Watch The xx's 'Islands' Video, Listen Live This Weekend

by Will Butler

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.

9:54 AM ET | 04-23-2010 | permalink

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Make Music With Your (Wait For It) Shoes

by Michael Katzif

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.

2:23 PM ET | 04-22-2010 | permalink

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Second Stage: Malgre Lui

by Will Butler

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

9:49 AM ET | 04-22-2010 | permalink

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Guru, Of Gang Starr And Jazzmatazz, Dies At 43

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.

9:39 AM ET | 04-20-2010 | permalink

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Bon Iver, Peter Gabriel, Record Stores Scratch Each Others' Backs

by Will Butler

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.

1:29 PM ET | 04-19-2010 | permalink

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Video: LCD Soundsystem Pummeled By Pandas

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.

12:30 PM ET | 04-19-2010 | permalink

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Hear And Download Blur's New Record Store Day Single

by Will Butler

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.

9:44 AM ET | 04-19-2010 | permalink

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Frightened Rabbit, Cribs' Coachella Hopes Smothered By Volcano

by Will Butler

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.

6:24 PM ET | 04-16-2010 | permalink

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Record A Song On The Subway... Or Anywhere

by Will Butler

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?

11:40 AM ET | 04-15-2010 | permalink

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Folding Towel Robot In Search Of A Song

by Bob Boilen

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.

9:17 AM ET | 04-14-2010 | permalink

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