"Odessa"-Caribou

Oh, Canada. You may have lost your hockey game last night, but you should feel like winners for having Dan Snaith, aka Caribou, as one of your citizens. On 4/20, via Merge, Caribou will be releasing Swim, the follow up to the Polaris Music Prize winning, Andorra. If "Odessa," the first single from Swim, is a preview of what to expect from the forthcoming album, we are in for a real treat. Sounding suspiciously like Erlend Øye, Snaith juxtaposes a love lost/abandoned with one of the most infectious beats that 2010 has seen so far. Be warned, this song will get stuck in your head for days.

To accompany the release of "Odessa," Caribou has just put up a video where we follow a female protagonist through a not so winter wonderland of half dissolves, which for full effect would be best viewed on 4/20, the release date for Swim. Watch below.

Download: Odessa-Caribou MP3(Zshare)

Valentine's Day Special-Mayer Hawthorne

Oh, Valentine's Day. As we sit here on this Valentine Sunday alone, blogging, eating Bon Bons and watching sad movies, we realize that love is hard and indeed, a battlefield. Lucky for us, hundreds of men and women have been able to describe these emotions and feelings through song and lyric. Music is not one dimensional when it comes to love. Can't express your love to someone? "Open Arms" by Journey can help you. Heartbroken, miserable, trying to hang on? This happened to Bob Dylan (and you). That's why he wrote, "Most Of The Time."

Enter Mayer Hawthorne. Michigan born, and L.A. based, Mayer Hawthorne is quickly making quite a name for himself in the love game. His debut album, A Strange Arrangement, was released last year on Peanut Butter Wolf's, Stones Throw Records , after PBW got some of Hawthorne's demos, with PBW initially thinking they were tracks from the past. Channeling Motown, Hawthorne goes through all the different varieties and flavors of love on A Strange Arrangement. Hawthorne does the Motown sound so well, that you almost forget that the album was made in 2009, and, more so ,that he's a nerdy looking white guy. But love is colorblind! And these are modern times where anything is possible! This album is the real deal. Buy it!

Look for Hawthorne this spring opening up for Passion Pit.

Watch video of Hawthorne's first single off of, A Strange Arrangement, "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out" below, hearts included. And check Hawthorne and his band doing my favorite track, "Your Easy Lovin' Ain't That Pleasin' Nothin' " on Jimmy Kimmel.

Hot Chip on Jimmy Fallon w/The Roots!

Hot Chip, one of my favorite bands, played "Late Night w/Jimmy Fallon" last night. As if that wasn't good enough, the legendary Roots (not to be confused with the legendary music journalist, Snooki) backed them up on "One Life Stand" off of the brand spanking new album by the same title. One Life Stand will get its official U.S. release on Tuesday. Though it will never live up to the greatness that is The Warning (one of my favorite albums of the previous decade), it does sound a bit more cohesive than their last release, Made In The Dark. I am not, by any means, saying that Made In The Dark was a bad album. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's got some serious jams, but it was a very slight comedown from The Warning. Just a little, tiny comedown.

Picking a favorite between the last three Hot Chip albums is like picking a favorite between Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Horace Grant during the Chicago Bulls championship runs throughout the 90's. Though they all have their redeeming qualities, Horace's goggles, Scottie's smooth character, we all know that Michael was the greatest, just like The Warning will always trump all other Hot Chip albums, now and forever.

The Hot Chippers play NYC tonight. You can check out the show over here starting at 8pm, central time.

Snooki interviews Phoenix

Yeah, I'm not lying. This is why television was created. For moments like this. I'm pretty sure Phoenix's career is now complete. A Grammy and a interview by the legendary music journalist, Snooki.

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