King Khan & His Shrines - "Welfare Bread"

One part garage rock, one part soul. Supreme Genius:

Sufjan Stevens - "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts"

"The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" comes off of Sufjan's 2005 Illinoise, which is the 2nd concept album he has released themed on a state (first one being Michigan). Whether or not he makes all 50 remains to be seen, but for now I'll leave you with this song. Enjoy.

Jens Lekman - "A Postcard to Nina"

For decades now, Sweden has been recognized as the birthplace of numerous talented pop musicians. Jens Lekman is no exception to this trend, as can be seen with his 2007 album Night Falls Over Kortedala. The track featured, "A Postcard of Nina," is a great example why he has continued in this tradition. His joyful sound, combined with his clever, witty lyrics, create an atmosphere that is undeniably catchy.

A Postcard to Nina - Jens Lekm...

Bowerbirds - "Northern Lights"

This is the Bowerbirds' first single, "Northern Lights," coming off their upcoming second album Upper Air. This indie folk three-piece is out of Raleigh, North Carolina.

Drive-By Truckers - "Angels and Fuselage"

Off of their 2001 double album Southern Rock Opera, "Angels and Fuselage" concludes this 20 song description of the South with an eight minute epic, describing the last minutes of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd before their plane crashes. Throughout this album, Patterson Hood and the Drive-By Truckers portray what they call the "duality of the southern" experience.

Angels And Fuselage - Drive-By...

Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

Compliments of Rob Harvalla of the Village Voice... since he has summed it up better than I have seen anyone else thus far:

Michael Jackson is dead, and I'm taken aback by how incredibly unpleasant a feeling it is, far beyond the usual celebrity-grieving response: This is devastating in an unexpected and overwhelmingly surreal way. I'm also tremendously/overly conscious that at this exact moment thousands of writers/bloggers/pundits are simultaneously scrambling to wrap their heads around it and "cover" it, to both publicly acknowledge this terrible fact for posterity and also add a bit of personal spin, What Michael Jackson Meant to Me. The next 24 hours media-wise are gonna be incredible. This is the fucking all-time black diamond of obits: How do you reconcile the unimpeachable genius of his artistic prime with the train-wreck horror of his public descent, especially given the fact that the former ended and the latter began at least two decades ago? Is there any doubt this tragedy will occasion Absolutely the Worst Jokes of All Time? Did you stop for 30 seconds and mull over exactly how to address this news on your Twitter? If you go to a concert tonight and, like, Dinosaur Jr. brings it up from the stage, what's the audience response? Nervous laughter? Hoots of derision? Or actual, respectful silence?

The truth is that Thriller is/was ungodly huge in a way that doesn't exist anymore, period. In terms of sales + celebrity fascination + musical sublimity your competition there is basically Prince, which, well. And a great many people (myself included) now tasked with eulogizing MJ, in terms of percentages of our lives, have known him far more as a punchline than a megastar, and were too young to fully appreciate the megastar years anyway. Which may be for the best, that he remain an abstract figure moonwalking across your television screen in 1983, a magical figure before we grew up and learned how lame the word "magical" is, that we hold that figure as completely separate from the guy connected to the trials, the plastic surgeries, the late-show jibes, the commercial flops. He was the biggest pop star in the world, and made at least one of the greatest records of all time, and though he spent decades hence doing everything in his power to make you forget that, a part of everyone still remembers, and still reveres him for it. I suspect that's the part of everyone we'll hear from for at least a little while. And if not, I'm staying the hell off the Internet.

Black Mountain - "Angels"

Off of Black Mountain's 2008 album In the Future.

Angels - Black Mountain

Danger Mouse's EMI-killed CD will be released as a blank CD-R, just add download

EMI has told Danger Mouse that his latest CD won't see the light of day due to "legal issues," so he's responding by releasing the disc as a blank CD-R in a jewel case with art and liner notes. Fans can just download the music off a P2P site and burn it to the CD-R.

Dark Night Of The Soul, a collaboration with rock group Sparklehorse, also features Iggy Pop and The Flaming Lips, along with artwork by David Lynch.

It has already been streamed online, but Billboard magazine said a "legal dispute" with EMI derailed the project...

"Danger Mouse remains hugely proud of Dark Night of the Soul and hopes that people lucky enough to hear the music, by whatever means, are as excited by it as he is."

He added that the album, which comes with a limited edition, "100+ page book" of David Lynch photographs inspired by the music "will now come with a blank, recordable CD-R".

"All copies will be clearly labelled: 'For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.'"

--Reposted from Boing Boing (Cory Doctorow)

Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens - "What Have You Done"

In the midst of the soul revival going on in 2000s, Daptone Records has stood as a mainstay in this resurgence. In addition to Daptone leader Sharon Jones, the label now witnessed another powerful singer--this time in Naomi Shelton. Here's a sample from her 2009 release What Have You Done, My Brother?'

What Have You Done - Naomi She...

Fleet Foxes - "Ragged Wood"

From their highly acclaimed eponymous debut album, "Ragged Wood" stands as one of the Fleet Foxes' better songs. This Seattle-based band rose out of nowhere to become indie darlings in 2008.

Ragged Wood - Fleet Foxes

Blitzen Trapper - "Wild Mountain Nation"

Off of their 2007 album 'Wild Mountain Nation', this title track has been one of my favorite songs of the past couple years. This Portland sextet has been on this rise since this album was release, and have received critical acclaim from various music media publications.

Wild Mountain Nation - Blitzen...

Beck - "Sunday Morning"

Fresh off Beck's website, as part of a new section titled 'Record Club'. The weekly project will feature Beck and other artists covering a particular album in only one day, without any prior rehearsal or practice. The first track posted--a cover of Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning".

Odds are if these covers continue to be solid, this won't be the last 'Record Club' single featured on the War on Pop.

TV on the Radio - "Heroes"

"Heroes" is TV on the Radio's track from the compilation album 'War Child Presents Heroes', released earlier this year. This album's concept is an interesting one--where legendary musicians choose one of their own songs, and pick an artist to cover that song. The last on the album, this David Bowie cover stands as one of the highlights of the album.

Heroes - TV On The Radio

Dan Auerbach - "My Last Mistake"

This song is from the Black Keys' guitarist Dan Auerbach, released on his first solo album 'Keep it Hid'. While most of the album departs from his usual styles onto a more nuanced acoustic blues sound, this one song stands out from the rest, albeit in another different manner. "My Last Mistake" is arguably his popiest song to date, but it turns out to be a great choice.

Check it out below, and have a good friday everyone

Grizzly Bear - "While You Wait For The Others"

This song is featured on Grizzly Bear's recently released album 'Veckatimest', which impressively debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200.

This song should also be noted as it is the first and only song to receive a 10/10 rating from Pitchfork, since they started reviewing songs at the beginning of this year. While that rating may show Pitchfork's bias toward this band, I have to admit that it's damn good.

Stay tuned for the final song of Friday...coming this afternoon.

The Walkmen - "In The New Year"

From their 2008 album 'You and Me', this song will be the first of three songs on Friday. Check back later for the others...