She & Him do Pooh

M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel are featured on the soundtrack to the new Winnie the Pooh movie.

They Might Be Giants

Still crazy about covers. Here's a feel-good cover suitable for Friday.

They Might Be Giants covers Chumbawamba

This might be notable if only for the number of people they tricked into admitting they knew the words to this song.

The Smiths

Just links today:

1. What Difference Does it Make? on Top of the Pops - a funny view of The Smiths being very calm while really at the peak of their powers.

2. What Difference Does it Make? - Artist's Rendition - beautiful.

St. Vincent

St. Vincent doesn't get as much attention as she deserves. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to see the wrongs righted, the darkness made light, the truth made plain. So here are a couple of wonderful St. Vincent covers for your next mix.

Here she is doing a very pretty cover of These Days by Nico:


And another I've used on a mix recently, a cover with Beck of INXS' Never Tear Us Apart:

Record Club: INXS "Never Tear Us Apart" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

I really love finding an artist someone might already like or a song they might like and throwing in a cover as a way to shake things up. Perfect mix fodder.

Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird is the only person I've seen play the violin and guitar nearly simultaneously. He's impressive on the strings but his lyrics are small masterpieces as well. Here's an extended version of an old track of his that I think is quite good:


If you'd like a nice long track somewhere in the middle of your mix to act as a landing point, this would be a nice track to include.

Led Zeppelin

A party for Independence Day with the greatest rockers of all time. Another obvious choice, but I'm hoping you'll take to heart that there's a lot more to Zep than II and IV:


This track in particular highlights how balanced these 4 were. Throw away vocals done with real passion, beautiful prominent bass line, wailing guitar solo, the works. Listen to Bonham pound on that ride cymbal and tell me that doesn't move you. I dare you.

Eilen Jewell

Eilen Jewell is a fantastic, sort of strange singer that does a lot of stuff I think Tom Waits and Jolie Holland fans would be into. Here's a track from her new record:

Eilen Jewell - Queen of the Minor Key from Signature Sounds on Vimeo.

Here's a great track from her 2007 effort Letters From Sinners & Strangers: