Mansfeld hail from Sacramento, California, and amazingly manage to make their hometown sound interesting.  Aspiring to be “Bruce Springsteen if he grew up in Sacramento,” but sounding perhaps more like the Young Jeezy of indie rock, Mansfeld pairs organs and piano with echo- and reverb-laden vocals, made up of the gravely-shouting lead vox of front-man Randy Mansfeld and the choir-boy backing vocals of his band.  Check out the tracks below, and link to full-album download.  I’m told ’tis legal.

Mansfeld – English Harbour

Mansfeld – Mansfeld Lullabies

Mansfeld – Sac Motivation (2009) Entire Album Download (Totally legal, like a second-cousin.)

Radiohead in the times today. You can tell Johnny Greenwood is super peeved they wouldn’t let him stand in front with Thom. Here’s an excellent song from the second disc of In Rainbows.

Radiohead – 4 Minute Warning

Well Grandma, you really let us down. There we were, riding the back-to-back critical successes of Blueberry Boat and EP. Elenor and I thought we could bring you in to throw down a few guest verses without it all going to hell. Figured we both have it, it must be in your genes too. Jesus, if nothing else it would get you out of the house. Boy were we wrong. The American people have spoken: they think you smell. Styus called your voice “awful.” And we can’t go to a reunion anymore without getting cornered by a great aunt or two who wants to “collab” on our next album.

So Elenor and I have decided that now’s probably the best time for you to pursue other projects. Get yourself together. You have a good future. You still make excellent pasta. But you’re out of the band. And frankly, you’ve been a real disappointment to all of us.

The Fiery Furnaces – The Wayfaring Granddaughter

The Fiery Furnaces – My Egyptian Grammar

The look on Sam Beam’s face would have you believe that he does not care what you think about his beard. This, however, is a carefully crafted facade. He is deeply invested, emotionally and metaphysically, in what you think of his beard. Disparagement of his beard would cause a substantial piece of his sould to die. So how, you might ask, can he stare at me from the interweb with such bravado? His secret is that he KNOWS you both adore and respect his beard. He is well aware that you could not deny a force as powerful and silky as his beard, even if for some unthinkable reason you wanted to. He sleeps soundly each night, his brow unlined and his dreams unencumbered.

Also, he writes good songs.

Iron and Wine – Boy with a Coin

Iron and Wine – Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car

Matt at Hahamusic was bold enough to ask the question all of us have been thinking. Who stole Radiohead’s manly bits? (paraphrase). I want to go show them the overdrive button on their amp, but they know exactly where it is, they’re just being weenies about not using it.

Neutered guitar tone or no, I must concede this album is badass, and well worth snagging at http://www.inrainbows.com for 40 pence and up, depending on your level of generosity for the rich and/or confusion about the nature of the dollar-pound exchange rate.

Hopefully Nate will have some more intelligent things to say about all this… thoughtful analysis is not really my domain. My job here is to photoshop Thom Yorke’s head on the the bodies of shrugging 8 year old girls. Here’s some music. Yorke FTW!

Radiohead – Nude (mirror)

Radiohead – Reckoner (mirror)

Radiohead – Winter Wonderland (YouTube)

Australia is such a long, long way away. Which is going to create some obstacles between me dating the brunette girl in the Darling Sundays. I’m nothing if not persistent though. Which is why I’m training a team of koala bears to infiltrate the country and rescue her from the Subaru Curtain. And just in case they don’t work out, I’m also training a backup squad of fat babies dressed in koala suits. Why, this is almost too easy.

The Darling Sundays – Shelter From the Storm

The Darling Sundays’ Myspace Page

Friend them on Myspace or I’ll send my baby assassin squad after you.

T-Pain (a.k.a. Julian Casablancas with a less efficient drum machine) might have ruined my summer, had it not been for Tigra (nee Cars That Go Boom/2) and the two-headed hydra that is Lil-Mama-and-Avril Lavigne(!). Luckily, sonic sunshine prevailed. To say nothing of the demise of ice cream.

She made us drinks. To drink. We drank them. Got drunk. Is this it?

Tigra – Pinkberry

Avril Lavigne ft. Lil’ Mama – Girlfriend (Remix)

Whether you spend your days in high-speed car chases, fighting ninjas, or beating up the elderly (guess which one I do??), you’re going to need a suitable soundtrack. The Go! Team, with their ample cheerleader samples, horns, rollicking drums, and pinch of danger-powder, has always done the trick for me. Their new album seems to be pretty solid. I could do without the blatant grab at penetrating the elevator-music market on the track My World. But I can’t really blame them. Who wouldn’t want to hop on board that gravy train? Also, if it’s ever 1990 again, you’re going to l o v e the Chuck D guest spot on Flashlight Flash. But most of the album makes for a totally worthy soundtrack, no matter which Smokey and the Bandit movie you’re watching.

The Go! Team – Titanic Vandalism (links removed, DMCApwn3d)

The Go! Team – The Wrath of Marcie

Accompanying Video feat. Funny-Looking European Cars

The new Jens Lekman album has hit soulseek, (where it’s on sale for free !) and I haven’t had a chance to let it sink in yet, so the specific number of Jens’ babies I want to have is subject to change. 1000 was just a ballpark. I’m not a machine, Jens.

Jens Lekman – Your Arms Around Me

Jens Lekman – Postcard to Nina

I am jealous…..apparently Regina Spektor has beaten me to the punch in recording a song that is based entirely around a melodic hiccup for a chorus… its something I’ve been personally working on in secret for a couple of years now in my room late at night with my thumb piano and my stash of Diet Tab Cola… but even though she has clearly bogarted my idea….she probably hired some sort of spy…its hard to maintain my jealousy after seeing her super lame video for her song Fidelity. I gather that the AR guy in charge of the concept for this video pulled the junior high school equivalent of forgetting to write a short story for 6^th grade creative writing class and then only saving himself from the inevitable F- by putting something to paper in the last 5 minutes of the 11:30-11:45 recess break. Seriously, can the video get any more less interesting…its such a waste….my hiccup chorus song would have had some Michael Bay explosions and a hearty dose of dancing ladies……but back to the drawing board. Take a listen below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGTDRztaCCw

also…this.