Videos of the Week January 8th

Admittedly, it was an underwhelming week for videos. Rarely am I ever scraping the barrel for a top five, but it was a slow start for the year. I say that but Kendrick Lamar's debut performance of his latest Untitled track on Fallon was the show stopper of the week. You want to talk about energy in a performance! He brought his A game to the party.

Coming in a close second was Gallant, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists. With the help of Sufjan Stevens, he showed again why he's THE rising star when it comes to R&B vocalists. Continuing with an R&B tip, Majid Jordan made news this week when they released the tracklist for their upcoming album along with the new video for their latest single Something About You. In electronic news, if you were wondering how easy or hard it is to make a track, Flux Pavilion was willing to show you in a matter of ten minutes. Pretty cool how it all comes together more quickly than you'd imagine. And last, but not least, your boy Yonas came through with yet another interesting cover. This time, he did work on Adele's Hello. But, to his credit, he put his own interesting rock twist on it with the help of Living in Fiction...#Yonas
Kendrick Lamar - Untitled 2 (Live on Fallon)

Gallant & Sufjan Stevens - Blue Bucket of Gold (In-studio Video)

Majid Jordan - Something About You (Video)

Flux Pavilion Makes a Track in 10 Minutes

Yonas feat Living in Fiction - Hello (Adele Cover)

Photo Credit: YouTube

Mikey-Mike's Indie Music Corner Debut: Yeasayer

Welcome, Ladies and Gentleman, to Mikey-Mike's Indie Music Corner! I'm here to get you up-to-date on all things Indie; I take the best of what's out there, and bring it to you in an easy to use, easy to access format. Think Sparknotes for hipster-trends!

I'm starting out with a bang folks, so I hope you like it!

Yeasayer is a band from Brooklyn, and they've been doing big things ever since their debut album, All Hour Cymbals, was released in 2007.

Here's a couple reasons why you might have heard of them:

First off, they opened on tour for MGMT, who as we all know, blew the f*** up.

Also, their song Sunrise was featured during the end-credits of an episode of Entourage. (The one where Vince's house gets broken into, and the guys freak out, getting guns and Ari's international security team to protect them.)

I'll admit, I wasn't always sold on Yeasayer, and sometimes I still have my doubts, but one thing's for sure, these guys make hits!

The first time I really took note of them was on the Dark Was The Night charity album. Designed to raise funds for HIV and AIDS, this double disk release featured a who's-who in indie pop; Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, The Dirty Projectors and Grizzly Bear all lent tracks, as did Ben Gibbard, Iron & Wine, and Feist.

Needless to say, this album was a big deal. But there was one song that I kept going back to, and it was Yeasayer's song Tightrope. It's incredibly catchy, and with empowering lyrics like "Wishing never solved a problem. If you want to get it big time / go ahead and get it, get it big time!", I was most definitely smitten. Give it a listen...

Yeasayer - Tightrope
| Download

Cover Art for Odd Blood Album

Tightrope built quite the buzz leading up to their second album release, Odd Blood, and they didn't disappoint. The first single, Ambling Alp, showed that these guys were for real. Not only did Yeasayer make another indie hit, but they did so while telling the inspirational story of 1930's boxer Joe Louis, who became a political icon, in part, because of his defeat of Max Schmeling, the pride of Nazi Germany. Track below...

Yeasayer - Ambling Alp
| Download

And last, but most definitely not least, is the song ONE. This song leaves me chanting the chorus every time. "No / You don't move me anymore. And I'm glad that you don't / 'cause I can't have you anymore." It seems to be about fighting an addiction, whether it be a former lover or a substance, I'm not sure, but I love it nonetheless.

Yeasayer - ONE
| Download

In the end, I hope you give these BK boys a chance. They sing of standing up for what you believe in, and fighting to make your dreams come true, and as musicians, they've done exactly that.