New Wilco/Billy Bragg Mermaid Avenue album on the way

On Record Store Day (April 21, the same day as our anniversary party), Billy Bragg & Wilco will release Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, which includes both previously released albums (Mermaid Avenue Volume 1 & 2), plus an all-new third volume of 17 songs. For the uninitiated, Mermaid Avenue is a series of albums that takes the lyrics of unrecorded Woody Guthrie songs and sets them to new music written by both Bragg and Wilco. So this is pretty exciting news for fans of the highly regarded collaboration.

Thanks to the A.V. Club, we now have the tracklist for the new volume which you can take a look at below. Preorder the set now and you'll also get a print of Guthrie's original lyrics to "Hoodoo Voodoo." The third volume will be available separately only as a digital download, otherwise you can only purchase a physical copy as part of the Complete Sessions set.

Below, watch Billy Bragg and Wilco perform "Secrets of the Sea" on David Letterman in 2000...

Watch: Wilco -- "Dawned On Me" (Official Video)

It's been a busy week for indie-folk kings Wilco, for sure. Having just stopped by Conan on Monday to rock through "The Whole Love" and Dawned On Me," the band today unveiled the new official video for the latter song with some faces that should be familiar to any red-blooded Amurrican cartoon viewer born in the past few decades.

Yep - Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Bluto all swing by to have another one of their wacky adventures in this video, all set to the sounds of a cartoon version of Wilco performing on a deck. It's the first official hand-drawn Popeye cartoon produced in 30 years, and it's even cooler than the concept sounds. Check it out below (thanks to PFork for the tip).

Watch Wilco Perform "The Whole Love" On Conan

Conan got off to a great start for the week last night, as Jeff Tweedy and the indie-rock troubadours of Wilco swung by to perform the title track off of their latest LP The Whole Love. Check it out below via The Audio Perv along with a web-only performance of "Dawned On Me," and pick up their new 8-song live collection the band recorded in Chicago on iTunes today.

Watch Jeff Tweedy Deliver A Weather Report In Chicago

Hey there. Hope you've enjoyed our awesome photo posts from this morning via Chris and the team. I'm pretty hungover so I likely won't be in the mood to report news until a bit later, but the Chicago Tribune has a pretty hilarious clip of Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy jumping in to do the weather report during the band's visit to WGN-TV Morning News in Chicago today. Check it out over here while I mutter something about sites that don't allow video embedding.

Watch: Wilco Live On Letterman

As we called out on our latest edition of This Week's Nostalgia, Wilco will be stopping by Central Park Summerstage with Nick Lowe tonight for what will likely be an awesome night of rocking, barring any thunderstorms. But in case you don't make it out tonight due to weather or prior commitments or laziness, the band stopped by every young adult's favorite late night program, The Late Show With David Letterman, last night to perform "Born Alone" off of their latest LP The Whole Love.

Watch it above, and if that's not enough Wilco-on-Letterman action for you, check out an hour-long online-exclusive set the band performed for the show as well after the jump.

This Week's Nostalgia (9/19-9/25)

Holy shit, there's a lot of stuff going on this week. And for some god forsaken reason I've waited until this late to write about it. Okay, not wasting anymore time, here it is...

Deerhoof @ Europa (more)

Deerhoof @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Tuesday, September 20

It really doesn't get much better than seeing Deerhoof live. Forget the fact that they're one of the most progressive musical acts of the 21st century, or that they're practically a genre unto themselves, or that they feature one of the greatest drummers of all time... Deerhoof are a phenomenal fucking band to see live. And the fact that they're so weird and off-putting to some people ensures that they will continue to play in small venues throughout the duration of their career. So wallow in the fact that Deerhoof come to NYC every few months to melt our faces with their unique brand of psychedelic, jazz-tinged indie rock. Tickets are still on sale.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark @ Irving Plaza
Tuesday, September 20 / Wednesday September 21

OMD, despite having that song in Pretty in Pink, are actually one of the more influential electronic acts to emerge from the sea of god awful pop acts of the '80s. Having reunited with the classic lineup in 2007, the band played their first North American tour since 1988 earlier this year and received rave reviews throughout. They also just released a very limited edition live album last month, that, having listened to, I can assure is pleasantly awesome. Definitely check out OMD at Irving Plaza on either Tuesday or Wednesday, for which tickets are still on sale for both.

Elephant 6 Orchestra @ LPR (more)

Olivia Tremor Control @ Le Poisson Rouge
Wednesday, September 21

This is the show this week that I'm most excited about. When I first came back to New York City in 2005 after spending four years in Plattsburgh, NY for school, I was given an extra ticket to see Olivia Tremor Control at Bowery Ballroom by my brother. It was a revelatory moment for me, when I realized that psychedelic music was very much alive and present in music today, and could be just as accessible as anything that was on the radio at the time. Still, not many people know the importance of Olivia Tremor Control--which is a shame. If you're curious what the pinnacle Elephant Six band sounds like, do yourself a favor and pick up a ticket for their show at the intimate Le Poisson Rouge for Wednesday, where I also saw many of the same band members play as the Elephant Six Collective back in May. Fellow E6 band The Music Tapes open. Rock.

Jeff Tweedy @ Maxwell's (more)

Nick Lowe / Wilco @ Central Park SummerStage
Thursday, September 22 / Friday, September 23

It's always kind of weird when the influencer opens for the influenced - when Pixies opened for Radiohead at Coachella in 2004, Thom Yorke was very open about how embarrassed he was of his band's headlining spot. Not so sure Jeff Tweedy will be as open, but you never know. I'm excited to get to see Nick Lowe play live after recently discovering his greatness (I was slow on this one), and Wilco is inevitably going to do well after releasing a very great new album this month. It's kind of sad that the outdoor concert season is winding down, so be sure to pack in as many summer shows as you can and make it special. Tickets for both shows are sold out, but keep your eye on craigslist and StubHub on the day of... I'm sure you'll be able to get a good deal.

The Descendents @ Roseland Ballroom
Friday, September 23

Shit, this is gonna be a great fucking show. The Descendents were one of the earliest punk bands (if not the first) to crossover to the skateboarding/pop-punk scene that emerged in the mid-to-late '80s. Chalk it up to their catchy hooks, slick production, and songs about having sex and puking. Yep, it's all there. It would be awesome to see them in a smaller venue like Bowery Ballroom or Maxwell's, but if their popularity demands they play the massive Roseland Ballroom, so be it. At least it's not Terminal 5. H20 and The Suicide Machines open. Tickets are sold out and StubHub's cheapest options are currently at $65, so craigslist may be your best bet. Good luck, it's gonna be a great one.

Malkmus @ Other Music (more)

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks @ Webster Hall
Sunday, September 25

This was a show we announced a long time ago, and although it seemed a little weird to me at the time for The Jicks to be playing the 3,000 capacity Terminal 5, in a post-Pavement reunion world, anything is possible. Except I suspect that just may have been the problem. Now that seeing Stephen Malkmus live is no longer the next best thing to seeing Pavement live (and hopefully you had the chance to do that last summer), something tells me he is not as in high demand as he used to be. Hence the moving of this show to the smaller (but still pretty huge) Webster Hall. I, for one, am not complaining at all. The recently released Mirror Traffic is a fine album, and after catching the band's stripped down performance at Other Music a few weeks ago I'm really excited to see the band at its full potential. Tickets are still on sale.

Notable mentions:
The Rapture @ Webster Hall - Friday, September 23 (Tickets)
The Human League / Men Without Hats @ Best Buy Theater - Friday, September 23 (Tickets)

There you go. Tons of stuff happening to get your nostalgia fix this week. Be sure to check out the playlist we made for This Week's Nostalgia on Spotify and subscribe to it so you have new songs to listen to each week. If there are any shows you feel we missed this week, let us know about it in the comments below. Until next time...

Stream: Wilco's The Whole Love

Wilco's eighth studio album The Whole Love will be released on September 27. We previously shared the first single off the album "I Might," but now you can stream the entire record over at their official website. You can catch Wilco here in New York City at Central Park SummerStage on September 22 and 23, for which tickets are still on sale for both. Nick Lowe (!!!) opens both dates. Get at it.

Stream: Wilco's Jeff Tweedy & Deerhoof's "Behold A Raccoon In The Darkness"

Via Polyvinyl Records

Lovable indie rock weirdos Deerhoof, favorites of FN and post-college musical gamechangers for our Editor-In-Chief (and me too), are in the midst of a victory lap for most recent excellent album Deerhoof Vs. Evil. They've been celebrating with a series of vinyl 7" singles featuring some of their favorite artists and contemporaries, and we've learned today via Pitchfork that the latest single will feature none other than Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy taking over lead vocal duties for Satomi Matsuzaki on Vs. standout "Behold A Marvel In The Darkness."

This version of the track is called "Behold A Raccoon In The Darkness," and for good reason - it's the A-side to another song called "Own It" by The Raccoonists, a band consisting of Tweedy and his two sons Sam and Spencer. The "Behold A Raccoon In The Darkness" single is out on October 11 through Polyvinyl, but you can stream the whole thing at Pitchfork here - gotta say, it's much more appropriate than you'd think to hear Jeff Tweedy on a Deerhoof song.

Deerhoof also have a bunch of tour dates coming up, bringing them back to NYC on September 20 to play the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn and then to nearby Asbury Park, NJ for the Portishead- and ATP-curated I'll Be Your Mirror Festival on October 2. Check out the rest after the jump, along with the video for one of my other favorite songs from Deerhoof Vs. Evil, "Super Duper Rescue Heads!"

Listen to Wilco's new song "I Might" and a live stream of their Solid Sound Festival

Jeff Tweedy w/ Yo La Tengo @ Maxwell's (more here)

Wilco's Solid Sound Festival is currently underway this weekend in North Adams, MA, and as a special treat, the Jeff Tweedy-led group have released a brand new song, "I Might," which you can listen to below courtesy of Stereogum. The song is Wilco's first release for their label dBpm, which appropriately has a cover of Nick Lowe's "I Love My Label" as its b-side.

Wilco - I Might by ListenBeforeYouBuy

Solid Sound's lineup also includes other great acts such as Levon Helm Band, Thurston Moore and Syl Johnson & the Sweet Divines. If you're nowhere near North Adams, MA you can listen to a live stream of the festival on WSSR 88.7FM's UStream page, or directly below. Enjoy!


Stream videos at Ustream