Five Things

(Toro Y Moi)

• The Flaming Lips will be featured in this Super Bowl ad on Sunday.  But things get darker from there, as the band is set to release their thirteenth stuido album, The Terror, in April.   Wayne Coyne (by the way, a great Instagram follow) explains, "Why would we make this music that is The Terror--this bleak, disturbing record?  I don't really want to know the answer that I think is coming.  Maybe this is the beginning of the answer.  If we have love, give love and know love, we are truly alive and if there is no love, there would be know life.  The Terror, we know now, that even without love, life goes on . . . we just go on . . . there is no mercy killing."  For a band with consistently awesome album cover art, check out The Terror's existential blast of loneliness here.
• Toro Y Moi's new album morphs from chillwave to dance-pop.  Check out the videos for the first two singles from Anything in Return, "So Many Details" and "Say That."
• Youth Lagoon will be opening for The National at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn.  Heady stuff for a young kid from Boise that was only recently making music in his bedroom.  Trevor Powers will be soon releasing the follow-up to his phenomenal debut, The Year of Hibernation. Check out "Dropla" from Wondrous Bughouse here.
• Depeche Mode has a new single from the forthcoming album, Delta Machine.  Listen to "Heaven" here.
• The Knife's first studio album was otherwordly, spawning one of the best songs in the new milennium.  Seven years later, the Swedish siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olaf Dreijer will be releasing their second record, Shaking the Habitual.  Check out the freaky track "Full of Fire" here.

The Walkmen

(The Walkmen)

Rizzo and The D Man hit The Walkmen show last night.  The band was spectacular.  Sure, The D Man is prone to hyperbole, if only because life is better with some embellishments.  But it was one of the better live performances I have seen in some time.  I was just feeling it.  The venue was right--tight, compact, loud--and Hamilton Leithauser's voice crackled with emotion and urgency.  He lords inside each and every song, brooding, considering, challenging, while his veteran bandmates shelter him with sophisticated compositions.

The band's vintage rock'n'roll casts a peculiar, urban vibe throughout a room, enhanced when an upright piano is sprinkled throughout the set.  Their intra-song rhythm changes are exciting, and Paul Maroon's guitar tones are often sublime.  Rarely does a band exceed my expectations, but these guys were supremely talented professionals.

Highlights included tracks from most of their fine records.  "Blizzard of '96" (from Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone), "The Rat" (from Bows & Arrows), "In The New Year," "On the Water," and "Four Provinces" (from You & Me), "Angela Surf City" (from Lisbon), "We Can't Be Beat," "The Love You Love," and "Heaven" (from Heaven).

Song of the Week

It has been six long years since Justin Timberlake dropped Future/Love/Sex/Sounds, his excellent sophomore solo album.  With so many wannabe pop stars crammed down our collective throats, good news is on the way: JT is finally releasing a new album.  And he is a real pop star.  Sure, he has dabbled in acting with some decent results, but just like us he knows where his bread is buttered.  Listen to his album teaser for The 20/20 Experience here, and then check out his first single, "Suit and Tie." The D Man will share his same advice from six years ago: "Get over it haters, Timberlake is cooler than you--and more talented."

Song of the Week

(Mark Kozelek and Jimmy LaValle are teaming up)

Jimmy LaValle is The Album Leaf.  And his 2004 album, In A Safe Place (produced by none other than Jonsi), is one of The D Man's all-time favorite listens.  His ambient, thought-provoking electronica is simultaneously lush and wintry.  So imagine my surprise when I heard that he would be teaming up with blog favorite Sun Kil Moon for a full-length April release, Perils From The Sea.

The project began when Mark Kozelek, a fan and acquaintance of LaValle, asked Jimmy to co-write a song.  LaValle, a long time admirer of Kozelek's work, said yes, and the track "What Happened to my Brother" came together quickly.  Pleased with the results, the two agreed to record an entire album.  For the album LaValle reportedly chose a more minimalist approach to the music than The Album Leaf's large sonic soundscapes.  The lyrics and singing, of course, are provided by Kozelek.

It is somewhat disorienting to hear Kozelek, a master of the fuzzy open-tuned guitar jam and quiet nylon-string reverie, sing alongside the hypnotic synth sounds provided by LaValle.  But if their first collaboration is any indication of what is to come, the results will be chilling.