The Music Mix

New Grizzly Bear video, ‘Ready, Able’: Viva la claymation!

Leah Greenblatt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:25:04 +0000

Psych-pop fabulists (and Music Mix habitués) Grizzly Bear already released one excellent video this year, the (literally) mind-blowing Patrick Daughters production “Two Weeks.” Their latest, “Ready, Able,” is a phenomenally time-consuming trip in the tradition of the White Stripes Lego-rama “Fell in Love with a Girl”; a hobbit-y, Claymationed forest fantasia that, for pure man-hours alone,

Danny Gokey debuts new single ‘It’s Only’: What do you think?

Tim Stack — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:57:08 +0000

American Idol second runner-up (and wearer of questionable eyeglasses) Danny Gokey debuted his new song, “It’s Only,” on Milwaukee radio station FM 106.1 today. The track, which is the lead single of Gokey’s upcoming RCA Nashville country album, was reportedly written by Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley and produced by Carrie Underwood collaborator

Kris Allen’s ‘Live Like We’re Dying’ video: You digging it?

Michael Slezak — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:51:30 +0000

The all-Idols-all-the-time American Idol off-season continues today with PopEater’s world premiere of Kris Allen’s “Live Like We’re Dying” video, a luxe-looking, moodily lit affair that finds the season 8 champ clad in a physique-appropriate black henley* and stalking his way through an abandoned construction site featuring a giant countdown clock, a dramatic sunrise, and copious

Hasidic Jewish reggae star Matisyahu on soundtracking the Winter Olympics: ‘I’m a hockey fanatic’

Leah Greenblatt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:59:46 +0000

If you’ve watched network television in the last week, you’ve undoubtedly seen NBC’s ads for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, featuring star athletes Shaun White, Apollo Ohno and … the music of Matisyahu. The artist formerly known Matthew Miller is perhaps as well known for hits like “King Without a Crown” and “One

Rihanna’s Diane Sawyer interview, part 2: The night she was assaulted

Simon Vozick-Levinson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:36:26 +0000

The second teaser clip from Rihanna’s interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer just aired on Good Morning America. While yesterday’s segment dealt mostly with what followed her assault at the hands of ex Chris Brown, the 5-minute excerpt shown today focused squarely on the events of that awful February night. Rihanna went into detail at Sawyer’s prompting,

Exclusive Monsters of Folk video: ‘The Sandman, the Brakeman and Me’

Whitney Pastorek — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:55:39 +0000

What better way to wile away your day than with the following selection from the Monsters of Folk? Jim James (of My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes fame), M. Ward (a.k.a. M. Ward), and Mike Mogis (their kindly bespectacled producer friend) have joined together to form one peaceful, sonically-pleasing unit, and as demonstrated

Electro-pop chanteuse Roisin Murphy gets ‘Orally Fixated’ on new single

Joseph Brannigan Lynch — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:57:37 +0000

Irish dancefloor iconoclast Roisin Murphy’s new single “Orally Fixated” doesn’t physically come to the U.S. until November 17, but its synthetic charms are already wending their way through the internet’s many channels. If you think that Roisin is singing about an oral fixation because she’s nine months pregnant—meaning she eats a lot of pickles, right?—well, bless

Amazon.com releases its Best Albums of 2009 list, kicks off inevitable critical slap-fight

Leah Greenblatt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:10:52 +0000

With some seven weeks to go ’til auld lang syne, retail giant Amazon.com has officially jumped the ‘09 gun (if not the shark), announcing its definitive Editors’ Pick list of the year’s best albums. Read the top 50 after the jump, beginning a trio of dry-clean-only TV clowns, and ending with the giant Mercury-Cougar-honkin’ clue on

Mayer Hawthorne: The Music Mix recommends

Chau Tu — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:30:17 +0000

Mayer Hawthorne just wrapped up his first U.S. tour this month, but we miss him already. The sweet bespectacled crooner from Ann Arbor, Mich., has been all over the place lately, selling out cool-kid venues like NYC’s Mercury Lounge, bringing respectable crowds to suburban shopping malls, even playing soundtrack to a sexy (fantasy?) moment in

Chris Brown moves up album release and talks about Rihanna on MTV: ‘Why did it happen?’

Clark Collis — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:05:06 +0000

While ABC teased Diane Sawyer’s interview with Rihanna this morning, MTV has released details of a news special, Chris Brown: The Interview. In the show, which airs this Friday at 6pm ET, Brown will talk about his attack on Rihanna and tell MTV correspondent Sway, “My thoughts is