Video of the Week: Daniel Johnston Makes My Wife Cry

Hell Is Asking to Be Loved

“Adagio,” Charlie Haden & the Liberation Music Orchestra
Haden is one of the great jazz bassists and on and off over the last 40 years he has gathered together various musical luminaries (Carla Bley, Gato Barbieri, Don Cherry, and Paul Motian, to name only a few) and released five albums as the Liberation Music Orchestra. The last track from the 2005 album Not in Our Name is one of the saddest pieces of music ever written, Samuel Barber’s “Adagio.” Here’s a live version. Oliver Stone used it to powerful effect, too.

“Slime & Oxygen,” Black Lips
If you like your rock dirty Black Lips fit the bill nicely!

“Pieces of What,” MGMT
Burn all indie-slackers!

“Swimming,” Sunset Rubdown
This Pacific Northwest band is one of those acquired tastes. I’m not sure I’ve acquired it just yet.

“Detective Daughter,” Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton
This is a really good book-end to Charlie Haden. Emily Haines’s father, Paul, was a jazz lyricist and poet, whose most well known work is a collaboration with Carla Bley called Escalator Over the Hill. Emily designed her album cover for Knives Don’t Have Your Back as a tribute to him. I had the chance to interview her when I was at The Current.

Colbert Looks Delicious in Feist's iPod Outfit

I Stand Upon This Stupid Platform

“Forget,” Mission of Burma
Peter Prescott’s martial drumming keeps the song in check as it quickly builds up steam and boils over at about the 2:20 mark. Mission of Burma are masters of controlled chaos. Greg Milner wrote this article for Salon in 2002, the year the band reunited.

“From Blown Speakers,” The New Pornographers
I dig The New Pornographers, but would I be as into them if Neko Case and Dan Bejar weren’t in the band? Not bloody likely! This song has more life performed live.

“Get Ready,” The Temptations
Heavenly falsetto, courtesy of Eddie Kendricks. I've secretly always wanted to be a Motown backup singer.

“Gunshy,” Liz Phair
It’s just too bad that she couldn’t replicate the depth of her debut. Her work afterward is so devoid of anything remotely resembling Exile in Guyville.

“Billion Dollar Babies,” Alice Cooper
I remember as a kid being very afraid of Alice Cooper, what with the snakes and the blood and the what-have-you. Tipper Gore didn’t help matters much. He represented the “dark side,” or so she and her ilk warned. Alice explains his on-stage persona in this interesting video from the CBC. He likes to golf, dammit! How scary can the man be?

Video of the Week: The Big Lebowski in Two Minutes and Fourteen Fucking Seconds