Monday Music News

03/03/2014

Janice Headley

Karen O and Ezra Koenig — photo courtesy of Oscars.com

She didn't win the Oscar, but Yeah Yeah Yeah's frontwoman Karen O won the hearts of television viewers with her charming rendition of "The Moon Song" from the motion picture Her. She was joined on stage by Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig on acoustic guitar to perform the nominated track at the 86th Academy Awards last night. Though the song, co-written by the film's director Spike Jonze, didn't win the "Best Original Song" category, Jonze did take the "Best Original Screenplay" award for Her. Watch their performance below: [Spin]

Another television performance that melted hearts this weekend came from Beck, making his seventh musical appearance on Saturday Night Live. He performed two tracks from his new album, Morning Phase, including "Blue Moon" (joined by special guest, Father John Misty) and "Wave," featuring a string orchestra. Watch below. [Under the Radar]

This coming Record Store Day, after you grab your Mudhoney 12", scramble to get yourself the new Sunny Day Real Estate single -- the local band's first new release in 14 years. Titled "Lipton Witch," the song will be released as a split single with the band Circa Survive, limited to 2,500 on burgundy vinyl, with 100 being pressed as clear. [Stereogum]

Musical quirkster tUnE-yArDs continues to make things hard for copy-editors everywhere, following up 2011's w h o k i l l with the oddly-italicized Nikki Nack, out May 6th on 4AD. Check out a video sampler of new music below. [Pitchfork]

How'd you like to own a Swatch phone that Kurt Cobain used to talk on? Or, maybe a pair of skis he used? (But, you can't have the poles -- Courtney has those.) Nirvana collectors should check out Craigslist, where Cobain's former roommate, Alex, is selling off his old stuff. KEXP makes no claims to the validity of these items, but that is a pretty sweet phone. [Consequence of Sound]

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Late last month, we shared news about the upcoming Sharon Van Etten album, Are We There, coming out May 27th on Jagjaguwar. Today, you can stream a track from that release, the smoldering single "Taking Chances." [Pitchfork]

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