Rooster Roundabout: This Week’s Music Highlights

Mark Lopez
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4 min read
Rooster Roundabout: This weekÕs music highlights
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I posted a couple weeks ago that Starbucks was releasing
Sweethearts 2014, featuring numerous covers of love songs by the likes of Fiona Apple, Beck, Vampire Weekend and more. Now, Beck has made his track available—a cover of John Lennon’s “Love,” which you can listen to below, and you can head over to Consequence of Sound for the full tracklist. The compilation is set to hit the music-sphere on Valentine’s Day. Que cute.

When did Amazon start streaming full albums? I guess I was napping. Like most weeks in this day and age, there’s free music that’s alive and well, sending sound vibrations across the land … a sneak preview into an unknown dimension. Or a familiar one if you’re a fan. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks have made their latest opus (
Wig Out at Jagbags) available for streaming online, and if that’s not your bag, then Del the Funky Homosapien has you covered.

I don’t consider myself too much of a Flaming Lips fan. I’ve heard some stuff that I’ve liked, and could also do without some other stuff as well. But I do love a band that never stops, and considering I read about them almost every week (minor exaggeration), they’ve gotta be tireless, restless and ____-less. Now they’ve shared a cover of The Beatles’ “
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” You can hear that below.

I don’t care what people say … I like The Eagles. When I was growing up, my Ma and Pa would always play their
Greatest Hits album on the car stereo when we would take long trips or go for leisurely drives. And it always stuck with me. Tracks like “Witchy Woman,” their ever-famous “Hotel California,” and “Take It Easy” shepherded me into adolescence. And now the band is still doing it up, and in kind of a big way. Their 1976 album Hotel California has been made into a giant LP. That’s right, a giant record. You can read more at NME.

You ‘member Foster the People? That band that hit it big with that song “Pumped Up Kicks”? Well they just released a
45-second teaser that contains a snippet of a new track (probably taken from a new album?). You can view that below.

Wait … you didn’t think the album streamage was over, did you? Not by a long shot. First up, we got Peter Gabriel’s
… And I’ll Scratch Yours (as well as its predecessor Scratch My Back) streaming in full over at NPR. And then we also got hip-hop artist Angel Haze’s major debut LP (Dirty Gold) streaming over here. Well you can also go buy it, since it’s out and about in stores, but just in case you wanted a sneak peak …

It’s always a treat when an unreleased, unheard and un-thought-of song from a band you know about or admire comes out. It’s somewhat new. Or new to you. And now avant-pop-rock masterminds Talking Heads have shared a previously unheard track from 1976 (before the band released their debut LP). The instrumental track (with the default title “
Theme”) was supposedly recorded from a show the band played at CBGB’s, opening for Television. You can hear that below.

EDITOR’S NOTE: As I was about to post this week’s Rooster Roundabout online, I got an email from Pixies’ website, announcing the release of a brand new EP (
EP2) and a new video for their track “Blue Eyed Hexe” (which you can view below). I have to admit that since Kim Deal left the band, my interest has sort of waned. Not to say they’re no longer relevant, just a tad less interesting. And being as ADD as I am, it’s easy to lose interest. However, I’m sure some people are really excited for new music from this tweaked institution of a band.

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