Listening Post

Elvis Costello is a living legend to begin with -- put him together with the Roots and he's never sounded more vital.

The collaborative record between these two is going to be unreal.

Here's the first single -- Walk Us Uptown.

Listening Post

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I was in San Francisco and my girlfriend and I were wandering the temple of incredible food that is the Ferry Building, right on the bay. This song came over the speakers and I kind of jokingly started singing it to her, which of course brought out her finest Scrooge impression.

Yes, I love this time of year and yes, while I may be a cynical prick a lot of the time, I love this song. If this version of it doesn't make you smile even a little, your heart really is two sizes too small.

Here's Mariah Carey, Jimmy Fallon, the Roots and a bunch of kids doing All I Want for Christmas.

Listening Post

The perfect song for today.

Here's John Legend and the Roots doing Arcade Fire's Wake Up.

Get out there and do something incredible today.

The country and the world is counting on you.

Listening Post

There's just nothing better.

Happy freaking Friday, kids. It's the Roots -- Dead God 2.0.

Quote of the Day, Jr.

"Everything is a little funny game to you. The Republic is at stake!"

-- Glenn Beck, angrily lashing out at Jimmy Fallon after the Roots, who are the house band on Fallon's show, played a couple of lines from Fishbone's Lyin' Ass Bitch during Michele Bachmann's entrance onto the set the other night

See below comment re: Pamela Gellar.

By the way, I agree with Beck on this. The Roots actually should've played a little of Buckcherry's Crazy Bitch. That would've made more sense.

Listening Post

I'm just not sure that any list of the best bands currently in existence could not include these guys somewhere.

Here's the Roots -- How I Got Over.

Listening Post

One of the coolest bands in the world and one of the coolest designers in the world.

Here's the Roots live in one take for John Varvatos.

I'm finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Or is that a muzzle flash?

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010 (19-17)

19. The National -- Bloodbuzz Ohio

The National write epic, end-of-the-world-style hymns, and most of the material on High Violet doesn't stand out from what anyone has come to expect from the band -- which is to say, it's phenomenal. Almost any song on the album would've made a terrific single and therefore would've probably made it onto this list -- Little Faith and Conversation 16 immediately come to mind -- but there's no denying that Bloodbuzz Ohio represents everything that makes the National one of the most vital bands working today. It's got a regal elegance to it, one that's highlighted by singer Matt Berninger's trademark baritone and undercut in the best possible way by an arhythmic backbeat. It's glorious, inspirational stuff -- the soundtrack for the moment in which the guy sitting alone with his thoughts is finally struck by the reality that he's letting the one good thing in his life pass him by, and so he pulls his coat up around his shoulders and wanders into the cold night with propulsive determination at his back. It's the music of life.




18. Blonde Redhead -- Not Getting There

There's a running gag that in addition to the ubiquitous asymmetrical haircut, taste for women's jeans and hamper full of ironic t-shirts, what you really need to be considered a respectable hipster is an Asian girlfriend. This probably explains why Blonde Redhead are the reigning darlings of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But while the presence and voice of willowy frontwoman Kazu Makino might make anyone with a pair of functioning testicles run like hell on principle, the fact is that 2010's Penny Sparkle is a hauntingly gorgeous album -- all shimmer and shadows. And while the not-so-silent hand of My Bloody Valentine can be felt sprinkling pixie dust over the entire effort, they've never been a terrible band to emulate, and Blonde Redhead does it oh so well. The first single from the album, though, is reminiscent of a couple of other bands from years gone by: Not Getting There pulsates like a cross between Blondie's Heart of Glass and late-80s Cocteau Twins, and once again, that's not necessarily a bad thing.




17. John Legend and the Roots -- I Can't Write Left Handed

John Legend. The Roots. Covering a Bill Withers Vietnam-era, anti-war masterpiece. That's all that needs to be said. There's no way this couldn't be one of the year's best.



Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 20. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti -- Round and Round, 21. P!nk -- Raise Your Glass, 22. Drive-By Truckers -- This Fucking Job

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 23. Best Coast -- Boyfriend, 24. Anberlin -- Impossible, 25. Fences -- Girls with Accents

Tomorrow: 16, 15 & 14

Listening Post

This is a once-in-a-lifetime confluence of cool: John Legend and the Roots covering Arcade Fire's Wake Up.