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This quirky 2005 film from writer/director Ben Wolfinsohn follows the lives of fictional California high schoolers making their way through a tumultuous senior year. The movie features acting performances by two generations of the L.A. rock underground, including members of No Age, Lavender Diamond, Mika Miko, and the legendary Mike Watt. On the soundtrack are tunes by Dan Deacon, No Age, Jad Fair, the Chicago Underground Quartet, and more. Fun fun!

Check the High School Record website for more information, and you can buy it here from Amazon.

Now this is quite a spectacle. On the same day that their official video for "Dancing Choose" hits, TV on the Radio perform the song from the fire escape at the Ed Sullivan Theater on "Late Show With David Letterman".

[original version from Dear Science; out now on Interscope/4AD]

TV on the Radio go the abstract, arty route for their latest video off of Dear Science, this time for the jittery, horn-backed, Axl Rose-referencing "Dancing Choose". Tunde Adebimpe has a few near-spoken words for us journalist types over handclaps, prickly guitars, and finely textured synths-- I don't know, you know, reporters. Even modern science couldn't give the premiere of "Golden Age" decent audio quality, and this time the video quality is a little bit on the pixelated side, but the musical quality is, of course, sound.

Video:> TV on the Radio: "Dancing Choose"
[from Dear Science,; out now on Interscope/4AD]

Volker Bertelmann's Hauschka project is on the verge of releasing a new album, Ferndorf, on Fat Cat, and it's a good 'un. While continuing with the German composer's interest in prepared piano-- the instrument is still at the center of the music, alternating percussive metallic plinks and plunks with the untreated notes-- Ferndorf fleshes out the pieces with additional instrumentation including cello, violin, and trombone. "Freibad" is a nice illustration of how it works when it all comes together, as it begins with a mournful cello section sprinkled with some string-jingling keyboard treatment, and then launches into a strutting middle section where the various chunks of melody and counterpoint lock together tightly like pieces in a puzzle. Check out this live video while you're at it.

MP3:> Hauschka: "Freibad"
[from Ferndorf; due 10/07/08 on Fat Cat]

Curiosity killed the cat. Don't count your chickens before they hatch. The early bird catches the worm. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. "You might be a big fish in a little pond," Coldplay sing on Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends anthem "Lost", doing a good job of making little ideas fill a big venue in this soaring live performance. What can I say? It's the straw that broke the camel's back. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. There's plenty more fish in the sea.

[original version from Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends; out now on Parlophone / Capitol]

You'd be hard-pressed to find any mention of Linfinity that doesn't devote a few sentences to analyzing frontman Dylan von Wagner's voice, which has been compared to John Cale, David Byrne, and...Eddie Vedder?  Evidently the "Mournful Vibrato" Rolodex doesn't roll very deep. "Seasaw Love", from Linfinity's new EP Songs of the Weeping Willow, is a compelling showcase for von Wagner's distinctive approach. On the first play, it sounds like Antony ditched the Johnsons and ran off with a jug band, but subsequent listens highlight the complex interplay between voice and old-timey strummin' and fiddlin'. It's not that von Wagner sings like an accordion, but at times, his voice mimics the instrument's aspirating rhythm-- a quality which perfectly echoes "Seasaw Love"'s ambling structure. He doesn't sing so much as he intones, and in his simultaneously tuneful/tuneless style, he seamlessly blends with the backing band as if he were another part of the instrument mix.

MP3:> Linfinity: "Seasaw Love"
[from Songs of the Weeping Willow; available now on Linfinity's MySpace page and their official website]

Okkervil River's new follow-up to last year's The Stage Names is called The Stand Ins, and it's another strong album of self-aware, catchy folk-rock from the Austin band. The Seth & Bobby-directed video for first single "Lost Coastlines", a Motown-shimmying duet between lead singer Will Sheff and Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg, uses stand ins for the band's bodies. Their heads are represented via TV screens. No talking, just heads.

Video:> Okkervil River: "Lost Coastlines"
[from The Stand Ins; out now on Jagjaguwar]

It's hard for me to hear the Walkmen's latest, the arresting You & Me, without imagining the rooms where they made those sounds, or the walls off which Hamilton Leithauser's raspy voice bounces. A couple of songs from the album get new settings out in wide-open spaces on the band's session for La Blogothèque's "Take Away Show". Acoustic strums and clickety-clack percussion ring out across the streets of San Francisco on this rendition of "Four Provinces", here called "Hey Leah". And an unplugged "I Lost You" is a stirring, nostalgic soundtrack to some evening hoops. What was the controversy about "midnight basketball," again?  (via Gorilla vs. Bear)

"Four Provinces"

"I Lost You"

[original tracks from You & Me; out now on Gigantic]

It's about time for a new Kathy Diamond album. Since last year's promising Miss Diamond to You, producer Maurice Fulton has been busy with such projects Syclops' I've Got My Eye on You. Meanwhile, UK singer Diamond has appeared on one of the year's best slo-mo disco-pop tracks, Aeroplane's "Whispers", as well as this retro dancefloor cut from Milwaukee duo Codebreaker. Diamond's voice goes through the occasional spooky high-pitched effect or whirling overdub as she sings about, yes, a "fire"-- "right down in your soul," no less. She sounds as quietly commanding as ever, but the production is the real focus, with g-funk synths, plus funky guitar, rubbery bass, vocoder, and crisp drums that settle into the background except for the occasional Caribbean-sounding fill or castanets. All right, so there's a little fire, and judging by the smoke machines it's burning the world through. (via Discodust)

MP3:> Codebreaker [ft. Kathy Diamond]: "Fire"
[from the "Fire" single; out now on Disco Demolition]

The second part of this raucous open-air set from Baltimore's the Death Set is up today. In addition to featuring "Negative Thinking", their super catchy single from earlier this year, they also pay tribute to their roots with covers of songs from Operation Ivy ("Bombshell") and Bad Brains ("Attitude"). "Paranoia" is below, and the five-track first half posted yesterday keeps the party going.

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