Yet again The xx have tapped into beautiful, spacious simplicity, this time for a music video to the band's song "Islands." The group's logo looms large in the video, which documents an ever-so-coordinated dance party. If you come to Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club on Saturday night, you might even see All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen bust out a few of these dance moves. But if you're can't make it to the show, never fear: we're webcasting their entire show live, along with the more upbeat and dancier Hot Chip. Click over to the concert page to read more about the event, and be sure to tune in to the page on Saturday.

Footwear has come a long way since the primitive days of just being used to, you know, cover your feet. Sure, it can make you run faster and jump higher, measure your distance and heart rate, even make phone calls. Shoes can now make music.

As this video shows, you can now transform shoes into musical instruments. It's part of a new Japanese Nike ad campaign to show off how flexible and twisty (and, therefore, comfortable?) the new Nike's Free Run+ running shoes are.

To do so, Nike invited the help of a pair of inventive Japanese sound artists (including Daito Manabe, an innovator in alternative musical interfaces) to convert the shoes into DIY interactive musical instruments that can cue and manipulate samples and sounds. In the process, they've unveiled perhaps the first line of "footware."

With a little ingenuity, and a boatload of accelerometer sensors (the things that make you able to shake your iPhone) and software (in this case Ableton Live), they discovered that they can plug the shoes into a computer and mixers. They can then create beats and trigger other sounds by flexing and bending and banging the shoes -- not totally unlike how any MIDI-controlled interface or DJ turntable works. The difference is, in the right hands, the shoes seem to display a lot of potential for subtle motion to tweak the sounds just right. It's fascinating to watch as it unfolds live.

Unfortunately, as the closing disclaimer notes, these sweet kicks won't come music-ready for the general consumer any time soon. In the meantime, I guess I'll have to continue duct-taping my vintage Discman to my worn-out sneakers.

For the programmers, gearheads and electronic-music geeks out there who are interested in how they rigged everything up, check out the blog Create Digital Music, which spoke to Manabe about the process and all those nitty-gritty technical details.

Download "Mercy Over Justice" by Malgre Lui (Right-click or control-click to save to your computer)

According to the paperwork, this discreet CD-R has been sitting on our shelves since the summer of 2008. I find this hard to believe. I'm not saying that this modest 6-song EP is a work of staggering virtuosity, but Jamison Lee, a.k.a. Malgre Lui, has a soulful, unpretentious songwriting style that really caught my attention. His lyrics are vivid and imaginative, and each of his offbeat ballads could easily double as a singalong. The songs he writes are delicately arranged, and glued together by a gaunt but expressive voice that recalls great voices like Brian Wilson or more contemporarily, Will Sheff. Lee's songs have the feel of a simple home recording, but the music befits the slightly quirky, lo-fi sound.

Listen to "Mercy Over Justice"

Lee is a doctoral student in poetry, which probably keeps him busy most of the time, but he has a natural facility for writing songs that are both playful and sincere. The six tracks that he recorded a few years ago remain his only release to date. A website, where the songs will be available to download, is in the works, but for now, they are all available to stream on his Myspace page.

Subscribe to the Second Stage podcast to automatically download each song to your computer.

Submit your music for possible inclusion in Second Stage or All Songs Considered]]> <p><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/second_stage_jamison_lee.html#email">&raquo; E-Mail This</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/second_stage_jamison_lee.html">&raquo; Add to Del.icio.us</a> </p> <p> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://u.npr.org/adclick/utype=rss/aamsz=300x80/position=rss1/site=NPR/blog=15709577"> <img border="0" width="300" height="80" src="http://u.npr.org/iserver/utype=rss/aamsz=300x80/position=rss1/site=NPR/blog=15709577" /> </a> </p> http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/second_stage_jamison_lee.html?ft=1&f=15709577 http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/second_stage_jamison_lee.html?ft=1&f=15709577 Second Stage Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:49:32 -0500 by Will Butler It's been only six weeks since we reported that ailing rapper Guru was recovering well from surgery to revive him from a heart-attack-induced coma. But now, MTV is reporting that Guru, born Keith Edward Elam, died Monday. A statement from his collaborator and partner, Solar, links Guru's death to a long battle with cancer. "The world has lost one of the best MCs and hip-hop icons of all-time -- my loyal best friend, partner and brother, Guru," Solar said. "Guru has been battling cancer for well over a year and has lost his battle! This is a matter that Guru wanted private until he could beat it, but tragically, this did not happen. The cancer took him. Now the world has lost a great man and a true genius." Though Guru was well-known for his work in Gang Starr, he'd been distancing himself from DJ Premier as of late, saying multiple times that he did not want to be associated solely with his ex-DJ. Guru was also known for his innovative solo work and collaboration with producer Solar under the name Jazzmatazz. The albums were the first of a kind, combining live jazz with hip-hop production. Guru leaves behind a legacy that spans more than two decades. by Will Butler

It's been only six weeks since we reported that ailing rapper Guru was recovering well from surgery to revive him from a heart-attack-induced coma. But now, MTV is reporting that Guru, born Keith Edward Elam, died Monday. A statement from his collaborator and partner, Solar, links Guru's death to a long battle with cancer.

"The world has lost one of the best MCs and hip-hop icons of all-time -- my loyal best friend, partner and brother, Guru," Solar said. "Guru has been battling cancer for well over a year and has lost his battle! This is a matter that Guru wanted private until he could beat it, but tragically, this did not happen. The cancer took him. Now the world has lost a great man and a true genius."

Though Guru was well-known for his work in Gang Starr, he'd been distancing himself from DJ Premier as of late, saying multiple times that he did not want to be associated solely with his ex-DJ. Guru was also known for his innovative solo work and collaboration with producer Solar under the name Jazzmatazz. The albums were the first of a kind, combining live jazz with hip-hop production. Guru leaves behind a legacy that spans more than two decades.

Record store day sure yielded some goodies this year. Among the other buzzed about releases on Saturday was a Bon Iver/Peter Gabriel split 7-inch from Jagjaguwar. This is the first of what we hope will be at least a few more Peter Gabriel covers -- Gabriel put out an open-ended invitation/challenge to the artists whose work he covered on his recent Scratch My Back album. The goal is to eventually release an eclectic album of Peter Gabriel covers called I'll Scratch Yours. Details are sketchy on future covers, though. It sounded like we might get a Thom Yorke cover of the 1982 song "Wallflower," but Gabriel told NME that Yorke isn't answering his calls right now.

Even if all of the musicians don't come through, so far it looks like the ones who do are going to make up for it. Bon Iver's six-minute cover of "Come Talk To Me" exceeds all expectations. Flip the record over to find Gabriel's gorgeous rendition of "Flume." You can listen to Justin Vernon's version of "Come Talk To Me" on Hype Machine, but, if you like it, for Pete's sake (and Justin's, too), just buy it. If not from a real record store, then it's available on iTunes, as well.]]> <p><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/bon_iver_peter_gabriel_record.html#email">&raquo; E-Mail This</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/bon_iver_peter_gabriel_record.html">&raquo; Add to Del.icio.us</a> </p> http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/bon_iver_peter_gabriel_record.html?ft=1&f=15709577 http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/bon_iver_peter_gabriel_record.html?ft=1&f=15709577 News bon iver peter gabriel Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:29:19 -0500 by Will Butler The headline says it all. Today LCD released an insane new music video for "Drunk Girls," the first single from the band's new album, This Is Happening. The video was directed by frontman James Murphy and the legendary Spike Jonze. It features the band members trying to see what they can take from creepy dudes in full body suits, whose antics start out only as a slight disturbance, and devolve into complete mayhem. There's even some cross-dressing. by Will Butler

The headline says it all. Today LCD released an insane new music video for "Drunk Girls," the first single from the band's new album, This Is Happening. The video was directed by frontman James Murphy and the legendary Spike Jonze. It features the band members trying to see what they can take from creepy dudes in full body suits, whose antics start out only as a slight disturbance, and devolve into complete mayhem. There's even some cross-dressing.

It was a big weekend for Damon Albarn. Not only did his two-dimensional supergroup Gorillaz make a huge splash at Coachella, bringing out special guests from The Clash, De La Soul, and Little Dragon, to name a few -- but his old band, Blur, also staged somewhat of a comeback. The blithe Britpop group hadn't released a song in seven years, but this month, the guys got back together to record a special single specifically for record store day.

One thousand 7-inch vinyls were released to independent record stores this past Saturday, and, even though they're probably all gone (or on eBay), the band is giving away the song, completely free and legal. You can get a high-quality download of the plodding, self-reflective "Fool's Day" at Blur's website.

If you live in Europe, you've probably noticed. But in case you haven't heard, Iceland is in trouble. A few days ago, the volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted, covering much of the surrounding area in a cloud of volcanic ash. As a result, what some are now calling "the Coachella-hating volcano" has grounded all U.K. and some other European flights, derailing more than a few bands' plans to play this weekend's Southern California music festival.

One of the many tents at Coachella 2007 (photo by Mick 0 via Flickr)

The cancellations thus far include Frightened Rabbit, Bad Lieutenant (which also cancelled a San Francisco show) and The Cribs. According to The Cribs' MySpace blog, Coachella organizers even offered the band a private jet, but to no avail. At this point, the festival's organizers no doubt have their fingers crossed that Delphic and Gary Numan will be able to make it to California for their sets on Sunday, but at this point, it's not looking good.

According to BBC News, though the plume of ash will probably impede air travel for at least a couple of days, major attractions Gorillaz, Thom Yorke, Muse and the rest of the festival's U.K. contingent are already in the U.S. A New York Times blog entry reports that the French group Phoenix has also arrived safe and sound, as well.

Among other musical casualties from the ash cloud, the Scottish band Los Campesinos! just canceled two U.S. dates. Tonight's Hoboken, N.J., show has been rescheduled for Wednesday, and, assuming flights pick up again over the weekend, the band will recommence its tour in Quebec on Sunday.

I grew up in the midst of the digital revolution. I am part of the first generation of young people for whom learning to navigate through digital realms was as natural as learning to walk or speak a first language. But from time to time I'm still completely blown away by certain advances in digital technology and, in this case, nano, technology. Seeing this new iPhone app was enough to make me take a step back, scream about it to everyone in the office, and eventually ponder the whirlwind pace at which these devices are expanding our creative capacities.

It pretty much speaks for itself. This is a full-scale audio recording, editing, and sharing application that basically replaces a studio full of gear. It's as full-featured as many other multi-track editing programs, with the added bonus of allowing users to upload directly to the Web. Incredible. I realize that this isn't the only 4-track app for the iPhone, but something about the design of this one really makes sense. If you're as much of an audio geek as me, you'll probably really enjoy the video.

The way we record and edit sound has already gone through an enormous revolution. But it's likely to just keep on evolving dramatically in the next five to ten years. Got any predictions for how we'll record and mix music in the future?

I came across this "robot folding a towel" video, also known as "Autonomously folding a pile of five previously-unseen towels." It's a project by UC Berkeley Ph.D. student Jeremy Maitin-Shepard.

It's fascinating on so many levels. This machine is actually looking over each little towel, calculating all its dimensions and deciding how best to neatly fold it. As I watched it, it occurred to me that it desperately needs a soundtrack.

My choice was this song by Billie Holiday called "Until The Real Thing Comes Along:"

What song do you think would work well with the video? If you want to try your own version, there are video ripper and encoder sites out there that'll let you pull clips from youtube. Grab the original video, add your own song choice, then send us a link to watch it. You can also just tell us the song you'd use and we'll do a few different versions using some of the reader suggestions.

Roger Waters(Courtesy the Artist)

Pink Floyd's monumental ninth album, The Wall, is celebrating its 30th birthday, and to mark the occasion, creator Roger Waters has decided to take the album on the road again. "Thirty years ago when I was kind of an angry and not very young lad, I found myself driven into defensive positions because I was scared of stuff," Waters tells the Associated Press. "I've come to realize that in that personal story, maybe somewhere hidden in there, exists an allegory for more general and universal themes, political and social themes. It's really for that reason that I decided that I'd try and create a new performance of this piece using a lot of the same things that we did all those years ago."

At this point, the new tour won't include any of the other original members of Pink Floyd. The full band (minus founding member Syd Barrett) last played together in 2005 in an incredibly rare performance for Live 8. Keyboardist Richard Wright has since died while guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason have continued working on their own projects.

Waters' new Wall tour will start Sep. 15 in Toronto and end in Anaheim, Calif. Dec. 15. While the staging will updated to make use of advances in projection systems and other technology, Waters tells the AP the album's themes are still relative. "When we did it (30 years ago), we were after the end of the Vietnam War, and we're right now in the middle of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so there's a very powerful anti-war message in The Wall. There was then and there still is now."

Waters also tells the AP that this will likely be his last major tour. "I'm not as young as I used to be. I'm not like B.B. King, or Muddy Waters. I'm not a great vocalist or a great instrumentalist or whatever, but I still have the fire in my belly, and I have something to say. I have a swan song in me and I think this will probably be it." ]]> <p><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/roger_waters_revisits_the_wall.html#email">&raquo; E-Mail This</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/roger_waters_revisits_the_wall.html">&raquo; Add to Del.icio.us</a> </p> http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/roger_waters_revisits_the_wall.html?ft=1&f=15709577 http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/roger_waters_revisits_the_wall.html?ft=1&f=15709577 News pink floyd the wall Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:59:04 -0500 by Robin Hilton Beck has released the latest installment in his song-by-song re-creation of the INXS album Kick. The new track is "Devil Inside," the third in the series. "Devil Inside" Beck recorded the entire INXS album in a single day during early March, with Annie Clark and Daniel Hart from St. Vincent, Sergio Dias from the Brazilian band Os Mutantes and Brian Lebarton. Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross from the band Liars also appear on the album, with Angus Andrew singing on most of the songs. Kick is the fourth album in Beck's Record Club series, a recurring project that features a rotating cast of guest artists who re-create classic albums with Beck at his studio. So far, Beck has covered The Velvet Underground and Nico, Skip Spence's Oar and Leonard Cohen's Songs of Leonard Cohen. See more videos after the jump... Next up in the series is the fourth cut from the INXS album, "Need You Tonight." Here are the first two cuts from Beck's "Record Club" version of the album. "New Sensation" "Guns In The Sky" by Robin Hilton

Beck has released the latest installment in his song-by-song re-creation of the INXS album Kick. The new track is "Devil Inside," the third in the series.

"Devil Inside"

Beck recorded the entire INXS album in a single day during early March, with Annie Clark and Daniel Hart from St. Vincent, Sergio Dias from the Brazilian band Os Mutantes and Brian Lebarton. Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross from the band Liars also appear on the album, with Angus Andrew singing on most of the songs.

Kick is the fourth album in Beck's Record Club series, a recurring project that features a rotating cast of guest artists who re-create classic albums with Beck at his studio. So far, Beck has covered The Velvet Underground and Nico, Skip Spence's Oar and Leonard Cohen's Songs of Leonard Cohen.

See more videos after the jump...

"New Sensation"

"Guns In The Sky"

It was hard to navigate the '90s without encountering the Brit-pop anthem "Alright," from the group Supergrass. The band exploded onto the U.K. scene in 1994 with the release of its debut single, "Caught by the Fuzz." Now, after nearly two decades, Reuters is reporting that Supergrass' members have decided to break up.

The Oxford-based Supergrass evolved to include Gaz and Rob Coombes, Danny Goffey and Mick Quinn. The project began in 1993, when the brothers were still teenagers, writing songs together. Lead singer Gaz Coombes is only 34, but has already spent more than half of his life in the band. Supergrass has released six studio albums, most notably I Should Coco, In It for the Money and Road to Rouen, and most recently the 2008 quasi-concept album Diamond Hoo Ha. For 17 years, Supergrass held its own in the British rock scene as an iconic embodiment of carefree youth. Before the band moves on, it will play four European farewell shows, from Scotland to Paris, this June.

Supergrass - Late in the Day

Devo's got a new album coming out in June and the band wants you to decide which songs make the final cut. As the group heads into its final weeks of production, it has a collection of 16 new songs, but only 12 can make it on the final record.

"In an effort to comply with the growing need for appealing sonic products in the mass market, we have officially launched the 'Devo Song Study' to collect data regarding which of our current roster of recorded material is most appealing to you, the general public," the band said yesterday, in a press release from its "corporate" headquarters.

Fans who visit the Song Study Web site are greeted by Jakob, a young, mono-colored spokesperson with a slavic accent, who walks listeners through the steps of auditioning and selecting the new songs. At the end of the interactive voting process, you can see a pretty amazing graphic representation of which songs are the most popular, which includes bar graphs made up of fan photos.

Jakob, your guide to Devo's 'Song Study,' listens along as you audition tracks.

Full versions of the tracks aren't available. But if the samples we've heard are any indication, the new record is going to be classic Devo, with plenty of quirky fun.

I am not a "dancing" concertgoer -- I'm usually okay with a bit of inspired swaying, but I'm also a big fan of personal space, however little of it may be in a crowded, general admission pit. That said, it's really a shame that most of Boston's Wang Theater is reserved seating, because on Thursday night, the building pulsated with 4,000 people who were dying to dance. Though nearly all of the songwriting and singing is done by Thom Yorke, Atoms For Peace occupies a wholly different space than Radiohead. Animated, energetic, and beat-driven, they are living up to their supergroup status, and proving to be an absolute powerhouse of a band.

Atoms for Peace (Courtesy the Artist)

While Mauro Refosco, Joey Waronker, and Nigel Godrich contributed to a stunning rhythm section, without a doubt the stars of the show were Yorke and bassist Flea. Several times, the two would face off in true "rock god" form, trading riffs, and sometimes dance moves. The band jammed on Yorke's album The Eraser in its entirety. Though the songs were debuted as a solo project more than 4 years ago, Atoms For Peace is providing a completely revitalized take onThe Eraser. The more up-tempo cuts, like "And It Rained All Night" and "The Clock", now have a jarring and exciting new edge. Though these songs never resonated with me as much as the more laid-back aspects the album, suddenly they seemed to make perfect sense.

As is usually the case with these ultra-hyped concerts, Atoms For Peace provided the ecstatic crowd with a hefty encore of six songs. As the only part of the show that the band changes on a nightly basis, it began with the beautiful and relatively new Thom Yorke song "The Present Tense" and covered lots of ground with Atoms For Peace original "Judge, Jury & Executioner" as well as Yorke's beloved solo piano arrangement of Radiohead's "Like Spinning Plates".


Fan video shot at Boston's Wang Theater

Earlier in the evening, Flying Lotus warmed up the crowd with a short DJ set. Though I didn't recognize much from his forthcoming LP, Cosmogramma, the beatmaster tore through a steady stream of slappers, but didn't linger long on any particular theme. Most notably, FlyLo provided his own take on two Radiohead tracks,"Reckoner" and "Idioteque", not to mention a slumping reinterpretation of the Henry Ate sample popularized last year by Lil Wayne's mixtape masterpiece "I Feel Like Dying".

Though Flying Lotus was a lot of fun, he stood in stark contrast to the performers that followed him. Atoms For Peace is a group of veteran rock stars that knows exactly how to please a crowd. That might be why, in retrospect, Flying Lotus might not have been the perfect person to open up for them at these mammoth venues all across the country this April. Though his skills as a producer are undeniable, his live set left something to be desired.