NPR’s First Listen might be my favorite thing right now. They select three or four upcoming albums at a time and stream them in their entirety for the week leading up to their release. So far I’ve gotten to preview several of my most anticipated releases this year, always deciding that yes, this is a way I want to spend my money. One of my most anticipated albums of 2010 is the new project from Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis and her boyfriend Johnathan Rice – they’re keeping it simple and just calling the act Jenny & Johnny, but I don’t care what they call it, I just want to hear it. Jenny and Johnathan have been working together for several years, actually, touring together on each other’s records, and Johnathan is actually a pretty solid presence on Jenny’s 2008 release Acid Tongue.

So this feels like a natural progression for them, but it’s also really different sonically from most of her solo-credited work. It’s really upbeat and poppy, a very beach-friendly, sunny summer album, but with Jenny’s characteristically layered lyrics giving the songs a bit more of an edge than you at first expect (I think Johnny cowrote the lyrics, so I’m not meaning to leave him out; I just know Jenny’s style better and can see it here even more strongly, somehow, than in some of her solo work, where she was experimenting with different musical styles more than with lyrical depth). Basically if you like Best Coast‘s sound but think the songwriting is a little on the simplistic side (no disrespect, I honestly love Best Coast), then pick up I’m Having Fun Now when it comes out on August 31st. Well, you can give it a listen below first.

Not all of this news is brand new, but it’s all worth knowing about. At least, if you’re me or like the same bands as I do.

• The Dead Weather Announce New Album Details – Jack White’s current project The Dead Weather is set to release their second album, following 2009′s widely-acclaimed Horehound. It will be called Sea of Cowards, and will drop May 11th in the US. Pitchfork has the cover art and track listing at the link.
• Tokyo Police Club Announce Sophomore LP – Must be the time for sophomore albums, because Toronto-based Tokyo Police Club are releasing theirs, entitled Champ, on June 8th. They’re also embarking on a pretty extensive tour, most of it with Passion Pit.
• The Libertines to Reunite for Festival Performances – The Libs were one of my favorite bands several years ago, and I always kind of hoped they’d get back together at some point following their well-publicized and not-particularly-amicable breakup in 2004. This isn’t any more than a couple of reunited festival gigs, no album or anything in the works, and I have a feeling even this has all kinds of possible badness in store for it – as much as I love Pete Doherty’s music, he’s not what you might call a stable person. Hope this comes off better than I fear.
• MGMT’s Congratulations Streaming on Their Site – MGMT’s new album comes out tomorrow, but it leaked early so they put the whole thing streaming on their home page. It seems a little more mellow than Oracular Spectacular, but I quite liked it. Not sure how long they’ll leave it up after the album’s out, so check it out while you can.
• Two More Broken Social Scene Songs from New Record – Two more songs from Broken Social Scene’s upcoming Forgiveness Rock Record have been released, and Steregum has the Flash player to prove it. I really REALLY like “All to All,” though “Forced to Love” needs some more time to percolate around my brain, I think. Forgiveness Rock Record is out May 4th.
• Jason Boesel Talks About In-Progress Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis Records – Now, when I heard that coming from Rilo Kiley drummer Boesel, I got REALLY REALLY excited; Rilo Kiley is my favorite band, and their last record together was 2006, before they all sort of amicably split up to work on solo projects. I’d like nothing better than for them to get back together and work on something new. This is not quite that. The Rilo Kiley record is a rarities and B-sides compilation, which is still worth excitement, because they have a lot of B-sides and songs they’ve only done live that I’d LOVE to have in studio-produced form. Jenny is working on a new record with her boyfriend Johnathan Rice, but it’s unclear from the interview whether that means he’s working on her record, she’s working on his, or they’re doing a dual one (they’ve both worked on each other’s records before). Boesel is encouraging, though, that Rilo Kiley may reunite for a new project in the future, something I certainly hope comes true.

When I moved out to Los Angeles a little over a year ago, my major motivation was the access to a greater range of cinematic options than I was getting in the midwest. And that’s certainly held true. But what I didn’t expect to find (at least not to the degree I have) is such a vibrant, booming music scene. Consider this a love letter to LA and the fantastic music I’ve found here. It’s literally possible to go to a show nearly every day of the week and find bands I like, and pretty inexpensively, too. Even going much less often than that (three or four times a month), I’ve discovered many bands that keep me coming back for their shows, opening bands that I seek out everywhere they play, and seen what a great and supportive music culture exists here (if you look at the band line-ups below, you’ll find several people who are in multiple bands – nearly everyone is involved in more than one project, creating really interesting cross-pollination). I’ve arranged them roughly from lesser known to better known (sort of an opening band – second opening band – headliner sort of thing), but that’s not completely accurate. Just a general rule of thumb.

A mural in Silver Lake, the center of the LA music / arts culture

All songs in one zip: I Love LA Mix.

1. Hello from Reno – It Comes and Goes

2. The Sweet Hurt – Bright Ideas

3. The Belle Brigade – 4%

4. Angie Mattson – Leanne

5. Local Natives – Airplanes

6. Obi Best – Swedish Boy

7. The One AM Radio – Old Men

8. Army Navy – Dark As Days

9. Earlimart – Face Down in the Right Town

10. The Whispertown 2000 – Pushing Oars

11. Juliette Commagère – Overcome

12. Lavender Diamond – Open Your Heart

13. Great Northern – Fingers

14. The Airborne Toxic Event – Gasoline

15. Munchausen by Proxy – Uh-Huh

16. The Submarines – Xavia

17. The Bird and the Bee – Love Letter to Japan

18. Jenny Lewis – The Highs and Lows of Being Number One

19. Silversun Pickups – Panic Switch

20. Rilo Kiley – I Love LA

The tracks provided here are for sampling only. If you like the bands, please support them by buying their music and going to their shows. If you are or represent any of these bands and would like the .mp3s removed, please let me know. Full mix details are after the jump, with info and photos for every band. Most photos are not mine. Promo-type photos obviously aren’t. Crappy iPhone-looking concert photos probably are.

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It’s no secret that I adore Jenny Lewis (and her other band Rilo Kiley) to a nearly unhealthy degree, so every time she puts out a new record or music video I get ultra-excited. She’s gone pretty low-fi on her current album Acid Tongue, and the recently-appearing videos have matched that aesthetic. The only other video for the album out is “Black Sand”, but I wasn’t honestly a big fan of it (it’s here). This one, though, is a different story.

“Carpetbaggers” is one of the more upbeat, purely fun tracks on the album, and the video is a low-key recording studio-type video, with Jenny and Elvis Costello and members of both their bands jamming it up. They all just look like they’re enjoying themselves and each other so much, and doing exactly what they want to be doing. Extra points for Zooey Deschanel sighting (she sings back-up on this song and a couple of others on Acid Tongue).

(via Pitchfork TV)

I‘ve never made it to a music festival before (largely because I didn’t really get into festival-type music until a few years ago), but when this year’s Coachella featured several of my favorite bands I decided to spring for it, since it’s the biggest festival close enough for me to drive to rather than fly. And even though everything’s overpriced, it’s hotter than Hades, and I ended up only seeing full sets from seven bands rather then the eleven or twelve I wanted to see, it was worth it. The downside is I think I’ve caught the festival bug – I’m drooling over the Lollapalooza lineup Andrew posted the other day.

Anyway, here’s a recap of my subset of Coachella, which woefully underrepresents the available audio overload. Especially since I skipped Sunday altogether – fewer bands I wanted to see meant I didn’t care to spend the money for the extra day and night.

Details of bands after the jump.

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