“Starring” Jimmy Fallon has a great ring to it, and last night began Fallon’s reign on The Tonight Show.  And what a beginning it was with superstar guests galore.  But our focus was squarely on the first musical guest of Fallon’s reign– some band called U2.  Watch below as the band performed Invisible from the rooftop of Rockefeller Center, with the addition of members of the Rutgers University marching band.  The band followed up the rooftop with an interview and acoustic take on their Mandela-tribute Ordinary Love (ya gotta love when The Roots eventually kick in and Bono sings the praise of Questlove).   Afterwards, for fun watch Fallon and Fresh Will demonstrate The Evolution of Hip-Hop Dancing.  Let it reign Jimmy!

[HD] U2 – Perform Invisible – Jimmy Fallon… by IdolxMuzic

U2 – Bono Interview & Acoustic Performance… by IdolxMuzic

Eef Barzelay is simply the King of Covers.  He has repeatedly rendered inspirational readings of uninspiring songs.  If you haven’t heard before you should go HERE or HERE. Now comes Barzelay with a calming cover of the contentious Creed’s With Arms Wide Open. Check it out above.  As Eef wrote: “May this version help you to resolve any Creed related issues still lodged in your psyche.”  Let it be, with arms wide open.

As we’ve said before, one of the most under-appreciated contributors to Bon Iver is/was(?)  S. Carey.   While Bon Iver is on hiatus, on April 1st (no foolin’) Carey will return with his proper follow-up to his outstanding 2010 album, All We Grow, when he releases Range of Light on Jagjaguwar.  To get a feel, check out the official video below for the first track from the album, Fire-Scene, in which city and creation are juxtaposed by director Jon Baughman to resplendent effect.

And then go HERE to pre-order Hoyas

On Valentines Day (dude, today), Band of Horses made their day-time TV debut on The Ellen Show in support of their new, all-acoustic live album, Acoustic at the Ryman.  Check out their appropos performance of No One’s Gonna Love You below.

We cannot lie.  We stole these from the ever-trustworthy, supremely-talented Jenny Lewis (did someone mention love?), who posted her Valentines Day Mixtape on Spin today.  Below from the Mixtape are two obscure, perfectly-chosen songs courtesy of Ms. Lewis.

First up is Bobby Charles’ (who passed in 2010) sweet I Must Be In A Good Place Now from his eponymous 1972 debut album (which featured the likes of The Band’s Rick Danko and Dr. John).

And listen below to mysterioso-man Benji Hughes’ (one of Lewis’s faves) All You’ve Got To Do Is Fall In Love from Hughes’ only album the 2008 A Love Extreme.  Both are perfect for the day.  Enjoy.

In keeping with Valentines Day (dudes, remember?), The National today released the official video for their love-song, I Need My Girl.   The straightforward black-and-white video was directed by Sophia Peer.  So on this day kick the cannonballers to the curb, and instead make that call and take that girl.

The National plays the Santa Barbara Bowl on April 25th.  You can still get tickets HERE.

Following on the heels of yesterday’s Karen O songs, she showed up on KCRW to perform Oscar-nominated The Moon Song with “Her” writer/director Spike Jonze (anyway, he looks cool) and production designer KK Barrett for Morning Becomes Eclectic.  Check it out below.

We messed around and missed out on Band of Horses’ acoustic-tour show at the Wilshire Ebell on Tuesday (reliable reports are roundly praising), and are still licking our wounds.  Thankfully a missive came (thanks Erik!) helping to heal that wound.  Add to that some newly-unearthed footage of the band, and we are doing our best to live vicariously.

Watch below Band of Horses  performing all-acoustic at The Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (when did VEVO get so incredibly annoying?), followed by the band (well, Ben Bridwell and Tyler Ramsey) making magique in a couple of (older, but still acoustic) in-stores at Nudie Jeans.  The performances confirm what we witnessed at the Troubadour a while back–while they can rock with the best, Band of Horses’ acoustic moments are amongst the richest moments in music.  Check ’em out.  The band is currently out on tour in support of their fantastic new all-acoustic album, Live at the Ryman.  The all-acoustic North American tour continues on Valentines Day in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts, and you can check out all the dates and get tickets HERE.

During the Super Bowl, U2 introduced new song Invisible, which is the first track from the band’s impending new Danger Mouse-produced  album.  The song was released as a free download via iTunes and was also included (in a shortened version) in a commercial for the (Red) Global Fund.  Today, the band has released the full song/video.  The black-and-white video captures well the band’s live, anthemic gestalt, and was filmed in Santa Monica by director Mark Romanek.  Check it out below.  U2 are also scheduled to be the first musical guest on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show (buh-bye Chin-O) on February 17th.

As we’ve written repeatedly, Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) can do virtually no wrong in our book.  And her extra-curricular activities outside of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are particularly compelling. She’s been especially busy recently, combining with N.A.S.A. on a cool cover of Marley’s I Shot The Sheriff (which you can listen to below), and collaborating with Walter Martin (Walkmen) on a sweet love song entitled Sing to Me (which you can listen to at bottom) from Martin’s highly-anticipated new kids’-songs-for-grownups album We’re All Young Together (also featuring The National’s Matt Berninger).

First up below, however, is Ms. O’s well-crafted The Moon Song (from Spike Jonze’s movie Her).  The song was written as a duet between the film’s characters played by Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix, but listen below to a significantly improved recording with Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend).  Listen as Karen and Ezra acquit themselves beautifully.

Following is the I Shot the Sheriff cover, which gradually overcomes the stigma encountered by anyone attempting to cover Marley and ultimately grips with its loping electronica and Karen O’s shimmering vocals.

The pick of the litter, however, might be her collaboration with Walter Martin on Sing to Me.  It’s a sweet song sung well by both, with Martin reminding us vocally of the great Eef Barzelay.  We look forward to hearing the entire We’re All Young Together album.