Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs Bad Arms

A beautiful, powerful breakup song off this Scottish band's tremendous sophomore album.

MP3 Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs Bad Arms (from 2008's The Midnight Organ Fight)

Jeff Mangum - Two-Headed Boy (live at the Knitting Factory, NYC, in 1998)

Wow. The intensity that is Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel. No wonder people throw fits every time he appears to sing backup at an Olivia Tremor Control or Elf Power show. Come back Jeff!

Girls - Lust for Life

You have to hand it to San Francisco's Girls. With perhaps the least Google-able band name possible, they have nonetheless ascended to the top of the search results. This song is a good example of their retro sound. They most often get compared to the Beach Boys and are certainly as melodic but also much noisier. Right now the band is famous mostly for its frontman Christopher Owens' (right, above) having grown up in the cult Children of God.

Note: this is not an Iggy Pop cover!

Girls - Lust for Life (from 2009's Album)

Lou Barlow - Gravitate

Catchy single from Lou's new solo record. He is the bass player and writes the introspective lyrics for Dinosaur, Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion.

MP3 Lou Barlow - Gravitate (from 2009's Goodnight Unknown)

Here We Go Magic - Fangela

Here We Go Magic is the moniker of young singer-songwriter Luke Temple from magical Salem, Massachusetts, who also performs under his own name.

MP3 Here We Go Magic - Fangela (from 2009's Here We Go Magic)

The Antlers - Two

It's been TOO LONG since we've featured a new Brooklyn band, so here are the Antlers with the tune Sirius XMU's been playing off their 2009 LP, Hospice. Record gets an 8.5 from Pitchfork.

MP3 The Antlers - Two (from 2009's Hospice)

Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen

I know this is old (2007) and already a car commercial, but the song just keeps sounding better and better to me. From Toronto, these guys use real instruments and children's toys to make electronic-sounding sounds without using computers. Pretty cool!

Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen (from 2007's LP)

Vampire Weekend - Horchata

Because I just love it and can't wait for the new album! (Bert's birthday, January 12th)...

MP3 Vampire Weekend - Horchata (from 2010's Contra)

The Flaming Lips - Watching the Planets live on Conan

Absolutely hilarious and who doesn't wanna bang that gong? Funniest live rock show I ever saw, well worth the price of admission. New double LP getting fantastic reviews.

MP3 The Flaming Lips - Watching the Planets (from 2009's Embryonic, featuring Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

The Beatles vs Radiohead

So let us review...this week the Beatles' remastered albums were reissued and reviewed by Pitchfork, who rated them as follows:

1963 Please Please Me 9.5
1963 With the Beatles 8.8
1964 A Hard Day’s Night 9.7
1964 Beatles for Sale 9.3
1965 Help! 9.2
1965 Rubber Soul 10.0
1966 Revolver 10.0
1967 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 10.0
1967 Magical Mystery Tour 10.0
1968 The Beatles (the white album) 10.0
1969 Yellow Submarine 6.2
1969 Abbey Road 10.0
1970 Let It Be 9.1

Compare these numbers to the numbers for Radiohead, the most critically acclaimed band of the last 15 years:

1993 Pablo Honey 5.4
1995 The Bends 10.0
1997 OK Computer 10.0
2000 Kid A 10.0
2001 Amnesiac 9.5
2003 Hail to the Thief 8.6
2007 In Rainbows 9.7

In their 8 years of recording together, the Beatles put out 12 studio albums (not including the soundtrack to Yellow Submarine, which Pitchfork rightfully calls the "only minor album" of their career), including the double white album. They released at least one album every one of those years, and most years they released TWO. In contrast, in 18 years of recording, Radiohead have put out just seven studio albums, and no doubles.

Now I love me some Radiohead, but there is no overestimating the significance of the Beatles' catalog on popular music.

Of course there is a major difference between the bands. After 1965, the Beatles were strictly a studio outfit. They did not tour or perform live at all (except for that rooftop last-gasp thing), which gave them lots of time to write and record. Bands can no longer pull this off and are now forced to tour relentlessly, as recorded music is something most people don't pay for anymore.