In a perfect world I would have been able to go to Nashville to watch Of Montreal; however it wasn’t to be. But this video surfaced from their performance, showing the band covering Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” so that’s nice. And yes, I’m still waiting for that recording of their New Year’s Eve show where they played almost a dozen covers to surface

The cover of the FotC notebook

Now that we’ve all streamed the first episode of season two of Flight of the Conchords, I figured it’d be great to give out some FotC stuff. I’ve been given two “prize packs” to give away filled with goodies.

Each prize pack includes:
+ Season 1 of Flight of the Conchords on DVD
+ an FOTC notebook
+ an FOTC guitar pick
+ an FOTC poster
+ an FOTC postcards

Now, unfortunately this contest is open to US residents only, but let’s still try to have some fun. Those of you outside the US can (as far as I know) still join in on the fun by going to FlightLipDub and submit your lip dub to a FotC song. But on to the contest…

To enter the contest, leave a comment with your favorite moment from Flight of the Conchords season one

I’ll pick two winners on Monday, Jan 12 at midnight and email them to get their address. Have fun and remember that the second season debuts on HBO Sunday January 18!

I was thinking about Tomlab last night and decided to go home and find out what the label had been up to since last I checked. I decided to give Skeleton’s new album Money a spin for a bit and enjoyed what I heard. Warning: I’ve been on a Deerhoof/Animal Collective kick for about two weeks now, so just a heads-up for all you strict pop fans. There’s some good melody here, but it’s getting the crap kicked out of it along the way.

MP3: Skeletons - The THINGS
If you were to bury a 70s theme song, you’d have a head start on what the beginning of this song sounds like. The horns flare up and refuse to die, but Skeletons just keep on shoveling pound upon pound of noise to cover it up. Eventually the theme song gets frantic, fearing death, just as the clouds break through and “The THINGS” turns into a sexy noise affair — if there is such a thing.

Skeletons on Myspace

Slowly the covers from Of Montreal’s performance on New Year’s Eve are starting to trickle in. The one I was most looking forward to hearing was their take on Caribou’s “Melody Day,” one of the best songs of 2007. In addition to being a great choice, it’s noteworthy because Of Montreal added Ahmed Gallab as a touring member this year (but he’s done in the band for now), and Ahmed’s last notable touring gig was with Caribou. I don’t know if that factored into the band’s decision to play the song, but the fact is that it’s a great and unexpected cover.

MP3: Of Montreal - Melody Day (Caribou)

I’ll be posting the rest of the covers as soon as they’re available. We can look forward to covers of “Love to Love You, Baby” and “Head On” by the Jesus and Mary Chain. And as always, you can find all these covers and more at the Of Montreal Covers Archive I’ve been updating for over a year now.

(note: upon repeated listening, it seems like they dedicate it to Ahmed just before they play it)

I’d imagine that the Daytrotter ranch is probably the only place that could come close to fitting all of Dark Meat in for a session and have it be anywhere near comfortable. Late last year Daytrotter posted the Dark Meat session which consists of just two new songs. Below is the first, along with the band’s description of it.

MP3: Dark Meat - Oh, To Find Her Gone
Is a cold-death broadside. This time, a man grows so lonely in the dark paused-rot of a northern rural winter that he begins to hear warnings in the wind. They grow so dire he decides he must not ignore them and so he goes to give his former love the black news from the wind. She’s gone, without a trace. Her clocks are ticking, though, and her house is in order, and a vegetable smell permeates the atmosphere. He waits, but she never comes. Back at his sad house, he idles in the now-heightened solitude, but is so haunted by dreams of her that he must soon leave to wander other lands, and is therefore freed from his moribund life.

Read more and grab the other song, “When The Shelter Came,” at Daytrotter. Download Dark Meat’s Daytrotter session

Alternate gig poster by “Freedom” of Collected Animals

In my post-Merriweather Post Pavillion excitement I was looking around for some other Animal collective goodies. Upon exploring the Collected Animals message board, I found out that there was a recording of the first Animal Collective show I ever saw. WRFL brought in AC to play a show in Lexington in April of 2005 — my second semester of college.

At the time I thought Animal Collective were a bit weird and didn’t really enjoy the show that much. I had fun because I was young and hadn’t been to many shows, but I didn’t know enough to be able to put their songs in any sort of context other than “huh?” They were nice guys, though. I have a signed Cricket Press gig poster from this show (the one above, sans setlist) and talked to them for a bit at a bar after the show (I was only 18 — shhh). But now, going back and listening to this recording, I think I would have enjoyed it at least a little more if I’d seen it at 22. Luckily we live in an age when I — and you — can listen to it any time we want.

ZIP Animal Collective - Live at Arts Place - Lexington, KY 2005

Animal Collective at Arts Place - Lexington, KY 4/30/05
MP3: Animal Collective - People
MP3: Animal Collective - Country Fuck (Turn Into Something)
MP3: Animal Collective - Lake Damage (Loch Raven)
MP3: Animal Collective - Antelope (Did You See the Words)
MP3: Animal Collective - Grass
MP3: Animal Collective - Banshee Beat
MP3: Animal Collective - We Tigers
MP3: Animal Collective - Kids on Holiday
MP3: Animal Collective - BBB (Purple Bottle)

Animal Collective’s newest record Merriweather Post Pavillion is out tomorrow on vinyl and Jan 20th on CD. It’s beautiful.

I’ve been a Paul Rudd fan for a while, but seeing him steal the show in Knocked Up solidified my devotion to him. Against all odds, I enjoyed the hell out of Role Models too. Plus, the movie’s got Jason Segel and Andy Samberg, so those are just more hooks into my attention. However, I’m thinking this one might be less than the sum of its parts. Still I’d be lying if I said I didn’t laugh at the line “Totally. And it smells like farts.”

Me and Clem Snide go way back. The first time I ever set foot in the Dame was in 2005 to see a Clem Snide concert with Marbles opening. Robert Schneider (of the Apples in Stereo, aka “Marbles”) snuck my underage self into the bar by putting me on the guest list as “Matt Schneider.” Great night. And though I was there for Marbles, I wound up getting introduced to Clem Snide as well. They put on a great show for a young kid who’s just starting to listen to music that you won’t find on the radio (and likely a great show for an older kid as well, who knows). Also they were the only band to have one member play from the bar of any band I saw until the Woggles. Nothing like being surprised by a trumpet from behind you. Then, a year later, Clem Snide frontman Eef Barzelay was nice enough to do an interview with me back when I knew even less about how to conduct a readable interview. Then, one more solo album aside, I didn’t really hear much from them. But now the band are releasing Hungry Bird this February and it sounds wonderful.

MP3: Clem Snide - Me No
Maybe my favorite thing about “Me No” is that it’s such a slow building song. And the band knows that’s how they’re going to get the most out of this song, to they really use that to full effect. Eef does get wild vocally once or twice, but there are large instrumental sections where they just let the song pulse and pulse for a little bit. Then, about midway through the song there’s a vocal melody that’s underscored by a kazoo. Brilliant. This may not be a song that 2009 is defined by, but it’s a really well composed song that would serve lots of folk artists well to pay attention to. Avett Brothers, though you probably shouldn’t take this direction, there’s a bit you could learn from Clem Snide.

Clem Snide on Myspace