My first introduction to YACHT was when a friend played their song “The Afterlife” in his car. I liked the dark, ’80s vibe emanating from his speakers, and the lyrics immediately grabbed me, what with singer Claire L. Evans deadpanning “We know how to make life go on.” Their show at Emo’s in Austin, Texas was a pretty dynamic affair. People danced whether they wanted to or not. Now the band has shared a new single, “Plastic Soul,” and an accompanying video. You can watch that below.I know … I know … It must get tiresome with all this love in the air and Valentine’s day looming ahead like an unstoppable force coming to claim your hard-earned cash and whatnot. But the Sweetheart compilation I’ve been plugging for the past few weeks (posting tracks by Beck and Jim James) has shared a new track. This time it’s Fiona Apple and her cabaret-singing sister Maude Maggart singing Anton Karas’ “I’m in the Middle of a Riddle.” You can check that out at the Wall Street Journal. PS: You can also hear Ben Harper covering Mazzy Star for this compilation over at Consequence of Sound. And the compilation is out on Feb. 4.While I’ve already ruminated over the music of the hit HBO series “Girls,” it’s always nice when the good music keeps a-flowin’. And now we’ve got a new track by Jenny Lewis, titled “Completely Not Me.” The song was produced by Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij, which I’m assuming is supposed to be impressive. But you can hear the track below, and check out the Girls Volume 2: All Adventurous Women Do… over at Entertainment Weekly.I’ve always appreciated Kevin Drew’s atmospheric musicality in Broken Social Scene. I never really followed his solo work, but I guess it’s better late than never. Now Drew is coming out with a new record (titled Darlings), slated to hit stores on March 18. And he’s shared a track off said album (“Good Sex”), which you can listen to below.While it’s probably completely out of left field, Led Zeppelin themselves always had sort of an unpredictably whimsical quality about them. I mean, come on … they made medieval stories sound ridiculously cool. Regardless, John Paul Jones has teamed up with electronic artist Deathprod, and together they are Minibus Pimps. You can read more about ’em over at Pitchfork.A friend first introduced me to Neutral Milk Hotel my sophomore year of high school, and (no joke!) my life was changed. I understood what it meant to make music an actual art form. Poetry and rock and roll had melted together into these seamless barrage of sound, all of it surrounding Jeff Mangum and his vibrant guitar. And now (after never thinking it was possible), I’ll get to see them live because the band has added some more dates to their tour, and they’ll be stopping at Albuquerque’s Kiva Auditorium on April 17. Tickets went on sale this morning, so go get ’em before they sell out (if they haven’t already). You can also hear my all-time favorite NMH track (“Two Headed Boy, Pt. 2) below.Alibi Managing Editor and Music Editor Samantha Anne Carrillo covered Syracuse punk outfit Perfect Pussy in one of her Four Up‘s and noted how Captured Tracks had enough confidence in the band to sign them … Well, you can see why with their track “Driver” off their upcoming full-length debut (Say Yes To Love), which hits online and physical stores on March 18. It looks like the noise is headed our way.Let those withering clouds part and the sonic sun descend upon the masses. It’s been “confirmed” that Jack White and Neil Young have recorded an album of covers (apparently with Jack White handling production duties). According to music journalist Michael Goldberg, a source close to the project has confirmed it, but you know how that stuff goes. I say speculation until a physical copy is in my hands. It looks like I need to hit up Third Man Records for an advanced copy, what what!For the past few weeks, music blogs have been abuzz over the long-lost Johnny Cash album (Out Among the Stars), which was recorded in the early ’80s. The record will get a proper release, thanks to his son John Carter Cash. And now Cash’s son has picked the album’s lead single (“She Used to Love Me a Lot”). The album hits the music-sphere on March 25, but you can hear the aforementioned track below.I’ve mentioned before that I like Ty Segall. I like his thrashy, disgusting, melted face approach to garage rock. It’s supposed to be that way. And now his side project FUZZ has released a cover of The Kinks’ track “Till The End Of The Day.” You can hear that below.I don’t know what it is with me and losing interest after a band’s first album. It’s a curse. That’s how it went with The Mars Volta. De-Loused in the Comatorium was a fantastic album that highlighted my sophomore year of high school. (Or was it junior year?) Either way, now former member Omar Rodríguez-López and former Red Hot Chili Peppers member John Frusciante have started a new collaboration. The project is called Kimono Kult, and they’re fixing to release a debut EP (Hiding in the Light) on March 4. But you can hear a new track from this group over at Rolling Stone.It’s always exciting when two powerhouse divas get together for a collaboration. (Britney and Madonna, anyone?) So I’m sure Shakira’s collaboration with Rihanna will be no different. And the thing about Shakira (besides her being this pop sensation) was that she used to be this cool, alternative, Latin musician. Check out Dónde Están Los Ladrones? or her MTV Unplugged version of “Ciega, Sordomuda” if you don’t believe me. That album is fantastic. Either way, I’m sure most people will go nuts over this track, so here’s “Can’t Remember to Forget You.”
Rooster Roundabout: This Week’s Music Highlights
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