Video: Arctic Monkeys - "That's What You're Doing Wrong" & "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala" (new songs live)

On Thursday May 5th the rest of the Birds Need Feet staff and I attended the Arctic Monkeys tour premiere (and their first gig of 2011) at Cirkus here in Stockholm. The band performed an impressive set including four songs from their upcoming album Suck It And See; the previously released "Brick By Brick" and "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair" plus two previously unheard tracks in the album closer "That's Where You're Wrong" and "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala".

You can view and listen to audience recorded videos of the two songs below, and they sound great to me, both at the concert and afterwards and they've certainly raised my expectations for the album.

Video: J Mascis - "Is It Done" (official music video)

Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Masics has released one of the best albums of 2011 with the mellow and mostly acoustic Several Shades Of Why. Yesterday he released a second music video for the album, following the one for "Not Enough" in late March; this one for "Is It Done". The video shares the mellow vibe of the "Not Enough" video and works well as a background for the music, even if it may not be "that much". Watch it below.



Several Shades Of Why is out now on Sub Pop and if you haven't heard it you should give it a listen here.

(via One Thirty BPM)

Full album stream: The Felice Brothers - Celebration, Florida

On April 11 Spinner revealed a stream of The Felice Brothers' upcoming album Celebration, Florida to my surprise since the album won't be released until May 10. The stream was available for a week or so, but since then the album hasn't been available for legal listening online but we've now got another stream for you, courtesy of the band themselves. Celebration, Florida sees the band exploring new sounds while still managing to sound completely like themselves - a quite impressive achievement. Check it out below.



Celebration, Florida will be released on May 10 via Fat Possum.

Full album stream: Miles Kane - The Colour Of The Trap

Miles Kane is probably most known for being Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner's collaborator in The Last Shadow Puppets, but he was also the frontman of British indie rockers The Rascals. Since the break-up of The Rascals in 2009 Kane has turned to a solo career, although he and Turner plans to revive The Last Shadow Puppets too, and his debut solo album The Colour Of The Trap will be released next week, but you can already stream the entire album right here. The album features guest appearances from Alex Turner, Noel Gallagher and Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys.



(via NME)

MP3: Richard Buckner - "Traitor"

Cult singer-songwriter Richard Buckner return with a new album entitled Our Blood, which will be released by Merge Records on August 2. Our Blood is Buckner's ninth studio album and his third on Merge, following 2004's Dents And Shells and 2006's Meadow, and you can download the album's opening track "Traitor" below. If "Traitor" is any indication the album is gonna be a good one, but I guess we'll have to wait for almost three months for the answer. Check out the album's tracklist below too.

MP3: Richard Buckner - "Traitor" (courtesy of Pitchfork)

Tracklist for Our Blood:
01. Traitor
02. Escape
03. Thief
04. Collusion
05. Ponder
06. Witness
07. Confession
08. Hindsight
09. Gang

[also published at One Thirty BPM]

Listen: Caan releases new track - again!

Caan releases another track, thank you for that! "The Riot Act" is quite different from the earlier tracks that has been released; it reminds me of the music from his former band, Ou est le swimming pool really, with some indie sound added. I like this one better than the last tune, "Now Hear This My Friends", which was released only a couple of days ago. So, here you have "The Riot Act":

The Riot Act by Caan_

MP3: Delta Spirit - "She's Not There" (The Zombies cover)

This is a few weeks old but I must've been asleep when it happened because I completely missed it... Anyway, what happened is that folk rockers Delta Spirit released a really good cover of The Zombies' debut single "She's Not There" - for free (or rather in exchange for an e-mail address). I'll just let the band explain it  themselves: "We were asked to cover and record a Zombies song for a TV show, but we decided to give it away for free instead. Hope you enjoy." I know I did. Download the track via the widget below.

[also published at One Thirty BPM]

Blitzen Trapper announce summer tour dates, new album this fall

Portland, Oregon folk rockers Blitzen Trapper are one of my favourite current bands and in January I reported that they were working on a new record, the follow-up to last year's Destroyer of the Void. In a summer tour announcement yesterday the band revealed that they will "see you this fall, with a new record in tow, and new songs to sing for all y'all", if you didn't live in the towns they were playing this summer. Looks like I was right then...

Check out their summer tour dates below, and if you wanna listen to the newest Blitzen Trapper tune available you should head over here and listen to "Maybe Baby" from their Record Store Day single.

Blitzen Trapper tour dates:
07.19 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
07.20 - Denver CO, - The Bluebird Theater
07.22 - Kansas City, MO - Riot Room
07.23 - St. Louis, MO - Firebird
07.24 - Chicago, IL - Wicker Park Festival
07.25 - Iowa City, IA - The Blue Moose TapHouse
07.26 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown
07.28 - Bozeman, MT - The Filling Station
07.29 - Spokane, WA - A Club
07.30 - Yakima, WA - Seasons Performance Hall

Stream: The Black Keys - "Dearest" (Buddy Holly cover)

Last week the release of a new Buddy Holly tribute album entitled Rave On Buddy Holly was announced, with an excellent line-up to say the least, and now they've shared a first track from the album. The track in question is The Black Keys' cover of Buddy Holly's "Dearest", which will open Rave On Buddy Holly, and you can stream it below.



Rave On Buddy Holly will be released by Fantasy Records/Concorde Music Group on June 28.

(via Pitchfork)

Stream: My Morning Jacket - "Victory Dance"

My Morning Jacket's Circuital will be released on May 31 via ATO Records and so far we've been given two tracks from the album; the title track and "Holdin On To Black Metal". You can now stream a third track below, the album opener "Victory Dance" which is one of the stronger tracks on the album and definitely an atypical My Morning Jacket track.



(via Troubled Souls Unite)

Video: The Tallest Man On Earth - "Gentle On My Mind" (live cover)

Swedish folk singer-songwriter is an excellent live artist and has delivered consistently great covers during his live performances for a few years now and during his Coachella set a couple of weeks ago he unveiled another; "Gentle On My Mind". "Gentle On My Mind" is a cover of a 1968 song by singer-songwriter John Hartford, but Glen Campbell's and Aretha Franklin's version are the most well-known, with artists such as Johnny Cash and Lucinda Wiliams also recording their versions later on.

Check out a video of The Tallest Man On Earth performing the song in Edmonton, Alberta on April 27 below.



(via TwentyFourBit)

MP3: Fleet Foxes - "Grown Ocean"

Fleet Foxes' second lp Helplessness Blues was finally released this week and their label Sub Pop has decided to give away an mp3 of its closing track "Grown Ocean" in celebration of the release. Helplessness Blues is a definite success for the band and a clear step forward from their debut, plus it's the best album to be released this year.

Download "Grown Ocean" below, check out its video here, a live performance of the track from Later...with Jools Holland here or stream the entire album here if you haven't heard it yet.

MP3: Fleet Foxes - "Grown Ocean"

(via We All Want Someone To Shout For)

Wooden Shjips announce new album, out on August 16

San Francisco psych rock band Wooden Shjips have announced their third proper lp, West, which will be released on August 16 via their new label Thrill Jockey. West is their first record to be properly recorded in a studio, with mastering from Spacemen 3's Sonic Boom (aka Peter Kember) who recently worked on Panda Bear's Tomboy, and it was engineered by Phil Manley.

West is about "the American West, and all of the mythology, romanticism, and idealism that it embodies", and it's their first album since 2009's Dos, although guitarist Erik "Ripley" Johnson has been busy with his side project Moon Duo in the meantime. Check out the tracklist below and the album cover above.

Tracklist for West:
1. Black Smoke Rise
2. Crossing
3. Lazy Bones
4. Home
5. Flight
6. Looking Out
7. Rising

(via exclaim.ca)

[also published at One Thirty BPM]

Video: The Baseball Project with Craig Finn - "Don't Call Them Twinkies" (live)

My good friends over at One Thirty BPM posted this video of The Baseball Project performing the song "Don't Call Them Twinkies" live for the first time with The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn on vocals. Finn wrote the song and recorded it with The Baseball Project for their new album Volume 2: High and Inside, and the track is written about Finn's favourite sports team - the baseball team Minnesota Twins. Check out the live video below and underneath the video you can stream the studio version of the track too.



The Baseball Project with Craig Finn - "Don't Call Them Twinkies"

MP3: Black Lips - "Modern Art"

Almost a month ago Black Lips unveiled the video for "Modern Art" from their upcoming album Arabia Mountain, out on June 7 via Vice Records. "Modern Art" was the second song/video to be released from the album, with "Go Out And Get It!" being the first, and they've now released the song as a free download on SPIN. Download the track below, check out the awesome Arabia Mountain album artwork above and watch the video for "Modern Art" here.

MP3: Black Lips - "Modern Art" (courtesy of SPIN)

Video: The Cave Singers - "Black Leaf" (official music video)

Folk rockers The Cave Singers released their third album No Witch on Jagjaguwar in February this year and they've now released a video for one of its more rocking tracks, "Black Leaf". No Witch was my first exposure to The Cave Singers' discography and it's a good one, reminding me of The Roadside Graves and The Felice Brothers, plus they even have some Exile On Main St.-styled gospel backing vocals lying around.


(via One Thirty BPM)

The Cave Singers are currently touring the US with Fleet Foxes before heading to Europe in late May/early June. Their European stint includes a gig here in Stockholm on June 4 for the excellent club What We Do Is Secret at Debaser Slussen.

Black Lips reveal album cover for Arabia Mountain

I wasn't really available for blogging during the weekend so this has been around for a couple of days, but maybe some people haven't seen it. On Friday the Black Lips unveiled the album cover for their upcoming album Arabia Mountain, which you can view above, and frankly it's good enough that it doesn't matter that I'm a few days late.

Arabia Mountain will be released on June 7 via Vice Records and the band has released two songs so far; "Go Out And Get It!" and "Modern Art".

Full album stream: Okkervil River - I Am Very Far

Okkervil River's I Am Very Far has been one of my most anticipated albums since it was announced in January, and in reality since the release of The Stand Ins in 2008, and now it's finally available for the general public. The album won't be released until next week, on May 10, but you can stream the entire album over at NPR right now. I Am Very Far is a bit heavier on instrumentation that what we've come to expect from Okkervil River, but beneath the layers of instruments the songs and lyrics are up to Will Sheff's usual standard, although it may take a couple of listens for them to sink in.

UPDATE: The NPR stream isn't available any more but you can still stream the album here.

I Am Very Far will be released on May 10 via Jagjaguwar, and you can download an mp3 of "Wake And Be Fine", the album's first single, here and check out its music video here.