Best o' the Blogosphere: Thursday Roundup

Stereogum reports on the VH1 Rock Honors episode coming up this Saturday in which bands like The Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, and mC faves The Flaming Lips pay tribute to one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) rock 'n' roll bands of all time, The Who. They even have this great footage of the Lips practicing for the performance (stick around as it gets really good at about the 3:20 mark):


Pitchfork is streaming new music from Brazilian Girls and Q-Tip.

Rock Daily gives us a snippet of new Kings of Leon material being performed live.

Stereogum also gives us the new Beck music video for "Gamma Ray".


Man Man cram into the back seat for the latest Black Cab Session:


The free mp3 of the day at Spinner is Chromeo, "Bonified Lovin" (Yuksek's Remix).

And don't forget that KEXP will be live in Chicago next week, broadcasting from Engine Studios. You can sign up here to see a live performance from the likes of Mahjongg, The Watson Twins, and The M's. John and Cheryl will then be broadcasting live from Pitchfork Music Festival's ridiculously good lineup next weekend.

-J2

Beck + Danger Mouse = Favorite Song of the Day

It only makes sense that Beck and Danger Mouse would eventually work together on a project, and on its way sometime soon is Modern Guilt. Given their affinity for spaced-out, LSD-infused bubblegum-pop and obscure deep grooves from the 60s & 70s, their collaboration was inevitable. And so Danger Mouse has produced Beck's latest LP with a potential release date in June or July.

The first leaked track, "Chemtrails", is garnering justifiable comparisons to Pink Floyd thanks to the thunderous drumming of Joey Waronker. But Beck's lilting and wispy vocals recall Pet Sounds-era Brian Wilson, and until those powerhouse drums kick in, "Chemtrails" crawls through the hills of Southern California more than those of Cambridge.


It's probably safe to say that Danger Mouse gets our vote for Producer of the Year 2008 (if that award exists). So far he's brought us new albums from The Black Keys, Gnarls Barkley, Martina Topley-Bird, The Shortwave Set, and now the latest from Beck. And to think, just four years ago he was a 26 year old up-and-coming DJ who'd illegally made the greatest hip-hop album of the decade that never made a cent.

Check out Beck.com for fun with flash media.

-J2