believe,
Come Sunday morning you best be there
In the front row, like you’re s’posed to

Same hurt in every heart
Same trailer, different park

Mama’s hooked on Mary Kay
Brother’s hooked on Mary Jane
And Daddy’s hooked on Mary two doors down

Mary Mary quite contrary,
We get bored so we get married
And just like dust we settle in this town
On this broken merry go ’round and ’round and ’round we go,
Where it stops nobody knows,
And it ain’t slowin’ down, this merry go ’round

We think the first time’s good enough,
So we hold on to high school love,
Say we won’t end up like our parents

Tiny little boxes in a row,
Ain’t want you want it’s what you know,
Just happy in the shoes you’re wearin’

Same checks we’re always cashin’,
To buy a little more distraction

Cause Mama’s hooked on Mary Kay
Brother’s hooked on Mary Jane
Daddy’s hooked on Mary two doors down

Mary Mary quite contrary,
We get bored so we get married
And just like dust we settle in this town
On this broken merry go ’round and ’round and ’round we go,
Where we stop nobody knows
And it ain’t slowin’ down, this merry go ’round

Mary Mary quite contrary,
We’re so bored until we’re buried
And just like dust we settle in this town
On this broken merry go ’round,
Merry go ’round

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
Jack burned out on booze and pills,
And Mary had a little lamb,
Mary just don’t give a damn no more”

Phosphorescent has lit up our jukebox repeatedly over the years, flashing both one of our favorite albums (2010’s Here’s To Taking It Easy) and songs (Cocaine Lights) of all-time.  Now comes the great new-year news that the band will release its new album entitled Muchacho in March 2013.  The band’s label Dead Oceans has just made available new song Song For Zula from the album for streaming today.  New sounds have been added to Phosphorescence’s sound-spectrum, while the band’s devotion to serious songwriting remains steadfast.  The song’s noir lyrics follow the video.

Song for Zula:

“Some say love is a burning thing
That it makes a fiery ring
Oh but I know love as a fading thing
Just as fickle as a feather in a stream
See, honey, I saw love. You see, it came to me
It put its face up to my face so I could see
Yeah then I saw love disfigure me
Into something I am not recognizing

See, the cage, it called. I said, “Come on in”
I will not open myself up this way again
Nor lay my face to the soil, nor my teeth to the sand
I will not lay like this for days now upon end
You will not see me fall, nor see me struggle to stand
To be acknowledge by some touch from his gnarled hands
You see, the cage, it called. I said, “Come on in”
I will not open myself up this way again

You see, the moon is bright in that treetop night
I see the shadows that we cast in the cold, clean light
My feet are gold. My heart is white
And we race out on the desert plains all night
See, honey, I am not some broken thing
I do not lay here in the dark waiting for thee
No my heart is gold. My feet are light
And I am racing out on the desert plains all night

So some say love is a burning thing
That it makes a fiery ring
Oh but I know love as a caging thing
Just a killer come to call from some awful dream
O and all you folks, you come to see
You just stand there in the glass looking at me
But my heart is wild. And my bones are steam
And I could kill you with my bare hands if I was free”

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was one of the first of the great bloggist-bands.  In 2005 they rose in large part because of the huzzahs of the rising musical blogosphere, which catapulted their self-released, eponymous debut album up the charts, all capped off by Pitchfork’s rave review.  We concurred completely, having been smitten with the album and leader Alec Ounsworth’s signature vocals and songwriting.  They’ve since released two more quality albums.  The band recently announced a splintering of sorts so we’ll have to wait to see the next iteration of CYHSY.   Bowery Presents has just released a commemorative video below of all the members performing In a Motel in an apartment in Brooklyn before the split.  After, check out their performance of the agonizing Misspent Youth (followed by an interview).  Well done lads–y’all come back now, ya here?  And youths:  be safe out there as you find your ways home this holiday season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DqsIsDMzu4&feature=em-uploademail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWCRENgiQIQ&feature=youtu.be

Minneapolis band Cloud Cult holds a special place for many.  Their music and videos have enthralled (not to mention their endearing familial back-story and eco-stewardship activism).  They have an impending  new album, Love, which is now available for pre-order at their site HERE.  To wit, they’ve released a new video for All the Things We Couldn’t See off the album.  We love the build of the video and song by these artists.  Check it out below and support this band.

As we’ve written repeatedly this year, Anais Mitchell’s album Young Man in America is one of the best albums released this year.  We’re happy to see the album showing up repeatedly on many Best of 2012 lists.  As we wrote about the album and Mitchell in June:

“The modern folk songs on the album speak to youthful vantages of America (imagine that) and their/its growing pains and prizes.  Mitchell’s incisive lyrics always manage to put a fine point on matters.  Any songwriter who can write lines like the following deserves our strictest attention:  “Now that he’s gone away there isn’t anyone to tell me if I’m a diamond or a dime-a-dozen,” and “Your daddy didn’t leave a will, he left a shovel and a hole to fill.”   To cap it off, Mitchell’s voice beautifully ranges from Joanna Newsom to CocoRosie to Rickie Lee Jones, and all points in between.”

Mitchell and pal Michael Chorney on guitar have now done the obligatory Tiny Desk Concert for NPR, performing three superb songs off of Young Man in America.  Check it out below since that’s the best possible use of 15 minutes of your time .  All of the above and below are highly recommended.

Set List
“Shepherd”
“Young Man In America”
“Tailor”