Chan Power and The Roots gave Jimmy Fallon a tour of Manhattan on latter’s show on Friday night. Ms. Power was her usual fidgety but beguiling self on stage, but with her vocals set to a more wizened, jazz-inflected mode on the song.  And Questlove once again nearly stole the show with his propulsive percussion.  Well played all.

Amongst the best albums thus far in 2013 is Phosphorescent’s Muchacho.  And one of the best songs off of that album, Songs For Zula, with its Cashian lyrical allusions, has now been put to good use in the disturbing, but ultimately inspirational, official video below.  Do yourselves a favor and pick up this album HERE.

Melody’s Echo Chamber’s eponymous debut album was produced by Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, and the impala-psychedelia don’t stop.  To wit, the new video for the fantastic song I Will Follow (winks and nods to U2).  Check it out below in which Parisian lead singer Melody Prochet does gyre and gimble in the underwater psychedelic wabes.  Tis brillig!

And last but not least is the Kopecky Family Band and their song Hope off of their new album Kids Raising Kids.  Pick it up HERE.

Two late night performances this week were particularly worthy.  First check out Macklemore & Ryan Lewis dominating on Can’t Hold Us last night on Conan, and after Deerhunter slaying (get it?) the title track from their upcoming album, Monomania, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon earlier this week.

Cat Power (Chan Marshall) has today released the music video for Manhattan, one of her album Sun’s highlights.  She/they will appear on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, tomorrow night (Friday, 4/5) and next week on Later…With Jools Holland.  Stay tuned.  Watch the entertaining, heartwarming video below wherein Marshall visits some of her historical haunts and favored locations in NYC, and interacts with the locals.  And, oh, that voice.

One of the more promising Brit-scenesters, Palma Violets, showed up at SXSW last month and performed at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop for KEXP. Check out the band’s entire 30-minute set below. You’ll forgive the crowd if they look a little jaded/fatigued despite the band’s great energy and growls (heaven knows how many sets they’d performed prior to this one). The end of SXSW may be nigh-on.

Here’s the setlist:

Johnny Bagga’ Donuts
Rattlesnake Highway
Tom the Drum
Chicken Dippers
Best of Friends
Step Up for the Cool Cats
Last of the Summer Wine
We Found Love
14

While the ex-Him (Ben Gibbard) is getting a pound of press for the impending Postal Service comeback, his bandmate Chris Walla has just released (for Record Store Day on April 2oth) a new song entitled Never Give Up.  The song sounds to these ears like a variation on a theme of Death Cab for Cutie’s  evocative Passenger Seat.  Walla is a talented composer and player, having delivered (in addition to his Death Cab contributions and various stellar production jobs) a superb solo album in 2008 (Field Manual).  And he’s yet again given us a sworn and cinematic song in Never Give Up, which is side A of the record release on Trans-Records (Walla’s own label), and is backed by the upbeat Sombear song Incredibly Still.  Listen to both below.

OK, we’re a little slow on the uptake.  But we’re never slow on the electric ladyland experience that is Janelle Monae, who is amongst the most talented performers of her generation.  Now combine Monae with one of Jimi Hendrix’s all-time gems, Little Wing, and drape it all in the brazen backing of The Roots on The Jimmy Fallon Show, and you’ve got yourself a performance for the ages.  Such was the case Monday night when the gang got together on Fallon in support of a new Hendrix collection entitled People, Hell And Angels.  Check the performance out below.

The cyclists are rolling down the road today, and the streamers are streaming great sounds for your listening pleasure.  Check out the best from the new album streams below.

First up is the new Dawes album Stories Don’t End, which you can stream HERE.  Dawes gave us one of the best albums of 2011, Nothing Is Wrong, and with the new album they have delivered the goods anew.

Next up is British Sea Power’s fantastic new album Machineries of Joy, which you can stream at Under The Radar HERE.  Once again BSP enamors with their thoughtful anthems.

Next is the Rilo Kiley retrospective/rarities compilation cutely titled RKives, which you can stream at Pitchfork HERE.  Rilo Kiley was/is one of the great unheralded bands of the early 21st century, and receive a deserved anthology.  They have given us some of our favorite songs/albums of the last decade+.

And last, but not least, is the new Kurt Vile album Walking On a Pretty Daze, which you can listen to via NPR HERE.  Vile continues to vilify via his hypnotic psychedelia.

We have experienced a whirlwind of Low recently as they tour across the country in support of their stellar Jeff Tweedy-produced album The Invisible Way.  Low is in LA tonight to play the Troubadour, and this morning stopped into KCRW to perform their eight-minute opus On My Own.  Check it out below, including gratuitous Alan Sparkhawk fuzz guitar, and go HERE to listen to the rest of their KCRW session.

We are long-time fans of husband-and-wife duo Mates of State.  They repeatedly craft perfect pop songs that deftly dissect the ins and outs of relationships.  In the past (including the recent past) their highly-recommended albums, Bring it Back and Re-Arrange Us, have refused to leave our rebellious jukebox.   The duo recently recorded a session for Audio-Files that will be broadcast tonight and tomorrow HERE.  The band and Audio-Files have released a tremulous trailer of the duo performing their intimate song Desire (lyrics at bottom) off of their critically-acclaimed 2011 album Mountaintops.  With the song’s private-conversation lyrics and the singers’ knowing looks, you might feel the need to look away.  But you can’t.  Shyness is overrated.

Desire:

“Someday you’ll feel
the way I feel
and though you might be brighter
you will not be shy again
Ooo, desire

Lying in a quiet back room
Careful ’cause the house could crack soon
And in the morning we can play this game
All the nights you masqueraded

But today you feel
So you made me wiser
I will not be shy again
Ooo, desire
Desire

Someday I will feel the way you feel
and though I might be brighter
I will not be shy again
Desire
Desire”