THE FOURTH of JULY WEEKEND STARTS HERE: …with THE BEACH BOYS!  Yep, time to "Do It Again."  Because folks my age will always remember their mammoth July 4th concerts at the Washington Monument — as with…

GIVERS defy gravity in the clip for "Up Up Up." For fans of Vampire Weekend. SONDRE LERCHE plays a session at Morning Becomes Eclectic. THE CIVIL WARS played a Tiny Desk Concert…

SLOAN plays Gary Numan's "Cars" for The A.V. Club Undercover. And nail it, imho. WILCO: Highlights from the Solid Sound Festival, including new songs and a cover of Split Enz's "I Got…

ARCHERS OF LOAF went "Wrong" on Fallon. Eric Bachmann watched the show and told Vulture about his encounter with Madonna back in the day. NEW RELEASES incuding Marianne Faithfull, YACHT, Handsome Furs, Jolie…

SOUL ASYLUM played Taste of Chicago Saurday night, opening with "Marionette" (one of my faves) and closing with "Stand Up and Be Strong," working in the joke where "Misery" morphs into McCartney's…

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE… …with THE KINKS! Ray Davies celebrated a birthday this week (as did Brian Wilson) and the recent reissue of the early Kinks albums put me in a mood…

FLORENCE WELCH puts a N'awlins touch on her cover of "Not Fade Away" at the site for for the Buddy Holly tribute LP, which is streaming there and at NPR. TAPES N' TAPES had…

RADIOHEAD played a new song, "Staircase," at The Basement. THE OLD 97s stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a chat and mini-set. EDWYN COLLINS did five free songs for Daytrotter. HANDSOME FURS are advance…

YUCK released a NSFW video for "Shook Down." NEW RELEASES from Bon Iver, Bo-Keys, Gomez, Paleo, BOBBY, Weird Al Yankovic and more are streaming this week at Spinner. THE DECEMBERISTS played a…

CLARENCE CLEMONS – the Big Man with the big horn – died Saturday of complications from a stroke he suffered last weekend, said Bruce Springsteen's spokeswoman. He was 69 years old.  Here's more…