Whoever said outdoor electronic day shows were boring?

James Blake performed "CMYK" at Pitchfork Music Festival a few weekends back, accompanied by a pretty talented drummer and another guy who appears to switch between a guitar for the song's CV radio coda and some sort of synthesizer for the frenetic groove in the middle.

Toss in some crazy vocal effects from Mr. Blake and you've got a couple thousand happy, dancing hipsters.

Stillwater band Other Lives is about a month away from opening for the guy who’s the odds-on favorite for album of the year right now (can you say national exposure?). But currently, they’re about to jet off to Europe for a string of festival and small-venue dates. It appears that it’ll be a few months before they perform in Oklahoma again.

But fear not, friends! KEXP Radio in Seattle shot five live-in-studio performances by Jesse Tabish and company. “For 12” is my favorite here, but please watch them and let me know what you think. I can’t overstate how great it is that Other Lives is representing Oklahoma to indie audiences across the country and Europe right now.

“For  12”


“As I Lay My Head Down”


“Dark Horse”


“Weather”


“Tamer Animals”


Kudos to Oklahomarock.com, who first pointed this out on their news blog!

A little while back, mopey indie rockers The National contributed the song “Exile Vilify” to the “Portal 2” soundtrack. The video game teamed up with the Brooklyn band to host a contest to find the best fan-made video for the song. We now officially have the winner of that contest.

I give you the world’s saddest hand puppet:



You can watch a bunch of other fan vids on the “Suggestions” bar of the YouTube page for the hand puppet video. But I don’t recommend it, as listening to “Exile Vilify” more than once will completely eviscerate your spirits.

You can follow the band on Twitter here.

Okie singer Ryan Lawson apparently has been hanging out with the slowcore psych-rock dudes from The Purple Church. It’s a cool collaboration — Lawson’s voice alters from his usual straightforward, distinct folk style to something more strained and animal-like.

It’s not very often you get to see a soul legend sing an all-time great cover song accompanied by the front man of the biggest indie band to ever get buzzed. That happened this last weekend at Outside Lands when Mavis Staples brought Win Butler of Arcade Fire on to sing “The Weight,” The Band’s great contribution to planet Earth. Enjoy.