Broken Records hit the ground running on Sunday night, starting off their debut US tour with a sold-out show in Washington, D.C. They then drove up the road to Philly, recorded a set for World Cafe, played a gig at North Star, and rolled into NYC early this AM. Since we don’t let our bands sleep, we’ve put them to work. Catch Broken Records live today on WNYC Soundcheck at 2:30PM, playing three songs from their new album, Let Me Come Home, before heading off to Mercury Lounge to get ready for their gig tonight. And then tomorrow, the lads from Edinburgh will play at Rock Shop in Brooklyn before being shipped off to Boston to continue their tour. And people say rock stars have the easy life.

And, by extension, they bring their cranial Oxfordian folk-pop to the world’s Interwebwaves. So, today at 12Noon, when the quartet unleashes the fury of their debut album, Beachcomber’s Windowsill for Cheryl Waters and KEXP, you can listen along anywhere in the world. Or anywhere in the world with ‘net access. Conversely, if you’re a local, you can tune in at 90.3FM, between your trips to Stumptown. Jealous.

And don’t miss the boys tonight live at The Crocodile. A fine day all around.

To hell with Black Friday. We’ll spend November 26 working off our Turducken hangovers at independent record shops.
Why?
Because a handful of participating indie retailers across the nation will be celebrating VIOLET FRIDAY with us by offering you, for one day only, the chance to pick up The National’s High Violet (Expanded Edition) two-disc set for only $7.99!!
Click HERE to find a participating retailer nearest you.
Yea. That’s right.

Indeed, NYC’s favorite trio-featuring-twins Blonde Redhead will soundtrack your Election Day with a live session for WNYC’s Soundcheck show today at 2PM. Their set begins a bit after 2:30PM, but John Schaefer and his Soundcheck gang always make for good listening, so go ahead and tune in right at 2PM. You can click over to their site to listen online or tune that radio to 93.9FM in the NYC area (or 820AM if you’re super old school and don’t care at all about fidelity).

Also, don’t miss Blonde Redhead live this week, playing two shows at Webster Hall tomorrow night and Thursday night.

During their whirlwind visit to NYC earlier this month, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti brought their particular brand of ruckus to Viva Radio’s Naked Fridays, and their guest DJ appearance there can be heard in its full glory today at viva-radio.com/nakedfridays, starting at 4PM EDT. Not only can you hear the gents pick out other people’s songs, you can hear their impromptu keyboard/human beatbox version of instant classic “Round And Round” (from the forthcoming APHG album Before Today, which is conveniently available for pre-order at our webstore).

To celebrate the release of “High Violet,” out TOMORROW (5/11) on 4AD, The National are curating a week’s worth of events at the High Violet Annex — a formerly vacant space next door to Other Music at 14 E. 4th Street in Lower Manhattan.
What kind of events, you ask?
Well you’ll just have to come by and find out.

The Danes are coming! The Danes are coming. Well, they’re here already. And to prove it, Danish wunderkinds Efterklang will perform a live session today on WNYC’s Soundcheck show ahead of their concert tonight at Le Poisson Rouge. The radio show begins at 2PM EST, with the band hitting the airwaves around 2:30PM. Check in out in NYC on 93.9FM or listen online.

KCRW’s fund drive has just finished, but that won’t stop Annie Clark from invading the studio for a Morning Becomes Eclectic session today at 11:15AM PST/2:15 EST. Tune in on 89.9FM (and the assorted repeater frequencies) in Southern California or online and listen to St. Vincent work through songs from Actor, with perhaps a surprise or two thrown in for good measure. And if you haven’t seen the stellar video for the new single “Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood” (starring Fred Armisen and Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein, as well as Annie herself), you should definitely click through on that, as it’s pretty much good times for all.

While making their first trip to these shores since 2006, Norwegian shoegaze titans Serena-Maneesh stopped by Viva Radio to spin some tunes for Naked Fridays. Serena-Maneesh’s Naked Friday has now arrived, and it’s tomorrow, February 5, starting at 4PM EST. Tune in at www.viva-radio.com/nakedfridays.

(photo by Chrissy Piper)

New York gets itself a lot of Mountain Goats action this week. If you weren’t at last night’s sold-out Webster Hall show, you’ll hopefully be at tonight’s sold-out Bell House show. And if you can’t make it to that one either, or if you’re like us and you just can’t get enough Goats, you may want to move it on over to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre tonight for the latest installment of WFMU‘s Seven Second Delay, which will feature a solo performance by the one and only John Darnielle.

The show starts at 6PM, and if you’re too cheap to pay the $5 admission fee or too inconveniently-located to make it, you can always listen at 91.1FM (or 90.1FM if you live in the mysterious “Hudson Valley”), and of course the online-inclined are encouraged to tune in at wfmu.org.

If you’re not hep to the latest Mountain Goats jive, the Best New Music’d The Life Of The World To Come, you can remedy that at our webstore.