Watch: Ty Segall - "Where Your Head Goes" (official video)

Photo by Claire Marie Vogel

San Franciscan garage rocker Ty Segall has been known to make fuzzy lo-fi psychedelic music and now he's released a fuzzy lo-fi psychedelic video directed by Brian Lee Hughes for "Where Your Head Goes". "Where Your Head Goes" is taken from Segall's latest lp Goodbye Bread which was released on Drag City earlier this year. Watch the video below.

Listen: The National - "Rylan" & "I Need My Girl" (new radio session songs)

Yesterday The National guested CBC Radio's Q show in Toronto to perform live and as part of their set they premiered two brand new songs titled "Rylan" and "I Need My Girl". It's been more than a year since The National's latest release High Violet but we've yet to hear about anything new from them, but judging by these two tracks there won't be any drop-off in quality when we finally hear something. Listen to them below.

Watch: Fanzine - "Tough" (official video)

British indie rockers Fanzine are currently one of the most promising bands "out there", and about a month ago they released their debut 7" via Fat Possum, the double A-side "Roman Holiday" / "My Stupid Brain".

Fanzine are finishing up their upcoming debut album right now and The Line of Best Fit premiered a first track from it earlier this afternoon in the form of "Tough", which is far more mellow than what we've previously heard from them while keeping the quality high. Watch the official video for it below.

Watch: Niki & The Dove - "Mother Protect" (official video)

Swedish pop duo Niki & The Dove released my favourite ep of the year in October with The Drummer via Sub Pop and they've now released a video for one of the many amazing tracks on it: "Mother Protect". The video is pretty great too, so do yourself a favour and give it a watch below - soon everyone will know about them.

Watch: Blitzen Trapper performs "Might Find It Cheap" on Letterman 8/12

Blitzen Trapper released the official video for American Goldwing's opening track "Might Find It Cheap" a couple of days ago and last night they guested Late Show with David Letterman to perform the track. They've certainly become a far more confident live band since I saw them live in 2008, and they've definitely upped the "rock" part of their performance. Watch "Might Find It Cheap" on Letterman below.

Watch: Hip Hatchet - "Coward's Luck"

If you've been reading Birds Need Feet for awhile you'll know that I'm a huge fan of the American folk rock band Balto and their album October's Road. Philippe Bronchtein played piano and accordion on October's Road and it was through that connection that I first discovered Bronchtein's main project Hip Hatchet.

Tomorrow Hip Hatchet will be self-releasing a new ep titled Coward's Luck, and it's a stopgap release between their debut lp Men Who Share My Name and their upcoming second lp, which will be released via the Swedish, but currently Brooklyn-based, label Gravitation (who were The Tallest Man On Earth's first label, and he's still with them in Scandinavia).

A.A. Bondy announce European tour

A.A. Bondy was the opener on The Felice Brothers' recently cancelled European tour but as that tour had to be cancelled after Ian Felice got sick, Bondy has instead announced his first European headlining tour for late February and early March next year.

Watch: Korallreven - "As Young As Yesterday" (official video)

Korallreven continues to impress, this time with a wonderful video for their single "As Young As Yesterday", which is taken from their excellent debut album An Album by Korallreven. The video is shot in black-and-white and follows a skateboarder as he makes way through a city and it was directed by the Swedish director Marcus Söderlund. Watch it below.

Listen: I Was A King - "Happy"

Well, here's a brand new discovery for me: the Norwegian power pop act I Was A King who will be releasing a split single on the Oslo-based label Splendour with California's Half Handed Cloud. I Was A King will be contributing the track "Happy", which is some of the best power pop I've heard in ages and brings to mind the glory days of Teenage Fanclub. Listen to it below.

WU LYF announces Swedish gigs for March

WU LYF have been receiving quite a lot of attention during 2011 and while I still haven't quite decided just what I think of them - I keep going back and forth - their album Go Tell Fire To The Mountain is definitely worth a listen. I've been hearing some amazing things about their live show and was extremely disappointed that I missed them at Way Out West this summer, and now they've finally announced two regular shows here in Sweden for early March next year.

Watch: The Black Keys performs "Gold On The Ceiling" on Letterman 12/7

The Black Keys have been busy with the promotion of their new album El Camino, visiting SNL, The Colbert Report and then last night Late Show with David Letterman. On Letterman they performed "Gold On The Ceiling", which they also did at SNL, and it was by far the strongest of the tv spots so far - and the sound mix was infinitely better than at the other shows. Check it out below.

MP3: Damien Jurado - "Christmas Time Is Here" (Vince Guaraldi cover)

A week ago I posted Woods' cover of Vince Guaraldi's classic "Christmas Time Is Here" and yesterday Seattle folkie Damien Jurado his own version of the track. You can listen to the track using the Soundcloud player below as well as download it using the link below it.

MP3: Mark Lanegan Band - "The Gravedigger's Song"

The Mark Lanegan Band announced their new album Blues Funeral a couple of weeks ago and earlier this week we got a first teaser from the album in the form of "The Gravedigger's Song" which you can download below. Blues Funeral will be released on February 6, 2012 via 4AD and you can check out the tracklist below and the album cover above.

Album Review: Korallreven - An Album By Korallreven

[Acéphale/Hybris / 2011.11.15]

written by Johan Alm

Watch: Reigning Sound - "Shaw" (official video)

Garage rockers Reigning Sound released a new ep called Abdication for free onlin on November 1 as part of Scion A/V's Garage series and one of the tracks from the ep, "Shaw", has also received the video treatment. The video is directed by Dan Rose, and among other things it features shots of Jim Shaw to whom the song is dedicated.

Album Review: Reigning Sound - Abdication EP

[Scion A/V / 2011.11.01]

written by Johan Alm

Watch: Blitzen Trapper - "Might Find It Cheap" (official video)

Portland, Oregon's Blitzen Trapper released their sixth studio record American Goldwing earlier this year via Sub Pop, and as usual it's a good one - although the strongest album of theirs is still the excellent Furr, released in 2008. Blitzen Trapper have now released a video for American Goldwing's opening track "Might Find It Cheap", watch it below.

Watch: Patterson Hood performs new solo songs

Drive-By Truckers, hailing from Athens, GA, are without a doubt one of my favourite current acts and while I was slightly disappointed with their latest release Go-Go Boots (it was "only" really good) I'm still definitely a fanboy of theirs. Earlier this week it was announced that DBT bassist Shonna Tucker was leaving the band but that they would keep playing, but from the looks of it we'll be getting a new solo record from bandleader Patterson Hood before the Drive-By Truckers release their next one.

Hood is planning to release a (still not properly announced) solo record next spring titled Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance, which will his third solo album following 2009's Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs) and 2004's Killers and Stars. A couple of weeks ago he played a couple of songs from it at a solo show in Florence, Alabama and two of these were captured on film and uploaded to YouTube by a member of the audience and you can watch both below. The songs in question are the opening tracks on both sides of the record; "Better Than The Truth" and "12.01", with Better Than The Truth" being my personal favourite.

Watch: Deer Tick - "Main Street" (official video)

Deer Tick's Divine Providence wasn't really the success I'd hoped for due to its schizophrenic nature, but it included a couple of really good songs at the very least - one of those being their single "Main Street". The band have now recorded a video for the track featuring fireworks, explosions, trashed instruments - your regular rock 'n' roll stuff - and it premiered on MTV a few days ago.

Watch: Kathleen Edwards - "Change The Sheets" (official video)

The Canadian alt. country songstress Kathleen Edwards will be releasing her fourth album Voyageur on January 17, 2012 via MapleMusic Recordings and she's now unveiled a music video for the single "Change The Sheets". The video lets us follow Edwards on tour and you can watch it below.

Listen: My Morning Jacket - "When the Bells Start Ringing" (feat. The Head and the Heart)

My Morning Jacket have released a brand new iTunes Session ep, and instead of just doing versions of their regular tracks they decided to make it into something special and instead record covers of Christmas songs.

Watch: The Black Keys perform "Lonely Boy" on The Colbert Report 12/6

This weekend garage rockers The Black Keys performed "Lonely Boy" and "Gold On The Ceiling" on Saturday Night Live and last night it was The Colbert Report's turn to host a performance by the Akron, Ohio duo. The band performed "Lonely Boy" once again and you can watch the performance below, as well as see an interview with the band.

Listen: Dante - "Won't Go"

The Stockholm-based musician Dante Kinnunen is perhaps mostly known as the drummer of the Swedish pop group The Concretes but he's currently working on a solo record, in a more electronic r'n'b direction. Yesterday Dante premiered a new track titled "Won't Go" on PSL, a track that was recorded for his upcoming debut album but couldn't be included since he couldn't get the rights to use the sample from Adele's "He Won't Go". Give it a listen below, it's really good.

Watch: Ryan Adams perform "Lucky Now" on Letterman 12/5

As I'm sure you know I'm a big fan of Ryan Adams, and his new record Ashes & Fire certainly lived up to my expectations and for the past couple of months Adams has visited a bunch of tv shows and almost every time he has performed the single "Lucky Now".

Listen: Korallreven - "The Final Fantasy"

Korallreven's debut album An Album by Korallreven is easily one of my favourite albums released this year, and pretty much everything the group touches right now is golden. Before the album release in mid-November I posted three out of four tracks from their 12" vinyl single for lead track "As Young As Yesterday"; the original plus two remixes by Panda Bear and Girl Unit respectively.

The fourth track on the single is an almost seven minutes long reworking of "As Young As Yesterday" by Korallreven themselves titled "The Final Fantasy", and you can now listen to it below.

Listen: Justin Townes Earle - "Louisiana 1927" (Randy Newman cover)

For Record Store Day this past spring Justin Townes Earle released a 7" for "Move Over Mama" and included a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Racing In The Streets" as the b-side, and for the Black Friday Record Store Day a few weeks ago he worked from the same formula.

MP3: Diamond Rugs - "Christmas In A Chinese Restaurant"

John McCauley's already been heavily involved in two releases this year on Partisan Records; first the Middle Brother album in March and in October his main project Deer Tick's Divine Providence and he's got another one planned for spring in the form of Diamond Rugs.

Live: Korallreven + Air France (DJ-set) at Hornstull Strand, Stockholm 2011.12.03

photos by Louise Strandendahl

Watch: The Black Keys perform "Lonely Boy" and "Gold On The Ceiling" on SNL 3/12

Last night The Black Keys stopped by Saturday Night Live to perform "Lonely Boy" and "Gold On The Ceiling", both taken from their new album El Camino, and you can watch the performances below. El Camino is the duo's seventh studio album and it'll be released on Tuesday, December 6th, via Nonesuch Records.

Delta Spirit announce self-titled album for March release

Delta Spirit leader Matt Vasquez is part of Middle Brother who released one of my favourite albums of this year with their self-titled debut, but next year Delta Spirit are returning with the release of their third album. The album will simply be called Delta Spirit and Vasquez claims that the reasoning behind it being self-titled is that they've "found the sound that [they]'ve been looking for, that [they]'ve been growing into".