This is renowned poet/singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen performing “The Stranger Song” from his debut album The Songs of Leonard Cohen live on the Julie Felix Show in 1967. The Songs of Leonard Cohen is a poetic masterpiece as much as it is a musical one, and remains to be one of the high points of not only folk but pop music in general.

Take some time and read the brilliant lyrics from “The Stranger Song” here

posted by: Harold Johns III

Clinic live on WFMU’s Cherry Blossom Clinic, 8/21/2010

Bonus: You can also download Clinic’s 2001 live set from WMFU’s Scott Show here

Sufjan Stevens
“I Walked”
From Steven’s latest full-length The Age of Adz, out 10/12 via Asthmatic Kitty
Download here (via Steven’s Bandcamp page)

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Glasser
“Home”
From Glasser aka Cameron Mesirow’s debut full length Ring, out 9/28 on True Panther Sounds
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Laetitia Sadier (of Stereolab)
“One Million Year Trip”
From Sadier’s first “proper” solo album The Trip, out 9/21 on Drag City
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Coma Cinema
“Business as Usual”
From the upcoming album Blue Suicide, out soon via Wonder Bread Tapes
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Houses
“Endless Spring”
From the forthcoming album All Night, out 10/19 via Lefse Records
Download here (right click + save link as)

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El Guincho
“FM Tan Sexy”
From El Guincho’s aka Pablo Diaz-Reixa’s second album Pop Negro, out 9/14 via Young Turks
Download here

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Zola Jesus
“Sea Talk”
From her latest EP Valusia, out 10/12 via Sacred Bones Records
Download here

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Bonus: Surfer Blood’s Daytrotter session

posted by: Harold Johns III

This video captures Mission of Burma, one of the greatest American rock bands, in their prime performing “Red” live in the band’s hometown of Boston at the Bradford Hotel on March 12, 1983. “Red” is from Mission of Burma’s debut EP Signals, Calls and Marches, which was released in 1981 on the indie label Ace of Hearts. Their full length follow-up Vs. with its masterful mix of punk, pop and avant-garde experimentation continues to be a seminal record to this day and has inspired countless other bands including Nirvana, Sonic Youth and fellow Bostonians The Pixies. This footage was taken from the companion DVD to the 2008 reissue of Vs. by Matador Records.

Learn more about Mission of Burma here

posted by: Harold Johns III

This is the second video from Ted Leo and The Pharmacists’ latest album The Brutalist Bricks, out now on Matador. It was directed by Tom Scharpling and features performances by comedians Paul F. Tompkins, Julie Klausner and John Hodgman. And yes, Ted Leo is making fun of Green Day, their terrible “concept” album American Idiot and their even more terrible Broadway musical based on said album.

This is the first video from The Thermals’ upcoming album Personal Life, due September 9 on Kill Rock Stars. It stars Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney and was directed by Whitey McConnaughy.

According to Carpark Records:

For the video to Toro Y Moi‘s latest single “Low Shoulder” the directors Elisha Smith-Leverock and Chris Murdoch have drawn inspiration from everything from pulp magazines and Cinderella to sploshing and mono-brows. It’s a nod to Italo-horror flicks from the 70s and 80s. It features an appearance by 60s it-girl Daphne Sherman, wife of the legendary mod tailor Ben Sherman, who stars as a demented ballroom dancing reject/ waitress.

“I Don’t Mind” is from Screaming Females’ fourth full length Castle Talk, out September 14 on Don Giovanni Records. Download a free copy of “I Don’t Mind” here (right click + save link as). Lawrencians can catch Screaming Females on tour August 26 at the Replay Lounge (946 Massachusetts in Lawrence, KS). Tour dates for the rest of ya can be found here.

Bonus: Some band named Arcade Fire has a new video for “Ready to Start.”

posted by: Brent Carter

Dungen
“Marken Låg Stilla”
From the upcoming album Skit I Allt, out 9/14 via Mexican Summer
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Blonde Redhead
“Not Getting There”
From Penny Sparkle, out 9/14 via 4AD
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Truman’s Water
“We Fish”
From the band’s first album in 7 years O Zeta Zunis, out now via Asthmatic Kitty
Download here

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Wild Nothing
“Golden Haze”
From the forthcoming Golden Haze EP, out later this year via Captured Tracks
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Cinema Red and Blue (features members of Comet Gain and Crystal Stilts)
“Same Mistakes”
From the band’s self-titled debut album, out 9/28 via What’s Your Rupture
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Still Corners
“Don’t Fall in Love”
From the  7″ single of the same name, soon to be released via The Great Pop Supplement
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Outer Minds
“Ordinary”
From the band’s debut EP Bloodshot Eyes, out now via Hozac Records
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Super Wild Horses
“Carolina”
From the band’s debut LP Fifteen, out now via Hozac Records
Download here (right click + save link as)

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The Flips
“I Just Don’t Know Where I Stand Anymore”
From the EP of the same name, out now via Hozac Records
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Bonus: Weekend’s Daytrotter session

Bonus: Ridin’ With My Top Down: The Essential Swizz Beatz, a three disc, 70 song  mixtape of the hip hop producer’s greatest hits and most questionable collaborations. Check out the track-listing here.

Download disc 1 here -  (138.73 Mb)
Download disc 2 here -  (139.38 Mb)
Download disc 3 here – Showtime? Swizzy’s Greatest WTFs (111.31 Mb)

Updated Bonus: The Rub’s History of Hip Hop 2000-2009, 31 mixtapes with hundreds of classic jams available as free downloads.

posted by: Harold Johns III

“Mind Playing Tricks on Me” is a single by the Geto Boys, featured on their 1991 album We Can’t Be Stopped. Before the release of We Can’t Be Stopped, one of the Geto Boys, Bushwick Bill, lost his eye in an accidental shooting with his girlfriend, and the cover featured fellow members Willie D. and Scarface wheeling Bill into an emergency room as he talks on a Zach Morris-style cell phone.

posted by: Harold Johns III