Matt Berninger & Phoebe Bridgers
Matt Berninger, frontman of The National and songstress Phoebe Bridgers duet in the Zach Galifianakis comedy, Between Two Ferns.
Walking on a String perfectly blends these two voices.
Walking on a String
The National
It’s always a pleasure to receive new music from The National.
I never tire of Matt Berninger’s baritone.
The album, Sleep Well the Beast, will not be ready until September, but we do have the song The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness.
The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness
Planetarium
Sufjan Stevens has teamed up with The National’s Bryce Dessner, classical composer Nico Muhly, and drummer James McAlister for a project called Planetarium, a composition inspired by the solar system.
The 17-song album debuts in June.
Saturn is one of the songs.
Saturn
EL VY
Matt Berninger, the voice of The National has teamed up with Brent Knopf (Ramona Falls/Menomena) calling themselves EL VY.
Return to the Moon is the album due at the very end of October.
Here is the title track, subtitled (Political Song for Didi Bloome to Sing, with Crescendo).
The National
The National, one of the premier indie bands of the last decade, created the ambience for the documentary Mistaken for Strangers, a film that chronicled the brother of lead singer Matt Berninger, following the band on tour.
The film is now available for rental and download and the new song “Sunshine on My Back” is included.
The National
We’ve waited almost 3 years since High Violet, the brilliant album from The National.
Fortunately the wait is almost over as Trouble Will Find Me is due in late May.
“Don’t Swallow the Cap” is the first single.
Sharon Van Etten
Sharon Van Etten’s 2010 album Epic was a showcase for her delicate yet powerful voice. We featured the song “Don’t Do It”.
Her new album Tramp is due in a couple of weeks, recorded with the help of some members of The National.
“Serpents” is the first single and a free download as well.
Oh Land
She calls herself Oh Land, a play on her middle name Øland. She’s a Danish singer/songwriter living in Brooklyn.
A former ballet dancer, she creates dreamscapes onstage to her electronic pop sounds.
Here she covers one of my favorite songs, “Bloodbuzz Ohio” by the National. We’re used to the deep baritone of Matt Berninger. Her upper register lends both a new interpretation and new appreciation for the song.
And it’s a free download.
“Bloodbuzz Ohio”
[jwplayer mediaid=”5349″]
Podcast Today
New Oedipus Project podcast today at 5:00 pm Eastern and on-demand thereafter on CyberStationUSA featuring:
White Denim
Death Cab for Cutie
The Naked and Famous
The Kills
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
Bat for Lashes
Deerhunter
Crystal Stilts
The National
PJ Harvey
TV on the Radio
Noah and the Whale
Belle and Sebastian
Tamaryn
2010/2011
The world of music is cyclical and goes into hiatus a few weeks before Christmas and into the new year. Slowly new music is released in January and gains momentum later in the winter flowing into the spring.
Bands that enthralled me last year included Arcade Fire, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Avi Buffalo, Badly Drawn Boy, Beach House, Belle & Sebastian, Best Coast, Blonde Redhead, Delorean, The Drums, Dum Dum Girls, Eminem, Girl Talk, Glasser, Gorillaz, Janelle Monáe, Joanna Newsom, Karen Elson, Laura Marling, Lykke Li, Matt & Kim, Mumford & Sons, The National, No Age, Perfume Genius, Phoenix, School of Seven Bells, She & Him, Shearwater, Sleigh Bells, Stars, Titus Andronicus and Warpaint.
And The xx continued to give me great pleasure.
Here you will hear the best new music as it becomes available.
Next week we will have an exclusive Cure video.
Happy New Year indeed.
Matt & Kim
From Seattle to Athens, Orange County to Montreal, certain areas of North America morph into hotbeds of new exciting music. Currently it now appears to emanate from Brooklyn, NY. MGMT, The National, The Drums, Grizzly Bear and Dirty Projectors, only to name a few, all base themselves in this NYC borough. Matt & Kim, the duo of Matt Johnson (vocals, keyboards) and Kim Schifino (drums, vocals) are yet another Brooklyn-based band, perhaps best known for their award-winning video “Lessons Learned”. Their third album, Sidewalks, is coming out in November. “Cameras” is the first release from that album and is the Song of the Day.
[jwplayer mediaid=”4378″]
“Cameras” by Matt & Kim
Sufjan Stevens: Free download
Sufjan Stevens is the wildly eclectic multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter hailing from Detroit but now firmly ensconced in Brooklyn. Known to many for his Fifty States Project, he once planned to write an album for each of the U.S. states. But with only Michigan and Illinois under his belt, he now says that it was just a joke. His 5 CD box set Songs for Christmas is a staple for me during the holidays and when he is not producing records, recording commissioned pieces or guesting on other musicians albums (most recently he can be heard on The National’s High Violet), he releases music on his own label, Asthmatic Kitty. The EP All Delighted People just became available as a digital download and his first completely song-based album in 5 years, The Age of Adz (pronounced Odds), is scheduled for this October. From the forthcoming album, the song “I Walked” is a free download and becomes the Song of the Day.
[jwplayer mediaid=”4348″]
“I Walked” by Sufjan Stevens
The National
The new album by The National is so good that I’m having difficulty deciding which two tracks to feature today to share for a taste. The album, High Violet, was released yesterday and it is richly powerful, personal and passionate from start to finish. About a month and a half ago we featured the poignant “Bloodbuzz Ohio” as a previous Song of the Day. “Sorrow” and “Afraid of Everyone” (the latter with a little help from Sufjan Stevens) are today’s Songs of the Day.
“Sorrow”
[jwplayer mediaid=”4192″]
“Afraid of Everyone”
[jwplayer mediaid=”5344″]
Oedipus Podcast #5: new for Spring
Gorillaz-“On Melancholy Hill”
The National-“Bloodbuzz Ohio”
The Whigs-“Kill Me Carolyne”
TV Heart Attack-“Nowhere Fast”
Stone Temple Pilots-“Between the Lines”
Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders-“Way Down”
Foo Fighters-“Wheels”
She & Him-“Gonna Get Along Without You Now”
Dead Country-“Euro Thrash”
[jwplayer mediaid=”4105″]