(SPECIAL NEW AND OLD FAVORITES EPISODE!) First up, Brooklyn's indie pop outfit and TSiMH favorites The Ladybug Transistor have a new album called Can't Wait Another Day (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon) coming out on June 5th, but it's availble now if you see their less-than-awesome live show, we heard a song that's better when they play it live substituting the Sax for a Trumpet called "Always on the Telephone". Next we dusted off an old favorite by South African sensation Miriam Makeba known as "Pata Pata" which is available on many records, but I pulled it from the album by the same name (iTunes, Amazon). Then back to New York for a track from The National's solid new album Boxer (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon), we heard "Ada". Then an older cut from Boston's dj BC's fantastic series of Beatles and Beastie Boys mashups known as The Beastles we heard my favorite "Buildin My Life" from his second effort Let it Beast, which unfortunately isn't currently available. Next New York's very own Dawn Landes has a great new single available in iTunes where she cover's Peter, Bjorn & John's huge hit "Young Folks" in the style of bluegrass, and while not part of the Pickin' On... sereis which I love to play stuff from, it's just as good or better. Then North Carolina's oooh-waaah excellent The Rosebuds have a new album out called Night of the Furies (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon), from it we heard "Cemetery Lawn". Next a quickie cut from Nellie McKay's troubled last album Pretty Little Head (iTunes, Amazon) called "Pounce" dedicated to Senator Pink Ears. Then years after forming and putting out multiple EPs TSiMH favorites Voxtrot have finally put out their new self-titled debut album (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon), which is just not nearly as good as it should be, from which we heard "Future Pt. 1". Next Helsinki, Finland's indie electropop band I Was a Teenage Satan Worshipper is supposed to have a new album any day now, but in the meantime we heard "Go Home Pandatron" from their only slightly older Bees & Honey EP (iTunes). And finally Laura Veirs has a great new record out called Saltbreakers (iTunes, Amazon) and from it we heard "Cast a Hook in Me". This week's episode features clips from Patton Oswalt appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brian.

First up, a fantastic cover of one of my favorite Magnetic Fields' songs, Portland's The Brother Egg did "I Think I Need a New Heart" from a free 23 track album made up entirely of covers of Magnetic Fields songs called Meaningless (myspace). You can download the whole thing there, but since it's kind of a pain to download that way, so I've posted it on my server to make for easier downloading: Click here to download. Next, New York's most exciting up-and-coming band (according to me anyway), Vampire Weekend did two tracks, which will hopefully be made available shortly when they release their first 7" and digital-download EP, but for now enjoy "Oxford Comma" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" (stream on their site). One of the things that's great about Vampire Weekend is the way they summon African stylings in their otherwise unrelated-to-Africa music. To best illustrate this, we heard Zimbabwe's The Hallelujah Chicken Run Band with "Mudzimu Ndiringe" from the quality, recently-released collection Take One (eMusic, iTunes, Amazon). Next California's Jazz newcomers The Low Standards did "If You Play Nice" (which has a touch of Nellie McKay in it) from their debut Show Some Leg EP (iTunes). Then TSiMH favorite They Might Be Giants have a brand new album coming out tomorrow exclusively in iTunes (it comes out as a formal more-widely available double-CD in July) called The Else (iTunes)... Unfortunately I can't say I'm loving it. I can say I like at least this song tho, we heard "Bee of the Bird of the Moth" which has the sort of good lyrics typified by TMBG. Finally, another post-posthumous Elliott Smith record was just released, this one is a two-disc collection of 24 rarities called New Moon (eMusic, iTunes, Amazon). From disc one, we heard the previously unreleased "Angel in the Snow". This episode features clips from the past two week's episodes of FAIR's Counterspin, about the media's reaction to the 1st Democratic vs. the 1st Republican Presidential Debates.

(SPECIAL EXTRA-LONG FRENCH-POP EPISODE!) First up, France's incredible-yet-under-heard Holden did "Sur le pavé" from their most recent album Chevrotine (Amazon Import). Next, from Paris, Domotic did "Tonsil" from his 2005 debut album Ask for Tiger (iTunes, Amazon). Then a staple-of-French-pop Francoise Hardy did "Il Est Tout Pour Moi" ("He's All for Me") from her 1965 album The "Yeh-Yeh" Girl from Paris (Amazon) but the track can also be found on the 2-disc set Selection (Amazon). Then quintessential French band of our time Air, did "Jeanne" featuring the vocals of Francoise Hardy from a 1999 collection of French classics covered by great bands such as Luna, The Magnetic Fields, Apples in Stereo, and so on, called Pop Romantique: French Pop Classics (Amazon). Next the off-spring of French musical icons Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin best known by me as the chick Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep, Charlotte Gainsbourg, has a brand new album that just came out. On it, she sings and the music is performed by Air. If that sounds like a recipe for success, there's a reason: the album is top-shelf French pop goodness. We heard the single "The Songs That We Sing" from the new album 5:55 (iTunes, Amazon). Next we heard from the classic "Douce France" from Charles Trenet, available on among other things, his Greatest Hits (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon) album. Then the Parisian Stereo Total, aka the Prototypes did "06 60 92 92" from their 2006 self-titled debut (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon). Next french model-turned-singer-turned-actor-turned-Johnny-Depp's-wife Vanessa Paradis did her/Lenny Kravitz's song "Be My Baby" from her 1992 self-titled album (Amazon Import, Amazon Used). Next was another classic track, this one from Francoise Hardy's husband Jacques Dutronc, it was "Et moi, et moi, et moi" which can be found on the collection En Vogue: Le Best of Jacques Dutronc (Amazon) or in iTunes on this soundrack. Then one last 60's French classic, it was singer and actress Chantal Goya with "Il Court Les Filles" which I pulled from the wonderful Canadian collection Ultra Chicks: Filles in the Garage (Vol I) (more) but seems to be unavailable now. You can get it from Amazon on the album Si Tu Gagnes au Flipper. And finally we finish up with a song by the criminally underplayed Holden, "Aujourd'hui Même" from their 2002 record Pedrolira (Amazon).This episode featured clips involving one of my favorite people in the world Bill Moyers (subscribe). First a clip from his interview on Real Time with Bill Maher (podcast), next a clip of his interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air (subscribe), and finally a clip from him interviewing Tim Russert on his documentary Buying the Way (watch it online) wherein he hands Timmy his hat.

(SPECIAL LOUISIANA EPISODE!) First up, New Orleans' own World Leader Pretend did the great song "Bang Theory" from their debut album Punches (iTunes, Amazon). Then the deep south's Bobby Lounge who is described as "playing the piano like Jerry Lee Lewis, with the showmanship of Little Richard, and lyrics like Randy Newman on crack" did the Louisiana specific song "Take Me Back to Abita Springs" from his record I Remember the Night Your Trailer Burned Down (Amazon, website). Next Baton Rouge's indie electro-rockers Reception is Suspected did "Boy with a Voice That Could Destroy the World" from their debut album The New American Etiquette (iTunes, Amazon). Followed by fellow Baton Rouge act The Eames Era have a brand new album that just came out called Heroes & Sheroes (eMusic, iTunes, Amazon), from which we heard two songs: "Last to Know" and "Dear Gabby". And finally British Columbia's The Be Good Tanyas did a song about New Orleans called "The Lakes of Pontchartrain" from their 2001 album Blue Horse (eMusic, iTunes, Amazon). This show features a clip from Eugene Mirman's CD The Absurd Nightclub Comedy of Eugene Mirman (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon) about credit cards.

First up, London by way of Los Angeles by way of Wichita, Kansas Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra did the great song "Kiss the Sky" featuring Nino Moschella who sounds remarkably like a woman from his new album Voices and Choices (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon). Then listening to "Kiss the Sky" reminded me so much of an old track from San Francisco's Handsome Boy Modeling School called "The Truth" which featured Roslin from the band Moloko and hip-hop artist J-Live from their 1999 So... How's Your Girl? (iTunes, Amazon). Next was Chicago's 1900's doing a couple of great pop songs from their debut EP Plume Delivery (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon), we heard "Bring the Good Boys Home" and "Whole of the Law". Next was Los Angeles' indie-pop band Irving with two 5-star songs from their most recent album Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon), we heard "The Gentle Preservation of Children's Minds" and "Jen, Nothing Matters to Me". And finally Brooklyn's own fantastic Elizabeth Harper (not to be confused Dennis Kucinich's wife of the same name) did "Let Me Take You Out" from her great self-titled debut album (iTunes). This episode features a hilarious bit of April-fools-day-foolery from On The Media (podcast), as well as a clip from Real Time with Bill Maher (podcast).

First up, the fantastic Hawaii-born, California-based Simone White did an awesome song called "The American War" from her forthcoming album Beekeeping: The Gentle Craft, but for now you can get it on a Kill Rock Stars compilation called The Sound the Hare Heard (eMusic, Amazon). The other noteworthy song on that compilation was from Detroit's Aliccia BB, who did "Best Friend Forever" which will be on her forthcoming album. If Aliccia BB sounds familiar, it's probably because of her involvement with low-fi favorites Slumber Party. I played a remix of their song "Electric Boots" several years ago (on 7/5/04), but today we heard the original version, from the album 3 (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon). Next we heard some new stuff from the Apples in Stereo. They haven't had the best output in a few years, but their new album New Magnetic Wonder (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon) is pretty good. We heard their best song in years "Energy" and another good cut "Play Tough". And finally indie-darling Andrew Bird's new album Armchair Apocrypha (iTunes, Amazon) comes out tomorrow, and while like almost all of his recent stuff I find most of it rather boring, there is one awfully good track called "Heretics". This week's episode features clips from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (which can be seen in full here) and Real Time with Bill Maher (podcast).

First up, Boston's wedding and event DJ turned amazicrazy mashup master DJ BC did a mix of They Might Be Giants' "Don't Let Start", Will Smith's "Party Starter", and Pink's "Get the Party Started" with his song "They Might Be Starting" (free download) which I have been enjoying emensely since hearing it on They Now, the unoffial TMBG podcast. Next two tracks from Portland's The Blow, we heard "Parantheses" and "True Affection" both from their album Paper Television (eMusic, iTunes, Amazon). Next country/bluegrass specialists Iron Horse have added a Shins tribute to their repetoire, and you know how I'm a sucker for the Pickin' On... series, so we heard "Saint Simon" and "New Slang" from their album (eMusic, iTunes, Amazon). And finally a cut from the new less-than-awesome Air record Pocket Symphony, we heard one of the better songs "Mer du Japon" (iTunes, Amazon). This week's episode features clips from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (which can be seen in full here) and Real Time with Bill Maher (podcast).