One of the best online sources of really great intimate live performances of acts you usually have never heard of is on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts.  Recently they had the very timid Wu Man grace their presence.  Don’t be fooled by her shy charm.  Her fingers passionately and intensely play the 2,000 year old Chinese pipa.  Wu Man has played alongside the Kronos Quartet.  Stream the show below or you can watch the video on NPR here.

Today, Son Lux (a.k.a. Ryan Loft) released We Are Rising, his followup to the beautiful At War With Walls and Maxes (2008).  In the time between albums, Lott has been busy with his day job writing music for modern dance companies and at Butter Studios in New York.  Lott ambitiously wrote the album after NPR’s All Songs Considered approached him to participate in their RPM challenge.  It is an annual event that takes place each February, the shortest month of the year, in which an artist will write an album in a measly 28 days.  Guest appearances on the album include: My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden, the Antlers’ Peter Silberman, Midlake and DM Stith.  Stream We Are Rising on NPR.

Son Lux – Rising

Burst Apart might not be out for almost two more months but the band debuted almost the entire album yesterday and NPR’s SXSW showcase. You can listen to each track from the show in order below, you’ll notice track 7, “Tiptoe” is missing. Apparently the band wants to leave something for release day and decided to skip that song during their set.

The audio isn’t great on these so it won’t be a replacement for the actual studio release but it should give everyone an idea of the direction the new album will be taking. Overall my opinion is favorable for Burst Apart except for the track “Hounds”. My reasoning behind this is that Darby Cicci’s singing of the line “slow down” is truly terrible and I hope it’s not that bad on the album.

Burst Apart is out May 10th via Frenchkiss.

The Antlers – “I Don’t Want Love”

The Antlers – “French Exit”

The Antlers – “Parenthesis”

The Antlers – “No Widows”

The Antlers – “Rolled Together”

The Antlers – “Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out”

The Antlers – “Hounds”

The Antlers – “Corsicana”

The Antlers – “Putting the Dog to Sleep”

Ladies, take a quick moment and reflect on your online dating experiences. Remember the guy who forgot his wallet? Or the one with the temper? How about the one with no job, no car and a 5 year old daughter?

Meet Frank, the funkasaurus rex. Somehow he doesn’t seem half bad in comparison.

The Black Keys’ new album, Brothers is coming out on Tuesday, May 18. Until then, you can stream the album on NPR.

Attached is the b-side from the lead single “Written In Reverse”. The song is kind of tough for me to get into because it sounds like I’m trying to find a radio station that keeps cutting out.

Spoon – “Mean Red Spider”
[audio:http://themuseinmusic.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/spoon-mean-red-spider1.mp3]

Here.

Sorry for the Hit and Run, but not so sorry to say much other than, “gotta run.”

Public service announcement: if you get a chance to see Sea Wolf live, act on it.

Lists of this nature are difficult to say the least. Not due the millions of songs that have been released in every way, shape and form because 90% of those can be knocked from the running right from the get go, but because of the under appreciation from critics and readers that don’t really understand how much time and effort goes into compiling such a list. This is why I don’t even attempt this feat.

NPR is a different story though. Not only are they planning on making a list of the 50 greatest singers of all time, they are devoting all of 2010 to it and they’re taking your nominations for the list through to October 16th. After your nominations are compiled along with lists from their panel of experts, academics and public-radio critics the nominees will be presented before the audience for a vote to whittle the list down to the 50. Those 50 will be profiled all during 2010.

I have one big problem with NPR trying to make everyone feel included and warm and fuzzy about being a part of this task. There is far too much opportunity for a group of over zealous fans to steal the gold medal for their favorite vocalist. Maybe not so much in the suggested nominees but in the voting when the list is presented there is definitely a potential for stuffing the ballot. Yes, ultimately NPR reserves the right to toss out any vocalist that seems to have something fishy going on and if NPR has this “panel of experts, academics and public-radio critics” what do they need us for? Certainly it’s not really for this reason?

We’re relying on you to remind us of those voices we may have forgotten or never got the chance to hear; those voices that may sound strange to Western ears; vocalists silenced by politics or history; the singers who are only really embraced by critics and those who are heroes of the everyday listener.

At the time being all you have to do to submit your vocalist of choice is to leave a comment below the article or send an email to GreatVoices@npr.org

This will be impressive to see when it’s done. Just glad it’s not me having to do the work.

Who are your nominees?

You can listen to it here.