4 More (Less Popular) Creepy Songs

Building upon After The Show’s last post about popular songs that are thematically creepy (read here), here are four more creepy songs, albeit less popular than those original four songs.

1. “Skulls” by The Misfits (cover by Blackback):

This song is told from the perspective of a serial killer.

2. “Old Timers” by Leslie and the Badgers:

This love song tells the story of a guy who was struck by lightning and went brain dead. Perhaps more depressing than creepy.

3. “Jack Killed Mom” by Jenny Lewis feat. Zooey Deschanel:

This song tells the Oedipal story of Jack, a young boy whose mother is crazy/abusive. Jack bullies other children at school and then kills his crazy mother, thinking that he is setting her free.

4. Charles Manson songs

The creepiest of the creepy — YouTube has a lot of songs by serial killer Charles Manson.

Ben Gibbard & Zooey Deschanel

Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel performed a cover of “I’ll Never Find Another You” last week in Seattle:

Gulf Coast Benefit Concert Recap

Rachael Cantu, Carina Round, Ben Lee, the Silver Lake Chorus, and Kaki King played at the Mint in LA on Thursday for the Gulf Coast Benefit Concert. Kaki King organized and emceed the concert.

Highlights:

-Ben Lee playing his song “Pop Queen” with Kaki King playing the guitar solo.

-Ben Lee playing “We’re All In This Together” with the Silver Lake Chorus singing back-up vocals.

-Kaki King covering “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” by The Smiths.

Also in attendance were Clea Duvall, Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara, Zooey Deschanel of She & Him, Lara May of El May, Ione Skye, Liz Feldman, and Kate Moennig.

How To Discover New Music (Part 3)

Part 1 of “How to Discover New Music” (read it here) was about music podcasts.

Part 2 (here) was about attending concerts.

Part 3 is about interviews and playlists.

Read, listen to (audio), or watch (video) interviews with artists you like, especially interviews that focus on having artists make playlists of music that they like.

Example #1: I discovered the song “Saturday” by Rachael Cantu and “5 Years Time” by Noah and the Whale by listening to Ben Lee’s podcasts and reading a playlist he made.

Example #2: Holly Miranda tweeted a link to “It’s Okay” by Land of Talk. A playlist by Lizzie Powell of Land of Talk featured the song “Re: Stacks” by Bon Iver and “One Man” by Eulogies:

Example #3: An interview with Brian Wilson and Zooey Deschanel led me to discover “This Will Be Our Year” by The Zombies.

Tilly and the Wall

Band of the day: Tilly and the Wall

Interesting facts about Tilly and the Wall:

1. They played their song “Pot Kettle Black” on the 90210 pilot episode

2. Instead of a drummer, they have a tap-dancer

3. “Pot Kettle Black” was also on the soundtrack for the movie Whip It

4. The band contributed to Rilo Kiley’s 2004 album More Adventurous

5. Tilly and the Wall’s tap-dancer is the person who says “I’m surprised you noticed” in Rilo Kiley’s song “A Man/Me/Then Jim”

6. Tilly and the Wall contributed to a song on She & Him’s new album, Volume Two

Here is “Chandelier Lake” (live):

She & Him – Listen to Full Album

Head over to Spin to listen to all of She & Him‘s upcoming new album,               Volume 2.

New Music Tuesday: Holly Miranda

Holly Miranda‘s debut solo album The Magician’s Private Library is out today.

Read the album reviews in Vanity Fair here and the NY Times here.

She and Him also have new music today. They released a two song “single” featuring new song “In The Sun” and the Beach Boys cover “I Can Hear Music.”

Go to StereoGum.com today to listen to and download She and Him’s new song “Thieves.”

Spectacle

Elvis Costello’s TV show Spectacle has featured a superstar ensemble of performers.

Watch some behind-the-scenes footage from one episode featuring Jenny Lewis, Zooey Deschanel, Tennessee Thomas, and Jakob Dylan playing together.

Here’s “Carpetbaggers” with Jenny Lewis, Johnathan Rice, Elvis Costello, Farmer Dave, Zooey Deschanel, and two drummers: Tennessee Thomas (The Like) and her dad, Pete Thomas:

Here’s “Change is Hard” by She & Him:

(500) Days of Summer: Karaoke

In the karaoke scene of the film (500) Days of Summer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt performs a snippet of “Here Comes Your Man” by The Pixies:

Here is the original, full-length version of “Here Comes Your Man” by The Pixies:

She & Him: Volume Two

She & Him have finished recording their second album, Volume Two. The album will be out in early 2010.

She & Him is Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward.