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The conclusion of the latest episode of "Daytripping" gets even NSFW-er as Marnie Stern gives us her rendition of the classic "Aristocrats" joke, invites us into her apartment for a photo shoot, and shows off her many dogs. In case you missed it, part one is over here.



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I've never actually seen anybody call Jenny Lewis a carpetbagger. Too late now: The Las Vegas-born Rilo Kiley leading lady heads off such criticisms at the pass on "Carpetbaggers", a Jonathan Rice-penned country rocker from last year's Acid Tongue. In this clip from Sundance show "Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...", Lewis joins Costello himself, plus She & Him's Zooey Deschanel, for a solid performance of the caustic but upbeat tune. Then Costello, Lewis, and the band (sans one of two drummers) stick around to romp through the B-side, Momofuku's Costello-fronted "Go Away". "Last canister rolling/ On our little melodrama," Costello shouts. Not really, though: Diana Krall and Elton John are scheduled to be on the show Feb. 18. (via Stereogum)

[Acid Tongue is out now on WEA/Reprise; Momofuku is out now on Lost Highway]

When electro-house, blog house, or whatever you wanna call it came up in a big way a couple of years ago, with acts like Simian Mobile Disco and Justice, it was easy to see a parallel to the rise of big beat in the latter 1990s. For a few years, the dominant sounds in European techno had been increasingly cerebral (although people who actually know will swear to you-- persuasively-- that minimal makes dancers go batshit). As Justice appropriated metal's crucifix, hedonism, and ability to annoy the hell out of your elders, SMD's Attack Decay Sustain Release and its preceding singles recalled a poppier way to approach electronic dance music.

If Justice are blog house's Daft Punk, then SMD are looking more and more like its Chemical Brothers. Directed by Kate Moross and Alex Sushon, this "live visual accompaniment" to new SMD track "Synthesise" has the kind of trippy effect of the visuals you'll see at a Chemical Brothers show. In this case, that means lots of bouncing balls and (warning, epileptics) flashing lights. Musically, it's more of the strobe-lit, synth-based craft SMD have been displaying for a while now. Pretty sure that's a Todd Rundgren sample on the hook.

["Synthesise" will be available digitally soon via Beatport]

Man, this new Wrens album stuff might just be for real this time. A couple of weeks ago, New Jersey's indie rock heroes followed up first-new-song-in-forever "Pulled Fences" with an mp3 of-- what's this?-- another new song, which we now know is called "Marked Up". It's good: lo-fi, emotional, clever, cathartic. You know, a Wrens song. Wrens dudes Charles Bissell and Kevin Whelan then said funny things to our Pitchfork-contributing friend Jessica Suarez over at Stereogum.

Now Joe Centeno, former guitarist/singer for Jersey's own Plug Spark Sanjay, has assembled a video for the song, using still photos by friend of the band Patrick Glennon (clips from Centeno's in-progress documentary on outsider musicians are here; Glennon's other musician photos are here). Shot Jan. 19, the clip shows cars driving backward, the band up on a big outdoor screen, and then, finally, yeah, the guys back together in Whelan's basement just doing their thing. It is, as the Wrens put it, "an actual music video."

[from a forthcoming album]

I've never been to Austin, but in my mind, every pool hall down there plays stuff that sounds like the Strange Boys. The Austin-based quartet does that kind of road-weary garage pop that you find on good jukeboxes, wedged somewhere in between Highway 61 Revisited and your fifth Pall Mall. But where that formula might wear kind of thin, the Boys have enough good Southern sense to interject some 1960s R&B and Kinks-nodding guitar boogie. "Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up", from the band's In The Red debut ...And Girls Club (they see you, ladies), is all whiskey remorse and juke-joint jangle, feeling like a none-too-convincing plea to the bouncer to let you back in for one more.

MP3:> Strange Boys: "Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up"
[from ...And Girls Club; due 03/24/09 from In the Red]

If you thought you were supposed to meet Dent May in the lounge or tiki bar instead, that's understandable. The ukulele-wielding Mississippian croons like the pop kids from BOAT or Tullycraft channeling Morrissey, over bossa nova-tinged strums and exotica sound effects, on "Meet Me in the Garden", a fun song from May's new The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele. As you can probably tell by now, it's a bit different from what you'd usually expect on the Animal Collective-founded Paw Tracks label. The Jon Leone-directed video is, too, with clever use of lighting and some goofy shots of May performing, sipping champagne, and lounging in a bubble bath. "I only hurt you 'cause I love you," he sings. Come to think of it, I can totally see why this makes sense for Paw Tracks.

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[from The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele; out now on Paw Tracks]

Warmth and beauty, beauty and warmth, these are still all you really have to be cool with to be able to enjoy Gui Boratto's minimal, tempo-sly techno. Two years after Chromophobia and its lone track with vocals, video selection "Beautiful Life", the title track from the Brazilian producer's forthcoming Kompakt follow-up, Take My Breath Away, has more of the pristine purity of a mountaintop vista than the giddy rush of happy hedonism. Either way, Boratto can go straight to your head.

"Take My Breath Away" strikes me as less overtly melodic than either side of Boratto's recent "Anunciación" single (one of several 12"s he released last year), with that record's bouncing lead lines; here stabbing bass, squealing high notes, fuzzy echoes, and marimba-like pings come together in textured harmonies that give the track its sense of propulsion-- and, eventually, yeah, maybe a breath-quickening weightlessness. While a bit more subdued than some of Boratto's best material, this is still a gliding, enjoyable listen. As far as I know-- and I could totally be wrong-- it has nothing musically to do with the Top Gun song (co-written by Giorgio Moroder, who also composed The Neverending Story theme, fact fans!) or the Rex Smith song (for all you lovers). Or the Knife song.

MP3:> Gui Boratto: "Take My Breath Away"
[from Take My Breath Away; due 03/03/09 on Kompakt and availably digitally 02/23/09 via Beatport]

Bereavement knows no season. The video for newest Doves single "Kingdom of Rust", from the upcoming fourth album of the same name by the UK rockers who probably should be best known for doing the "Pounding" thing earlier and better than Coldplay's "Clocks", shows a sad-eyed man driving through city and countryside in an old Ford. At times things get pretty literal, as singing bassist Jez Williams moans about a road "covered in snow" just when the landscape is, yup, covered in snow.

The song-- a melodic and midtempo moper with a countrified rhythm, weeping strings, and a few alluring bits of guitar work-- is nice enough, but the video turns out to have grace and subtlety. It's easy to guess what brings our protagonist to a lonely beach to release a cloud of dust into the four winds, but director China Moo Young doesn't spell it out any further than that.

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[from Kingdom of the Rust; due 04/06/09 in the UK and 04/07/09 in the U.S. on Heavenly/Astralwerks]

Wale's new joint "Nightlife" debuted on his Twitter account. The track comes from the forthcoming mixtape Back to the Feature, which teams the D.C. rookie with the ever-prolific producer 9th Wonder. 9th is in fine form in the beat department as usual, peeling back the sunroof and letting the unhurried blaxploitation funk ride. Wale and guests Young Chris and UCB's Tre all toss around laid back one-liners ("Hos love me like Ugg boots and MAC gloss"), which are nothing if not breezy and sufficient. By the time the goofy "street dreamin'" hook sinks in, the Delorean is too full of smoke for it to matter much. If you've already heard the dizzying, Curtis Mayfield sampling "5 Minutes" with underrated Brooklyn MC Skyzoo (which is also slated to appear on Feature) and checked out the hilarious cover art, we might have a pretty good thing going here.

Stream:> Wale: "Nightlife
[from the Back to the Feature mixtape]

Lunice seems to churn out remixes in his sleep and big beats overnight. Good thing, because 2009 just might be Mr. Fermin Pierre II's time. The 20-year-old Montrealer linked up with Megasoid (Rob "Speakerbruiser" Squire and Hadji "Wolf Parade" Bakara) last year after his very first public gig. He's since been a part of their Turbo Crunk crew, bring his own special blend of bittersweet bass-driven goodness. Whether one calls what Lunice is doing Lazer Bass, Wonky or Street Bass, it's all about what will make folks dance. To be expected, given that he's a competent (and formerly competitive) breakdancer with his own particular style. "Janes Addiction" finds him in a more glitchy mood alongside Baltimore's Al Ripken, Jr.

[from the Paper Spray EP; out now on Codeine Drums]