Very quirky video (directed by Ace Norton) of darwin deez's infectious indie pop song "radar detector." Sign up for the mailing list at http://darwindeez.com and you'll get 2 free mp3s. Buy his music at http://www.itunes.com/darwindeez

Duran Duran has always been one of my favorite bands since I was in 6th grade. They will be having a YouTube concert March 23 at 10pm called "Unstaged" and directed by David Lynch.

Figurines are Christian Hjelm, Claus S. Johansen and Jens Ramon. The band is from Denmark with a new single "New Colors" off of their excellent self-titled 4th studio album. "Hanging from Above" is the title track and the video below could be a commercial starring very pretty Danish people - selling what I don't know - but it makes me want to go there. "New Colors" is available at iTunes and the album is available on Bandcamp in limited vinyl, CD, or digital album. I downloaded the album today for 79 Danish Kroner which converted to 15.42 USD. You can preview and buy Figurines at http://figurines.bandcamp.com/album/figurines. Figurines will be playing 2 NYC shows: June 9 at Mercury Lounge and June 11 at the Knitting Factory. Official band website at http://www.figurines.dk

Today's video is the brand new song Walls from Newcastle's 3-piece indie-folk band BirdsandBelles. It features singer-songwriter Shanna Watson and contains giant bunnies playing drums and guitar. With all the sad news recently it is guaranteed to make you smile for 3 minutes. More info at www.myspace.com/birdsbelles

A few years ago I attended a musical event featuring Martha Plimpton, Lucy Wainwright Roche and many of their friends at the Zipper Factory in NYC. This was the first time Martha had performed Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road" and it was the highlight of the show. Soon after, Martha made her Broadway musical debut in "Pal Joey" in a role for which she was nominated for a Tony award. Most of America first heard Martha sing when she performed "Danny's Song" on the pilot episode of "Raising Hope." This video is of Martha's performance of "Thunder Road" for Public Radio in 2010.

You know how sometimes you forget about a song from your childhood and then you hear it and it's amazing how you take a musical time-travel voyage. Thanks to my friend Elisabeth for reminding me of this song from 1977 by Odyssey called "Native New Yorker." It makes me want to rollerskate around the old Times Square with the skeevy theaters. This song is so disco, so 70s, so very New York. Love it!

PT Walkley's new EP The Ghost of Chivalry is romantic rock at its best. The opening track "Love You Dearly" begins and ends with the soft sound of a dog barking - perhaps an ode to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds or maybe a dog was just there but it's a cool effect. The beautiful lyrics escalate into a psychedelic rock sound that reminded me of The Beatles. A song that appears to be influenced by two of my favorite bands and still be very unique is a feat that PT Walkley achieved well.

The second track "This is the Sound" is completely different. Its romantic, swoon-worthy lyrics are uplifting and reminded me of some of PT Walkley's soundtrack for the film "Nice Guy Johnny" - one of the best albums of 2010.

The final track is a full orchestral version of "Save the World" which was an acoustic song from "Nice Guy Johnny" which you can hear in the trailer of the film. Wow! I love the acoustic version but this version really takes the song to its full potential - gorgeous strings and pleasant horns flesh out the up-tempo version.

The Ghost of Chivalry's release will be celebrated at City Winery on 2/22, which I am really looking forward to. For more on PT Walkley, visit www.ptwalkley.com/music.

Can one weekend and one girl change your life? You'll have to watch "Nice Guy Johnny" to find out. I love this movie and the soundtrack by P.T. Walkley is amazing. If you go to iTunes you can rent the movie for $.99 and buy the soundtrack for $5.99. More info at www.niceguyjohnnythemovie.com where you can also get a free song download.

Jeremy Messersmith recently released his third album "The Reluctant Graveyard." I have enjoyed Jeremy's previous albums The Alcatraz Kid and The Silver City but his third really is wonderful. All three are available at http://jeremymessersmith.bandcamp.com/
Jeremy is playing Joe's Pub in NY on August 17th and other dates around the U.S. Check out http://www.jeremymessersmith.com
for more info on this great musician. 

Local Natives is a great indie band from Silverlake. I heard them on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic and really liked their sound. You can pick up their debut album Gorilla Manor from Amazon for $5.99. People compare them to Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes but I like them much better and they make my ears happy.