Photo by [auro]

You probably remember Robyn from “Do You Know (What It Takes)” released in 1997. Yeah, I hate that song too.

But Robyn’s “With Every Heartbeat” is a perfect song. It’s been stuck in my head for days.

From Robyn:

“With Every Heartbeat”

Ben Ratliff sweats Prince’s indie cred in his review of Prince’s performance this weekend at the desert music festival Couchella. More importantly:

“Creep.” Prince covered it, letting the opening chords cycle for a while as he waited offstage. Screaming the chorus through the song’s slow-going apex, Prince got an indie arena-rock sound exactly right: a tolling, almost orchestral tension.

And luckily Glenjamn posted it on YouTube so we could all hear it for ourselves.

Glenjamn has a lot of concert footage on YouTube. If you’re into that kind of thing, check out his page.

The Foals stormed the Bowery Ballroom last night: their performance last night was extraordinary. The band’s showmanship has improved dramatically. The first two times I saw the band play Bowery the guys stood in the tight circle on stage a good portion of the time. And in February they admitted to being rusty. Last night, they were on top of their game, the show was electric, and the audience was loving it. A group of about five drunk, raucous NYU dudes were forcing everyone in the front to dance with them or shove them back. The set included a guest saxophonist; he helped recreate the horn sections of their new album. The sax guy “rocked out” like a Tarantism sufferer. His glasses fell off twice. The band dropped a few tidbits about the meaning of their songs: “Heavy Water” is about vampires and “Two Steps, Twice” is about dancing badly.

From Antidotes:

“Cassius”

NME declared the Foals will define the music of 2008. I don’t know if that’s true, but the rock photographers were out en masse last night, the cool kids knew all the words to their songs, and their album is actually pretty good. Sounds like a good start to proving NME right. If Animal Collective can be a rousing success, there’s hope for everyone, right?

Which brings us to The Epochs. Last night was my first exposure to The Epochs. My friend characterized their vocals as a bad imitation of The Bee-Gees. Maybe the band had an off night, but Kotchy (the drummer) was fucking amazing and seemed to me to be carrying the whole set by himself. Kotchy’s incredible drumming elicited two or three excited responses from the audience. I’ll try not to be too hard on this band. I don’t know them. Their album got a good review. Maybe Kotchy likes the other dudes. But I can’t help thinking he should find a better band. Or the Epochs should recruit a singer to replace the singer-brothers (a la The Bee-Gees). Or maybe, like Vampire Weekend, I don’t understand The Epochs.

This week’s Radiolab episode is devoted music.

Why do some songs mercilessly stick in our heads and repeat themselves over and over? What makes these hooks so hooky? And how does a songwriter will a song forth from the ether? In this episode, nightmarish stories of musical hallucinations, songs that transcend language, and the triumphant return of the Elvis of Afghanistan.

I love that Professor Fox makes a case for the universal appeal of Dolly Parton’s music. I believe it. Check it.

Photo by Ian Mmmm

British nerd rockers, Hot Chip, stormed Terminal 5 Saturday night. Hot Chip put on an impressive show and the crowd was eating it up. I counted eight keyboards and several guitars rotating on stage; they are anything but your typical band.

This was the second show I saw Terminal 5. I’m not a fan of Terminal 5. I saw The National there a few months ago. The sound sucked — most likely because of the place I was standing and the construction of the building. But this weekend I found a better place to stand. (Has anyone else noticed the make-out couches on the third floor?)

Hot Chip said they’d be back in New York this summer. I’d like to catch that show too.

From Made in the Dark:

“Touch Too Much”

From The Warning:

“Over and Over”

“No Fit State”