Yo La Tengo - “If It’s True” One of the tricks Yo La Tengo have mastered over the years is placing their quiet, unassuming personalities in the context of familiar song styles that are typically characterized by more glamorous vocalists. They’re not the first people to ever do this, and they’re hardly not the only band to deliberately undersell emotional lyrics with a flat vocal affect, but they don’t just stop at irony and call it a day. Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley have learned to give nuanced performances in their narrow range, and when they sing about the complications and struggles of stable long-term relationships, it’s always pitched with just the right balance of honesty and self-effacing wit. They know that they aren’t the most exciting people and that their relationship may not be the most dramatic thing, but they know exactly how to draw you in and make you relate to where they’re coming from even if you’ve never been so lucky to have what they’ve got.

Buy it from Amazon.

Paste interviews David Rawlings about his debut solo album, A Friend of a Friend.

Paste: You cover some songs on this record—including a medley of “Method Acting” by Bright Eyes and “Cortez the Killer” by Neil Young. How did that come to be?

Rawlings: A couple years ago, at the end of ’07, Conor [Oberst] called me and asked me if I would come play guitar with Bright Eyes because Mike Mogis was producing a record and it was running on, and they had dates booked and Mike couldn’t do it. I was very excited to go play electric guitar for two or three weeks on his tour. He was playing stuff from all his records, and a couple things form Fevers and Mirrors, including “Method Acting.” I loved the song, and we played it every night. I guess it sunk in, because about six months after that tour. I was sitting playing guitar and I started singing that song. which I didn’t know I had learned. Then I thought about covering it, and I monkeyed with the lyrics a little because I felt like it was important that it stay as autobiographical and as personal seeming as it does when Conor does it—I love that there’s no skin between the singer and the audience.

The Boston Globe profiles singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart.

The Guardian explores the current trend of rock stars writing movie scores.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O composed the music for Spike Jonze's forthcoming adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have composed the score for the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road, while Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) has written the soundtrack to Caroline Aherne's new full-length feature The Fattest Man in Britain, which airs on ITV over Christmas. Even Jarvis Cocker made a humble offering to Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox.

The Guardian lists websites to stream and/or download live music sessions.

The Boston Herald recommends '80s underground rock bands.

The Tallahassee Democrat profiles singer-songwriter Neko Case.

On sale at Amazon MP3: John Lennon's 10-track Imagine album for $2.99.

John Darnielle talks to the Nashville Scene about the new Mountain Goats album, The Life of the World to Come.

Darnielle has used Bible verses to title songs before, and the idea intrigued him. "There's just something portentous about having a title that refers to this big book that is central to so much culture and so much literature, and has spawned so many big ideas," he says. "To refer to Bible text opens a bunch of internal doors."

The Louisville Courier-Journal lists its favorite albums produced by Steve Albini, and also interviews him.

tUnE-yArDs @ Bowery Ballroom 11/18/2009
Intro / Powa / “What’s That About?” / “Move To My Hood” / Fiya / Real Live Flesh / Hatari / “Do You Want To Live?”

tUnE-yArDs - “Hatari” As Mike Barthel wrote last night, tUnE-yArDs’ debut album is impressive not just for its unique style and the high quality of its songs, but for the way Merrill Garbus’ deliberate, distinct recording aesthetic makes us pay attention to the subtext in her music. I’ve heard so many albums in my life, but I’ve never encountered anything that blends studio-as-instrument technique with raw, live performance as seamlessly and as inventively as bIrD-bRaInS. All of this sets up an intriguing challenge for her live show — stripped of the framing and textures of her album, can her music be as engaging when she’s just there playing in a room?

[Buy it from Amazon.]

Continue reading about TUnE-yArDs (and Dirty Projectors) at Fluxblog →

Weekend – “Youth Haunts” From the band’s forthcoming 10″, due in December from Mexican Summer. The A-side to the release will be an all-new version of Weekend’s previously-circulated track “All American,” which you can hear/download here.

(via Fader)

Photo source

Sean Savage - “Here She Comes!!!” On November 19th, Sean Savage was kidnapped by an unknown woman. She wore a gingham scarf over her mouth. She had black bangs and blue eyes. She strapped Mr Savage to a large red wagon and climbed onto her bicycle and proceeded east. At first Mr Savage struggled. He pulled and bucked at his bindings. He kicked the side of the wagon. His thrashings knocked the wagon onto its side, whereupon he was dragged for ten feet in the trail's hard dirt. She got off her bike, propped the kick-stand, came back and righted him. She flicked pebbles from his cheek and smoothed his hair. She got on her bicycle and they rode. They rode & rode. In time, Mr Savage fell in love. There were orange-trees everywhere and he was in love. The spokes of her bicycle were made of sterling silver. [MySpace / Sean plays in Silly Kissers / via Goldkicks]

The Generationals - “When They Fight, They Fight” Rob admired his elbows. He dripped onto the linoleum, standing by the full-length mirror, nude and admiring his elbows. He had always thought his elbows were his finest feature. They were smooth, pointed, secretly strong. He jabbed once or twice, admiring the way they jabbed. He opened and closed his arm. Yes, his elbows. He mouthed the words to the mirror: Oh, these elbows. [thanks Brooks! / buy / MySpace / website]