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.

So Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros showed up on Conan O’Brien’s Summer Concert Series Tuesday night, and as the ginger comedian was about to introduce the band, he got a little ... distracted.

“Were you guys just doing ‘Creep’ right now?” he asked.

So he busted out his best Cockney accent, and an impromptu jam session ensued. Watch for yourself, via Team Coco.



“I wan’ you ‘oo no’ice ... when I’m naw’ awoun’ ...”

You can follow Conan's hilarious Twitter feed here.

This might just be my favorite-ever installment of “The VDub Sessions.”

For one thing, you’ve got Tulsa’s strongest male singer, and for another, you’ve got him covering one of the GOATs (greatest of all-time). What more do you need? Here’s Ben Kilgore singing Otis Redding’s immortal “These Arms of Mine”:



Y’know, this kinda begs the question: Do you prefer Mr. Kilgore’s earnest-to-goodness Redding cover to Kanye West and Jay-Z’s recent tribute-sample track, “Otis”? I certainly do. But you decide for yourself.

I can’t think of a more tired concept for a hip-hop music video than a couple of pop stars riding around in an expensive car with a handful of models. But somehow, director Spike Jonze does exactly that and winds up with a classic. He’s come a long way since getting high in high school.

For starters, ’Ye and Jigga strip down a Maybach to look more like a luxury Jeep Wrangler, and then they start playing with fire. Literally. Watch for yourself. And keep an eye out for a brief Tom Haverford cameo. I wonder if they shot it in the City of Pawnee?



Anyhoo, expect a review of “Watch the Throne” early next week. And for more Otis Redding-related videos, check out yesterday’s video of Ben Kilgore covering “These Arms of Mine” for “The VDub Sessions.”