Since the dearly departed Cosby Show went off the air in 1992, actor, comedian, and Jell-O pudding pusher Bill Cosby has become a popular talking head, appearing most recently on MSNBC's Meet the Press to discuss the state of African-American culture in the 21st century:

The much-loved television comedian (and one of the finest positive fatherly role models on any channel, now or then) has been subjected to a plethora of backlash in response to his very public criticism of young African-American males, and in particular to the statements he has made about gangsta rap.

Cosby has been the subject of heavy Internet ridicule as well, and multitudes of videos have been posted on YouTube that depict Photoshopped images of the actor rapping.

But now, Cosby is responding.

The Internet exploded yesterday with the news that a rap album is in the works from the former Ghost Dad himself. The album, entitled State of Emergency according to AllHipHop.com, will focus on social issues like drug abuse, high school dropouts and teenage pregnancy.

Response so far has been unquestionably unpleasant, and it seems that poor Bill is on his way to becoming an Internet joke. Here's to hoping that love for Dr. Huxtable runs deep enough to quash at least some of those critical voices.

Related links:
Paste: Review of The Cosby Show - Season 1 (DVD)
YouTube: 1980's Bill Cosby Jello Pudding Commercial
BillCosby.com

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Legendary British songwriter Billy Bragg will release his new album Mr. Love & Justice April 22 on Anti- Records. And while his fans may have grown a little impatient over the last six years since the release of Bragg’s last album England, Half-English, they’ll have to forgive him when they hear the schedule he’s been keeping.

After collaborating with Wilco in 1998 and releasing an album of unpublished Woody Guthrie songs in 2000, Bragg was commissioned to write new lyrics for Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” The new lyrics were unveiled during a 2007 performance at London’s Royal Festival Hall attended by the Queen herself. Q magazine honored Bragg with its Classic Songwriter Award later that year.

Bragg also celebrated several significant milestones outside of the music world over the past few years. His book The Progressive Patriot was published by Bantam in 2006, and he founded the Jail Guitar Doors, a charity that supplies free guitars to prison inmates, soon after.

Mr. Love & Justice will feature 12 new songs penned by Bragg, backed by his band The Blokes. The Small Faces’ Ian McLagan plays organ and piano, and Robert Wyatt contributes vocals on the album’s first single “I Keep Faith.”

Bragg will be performing several songs from the upcoming album during an Anti- Records showcase March 13 and another showcase at Smokin' Room on March 14 during the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas.

The album’s tracklist is below.

Mr. Love & Justice tracklist:
1. I Keep Faith
2. I Almost Killed You
3. M For Me
4. The Beach Is Free
5. Sing Their Souls Back Home
6. You Make Me Brave
7. Something Happened
8. Mr. Love & Justice
9. If You Ever Leave
10. O Freedom
11. The Johnny Carcinogenic Show
12. Farm Boy

Related links:
BillyBragg.co.uk
Billy Bragg on MySpace
Paste: Billy Bragg Wins Award, Chums Queen, Plans Record

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Atlanta hip-hop staple Brian Knott announced today via Creative Loafing's "Crib Notes" blog that the city's annual A3C festival has confirmed several acts.

Among them are Del the Funky Homosapien (who Paste recently caught up with - Q&A coming soon), fellow Californian Aceyalone, the Cool Kids (who just finished up a national tour with M.I.A.), Guilty Simpson, and Blu & Ta’Raach (aka C.R.A.C.). The festival will take place over a three-day stretch at the CW Midtown Music Complex (AKA: The Loft, Center Stage and Vinyl for you non-ATLiens out there) from March 20 to 22.

Discounts are currently available on three-day passes at TicketAlternative.com, but if you head over to the A3C main page, you can enter for a chance to win the URB magazine ticket giveaway, and score yourself a pair of three-day passes for free. And, as Janet Jackson and Luther Vandross so aptly informed us back in the mid-'90s, the best things in life are free.

The 2007 A3C festival, which took place last April, included both national acts like Strange Fruit Project and 9th Wonder, as well as Atlanta hip-hop favorites Collective Efforts and Psyche Origami. The line-up that Knotts has secured this year further raises the bar on the quality of acts, and boasts not only live music, but fashion shows, panel discussions, art installations and more.

To gear up for the extravaganza, head over here to take a peek at the documentary that Rick Foy produced on the festival last year. Meanwhile, Atlantans can make their calendars on Feb. 16, when The EARL will host the A3C 2008 Preview Night & Dumpsterdive Reunion.

Related links:
2008 A3C Hip Hop Festival on Myspace
A3CFestival.com
YouTube: Collective Efforts @ A3C 2007

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Eight years since her last full-length album, Erykah Badu returns with her next project, New AmErykah. As previously reported, this album will be released in two full-length parts, the first of which hits stores on Badu’s birthday, Feb. 26.

Until then, this video for “Honey” should bate fans’ appetite with yet another story from the books of Baduizm. Following her calling card of amazing concept videos, this one pays homage to local record stores. The video is a series of reverse cameos, with Badu singing through the album covers of classic artists such as Diana Ross, Ohio Players and the Beatles. The concept lovingly spoofs favorites, as well as Andre 3000 in “Hey Ya” and the infamous John Lennon and Yoko Ono 1981 Rolling Stone cover.

Related links:
News: Erykah Badu sweetens new album with ‘Honey’
Stereogum: New Erykah Badu video ‘Honey’
Erykah Badu on MySpace

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Alicia Keys has teamed up with Seattle based media sharing company Treemo to start the As I Am contest to benefit the Keep a Child Alive charity. The contest is going to donate one dollar for every user who signs up, with a limit of $10,000. Based on the Alicia Keys song “Superwoman” off her third studio album, the contest encourages fans to upload a video, picture or text about someone they know as a “Superwoman.”

Aside from being a multiple Grammy winning singer/songwriter, Keys is also the Global Ambassador for KCA, the mission of which is to provide aid to the AIDS-stricken masses in Africa. Currently, KCA is providing care to 20,000 afflicted people. Aside from helping patients directly, KCA also provides care for thousands of children who have lost their parents to AIDS.

Treemo has launched similar contests with Velvet Revolver, Sony Pictures and the non-profit Diamond Empowerment Fund. Unlike other media sharing sites such as YouTube or Flickr, Treemo is based around users’ content from all mediums, including cell phones.

Related links:
AliciaKeys.com
Treemo.com
KeepAChildAlive.org

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Warner Music Group subsidiary Rykodisc is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and will release five free downloads from its catalog each month to commemorate the occasion.

Rykodisc made a name for itself in the early '80s as the first label to release music exclusively in a compact disc format. Founder Jac Holzman was well-known throughout the music industry, and promoted the label as an artist-driven haven for creativity. Today, the label is home to artists including Frank Zappa, Joe Jackson, Morphine and Elf Power.

The label had made strides in the digital and environmental world over the past year by merging digital music developer Cordless Recordings into its operations and announcing the release of several albums this year packaged in eco-friendly “green” packaging.

Five free downloads will be added to Rykodisc.com on the 25th of each month. The first five downloads, available now, highlight the label’s history of international music. Featured artists include Nigeria's King Sunny Ade, guitarists Ali Farka Toure & Ry Cooder, and Toumani Diabate.

Related links:
JoeJackson.com
FrankZappa.com
ElfPower.com

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Group dynamics

Reviews of Bass Cathedral—the fourth installment in Nathaniel Mackey’s apparently endless series of epistolary novels of the avant-garde jazz world—will surely compare the 2006 National Book Award-winning author’s writing to the free-form musical genre that’s its subject.

This would be tiresome if it weren’t so clearly Mackey’s intent.

With bursts of alliteration, clusters of compound nouns, dangling prepositions, and the personification-by-apostrophization of a host of abstract concepts, Mackey succeeds in doing with language what his narrator N.’s favorite musicians—Coltrane, Sun Ra and Ornette Coleman—do with sound.

With jazz positioned as a kind of ur-text (the foundation for all other forms of expression), Mackey uses the recent adventures of his fictional sextet, Molimo m’Atet, to describe a world where “wholeness finds fault with itself” and “a part is more than a part.”

Amazing greys

The debut short-story collection by Australian writer Cate Kennedy—first introduced to Americans in a New Yorker story last year—exudes melancholy. You can almost see her characters’ preferred grey tones as they meander through various states of isolation, confusion and loss.

Stories frequently unfold with a lethargic tenor and a recounting of daily routines that lead to alarming decisions (murder, poisoning a spouse). Kennedy wishes these eruptions to seem logical and inevitable, a device that works well in “A Pitch Too High for the Human Ear.”

At her best, the English-born Kennedy allows us to peak into one side of an unraveling relationship—a disintegrating marriage, a deflowered lesbian affair, a May-December romance, and a refugee woman thrust into and out of motherhood.

Dark Roots could use a few more highlights like “Habit” and “The Testosterone Club,” where Kennedy’s understated humor and sarcasm seem like rays of light in her unrelenting greyscapes.

With all the hubbub around this year's Sundance, it's easy to forget that some of the most critically acclaimed films from Sundance 2007 still haven't made it to theaters, despite getting picked up by studios. The best example of this is Son of Rambow, the second film by the British director/producer team Hammer and Tongs, aka Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith. Despite a warm reception in festivals throughout 2007, the film seemed destined to be forgotten.

Luckily, though, the feature will finally see a release through Paramount Vantage later this year. While it's Hammer and Tongs' second feature, they in fact began working on it years ago and put the project on hold so they could shoot The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Check it out in high-definition here or see it below:

The film follows two children making their own film inspired by the original Rambo, as opposed to a review of the new Rambo like one of their peers. Son of Rambow hits U.S. theaters on May 2.

Related links:
Paste: Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Lo-Fi Sci-Fi
Tongsville.com
IMDB: Garth Jennings

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We don't usually write these things until they are 100%, set-in-stone facts, but this story just seems too good to wait. Earlier this week, it was announced that Guillermo del Toro, whose Pan's Labyrinth both frightened and moved audiences in 2006, is in talks to direct The Hobbit and its sequel. A film clip translated by fansite TheOneRing.net then announced that Toro had moved beyond that phase, saying, "Today it is our pleasure to announce something that everyone was hoping for, Guillermo will direct The Hobbit." Fanboys worldwide, commence rejoicing.

Toro's name had been previously thrown around, as well as Sam Raimi and Toro's friend Alfonso Cuaron, but up until now nothing had been made official. Granted, it still technically isn't, but the facts are coming closer to fruition. According to "an insider" who spoke with TheOneRing.net, things are 99% done and it's just the actual contract signing that's being delayed by the WGA strike.

As previously reported, Peter Jackson will be producing the two films, which cover The Hobbit and the time leading up to the Lord of the Rings series. Toro, in fact, spoke with Jackson previously and said, ”I met Peter and Fran [Walsh, Jackson's wife] when we were trying to do Halo. I think what they’re doing in New Zealand is amazing. What they’re doing, in terms of the way they approach filmmaking — the way I see it is, it’s Hollywood the way God intended it." With Toro and Jackson working together on The Hobbit, it sounds like it'll be Tolkien adapted the way God intended it as well.

Related links:
Paste: Jackson producing District 9
Guillermo del Toro on IMDB
TheOneRing.net fansite

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As if we haven't covered Brooklynites Grizzly Bear enough in the past week or so, more news has flown in via a little bird (that we fondly call "Press Release") that the quartet will co-headline a show with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on March 1.

Although they won't play together at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Philharmonic will perform pieces chosen to mirror what has inspired Grizzly Bear, and the band will play a regular set with songs from Yellow House.

Tickets are $24-$34 and went on sale here last Saturday (Feb. 2). Not too shabby for a genre-crossing show, eh?

Related links:
Grizzly-Bear.net
Grizzly Bear on MySpace
Paste: Band of the Week - Grizzly Bear

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Looking for a way to numb your butt somewhere other than on the couch and be the only person in your office and/or circle of friends who can pontificate authoritatively about all five of this year's Best Picture nominees?

Well, AMC Theatres has a seat waiting for you on Saturday, Feb. 23, when they'll screen Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood, Atonement, Juno and No Country for Old Men one after another during the chain's annual Best Picture Showcase. (Speaking of those five specific films, take a gander just to the left of this parenthetical aside to cast your vote in Paste's latest poll, please and thank you.)

If this sounds too good to be true already, peep the deets: Showcase attendees get a collectible pass that allows them to leave the theater and return at any point(s) during the day, plus a free large popcorn (complete with unlimited refills)...all for $30.

Of course, this year's nominees aren't exactly the sunshiniest films and you might get a heart attack at some point during the third movie from consuming all that faux butter, but, but...thirty dollars! That's barely even three regularly-priced movies—not counting snacks!

Visit the official AMC Best Picture Showcase page for the marathon schedule and a complete listing of participating cities, and thanks to Entertainment Weekly's Popwatch for tipping us off about this wondrous way to blow 12+ hours of our respective lives.

Related links:
AMC: 2008 Best Picture Showcase
Paste Culture Club: Ellen Page and Diablo Cody of Juno
Paste: Baby on Board—The birth of Juno

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For as impressive as Conan O'Brien and David Letterman’s furry faces were, in these dry days it's refreshing to see striking writers channeling their energies into less hirsute, more directly entertaining endeavors. Take one Mr. B.J. Novak, for example. Better known as temp-turned-corporate-shill Ryan from NBC's The Office, Novak recently announced a smattering of (read: four) college campus tour dates via his MySpace page. (By the way, his Top 4 friends are way funnier than yours.)

On the heels of his recent appearance at Boston's Northeastern University (you go, Kappa Sig!), he’ll make stops at the College of William and Mary (tonight), George Washington University, Georgia Tech and Northwestern University throughout the month of February. Although we're hoping the appearances will be less awkward than Michael Scott's visit to Ryan's business class, we certainly will not begrudge him the use of candy bars for gratuitous instructional tools.

Event details vary by school, so you’ll want to check specifics for yourself. It’s likely that some, if not all, of the events will be students-only. But just like Kelly Kapoor, true Dunderheads will likely stop at nothing to get with Ryan(/B.J.)—especially as the strike drags on into infinity.

Thanks to PopCandy for the tip!

Catch him if you can:

February:
1 – Williamsburg, Va. @ College of William and Mary
8 – Washington, DC @ George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium
14 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Georgia Tech
16 – Evanston, Ill. @ Northwestern University

Related links:
B.J. Novak on MySpace.com
Writers' Guild of America On Strike
Paste: WGA reaches compromise with Grammy Awards

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

From one of the happiest countries in the world comes a rather melancholy album. Peter Morén sheds his two partners to bring a much more low key and acoustic sound than he did as part of the widely acclaimed Swedish indie trio Peter Bjorn and John. A product of more than two years' worth of recording and mixing in U.S. and Swedish apartments and studios, The Last Tycoon will come out April 8 on Quarterstick Records. When asked about the album's lyrics, Morén—the same lyricist of Peter Bjorn and John's breakout hit Writer’s Block—described it as “the usual lyrical psychobabble, but with a direct and honest approach.”

Morén is also set to play at the South By Southwest Festival in March and will tour several nearby cities.

Related links:
Peter Morén's MySpace
Paste: One third of Peter Bjorn and John goes solo
Paste: Peter Bjorn and John talk new instruments

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Director: John Sayles
Writer: John Sayles
Cinematographer: Dick Pope
Starring: Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Stacy Keach, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Gary Clark Jr., Yaya DaCosta
Studio/Running Time: Emerging Pictures, 123 mins.

"I want you to bring along your rockin’ shoes
Cause tonight I’m gonna rock away all our blues
I heard the news, there’s good rockin’ tonight."
-Roy Brown “Good Rockin’ Tonight”

Take a bigoted white sheriff (Stacy Keach) who is at odds with an independent minded black man (Danny Glover), put them in a small town in 1950s Alabama with the ironic name of Harmony, and you might expect some dramatic conflict. But Honeydripper turns out to be quite tame. The film makes up for it, however, with some fascinating characters and brief insights into the transition from southern blues music to early rock 'n' roll.

Glover plays Tyrone “Pine Top” Purvis, proprietor of the failing Honeydripper Lounge. Pine Top makes one last stand by hiring popular recording artist Guitar Sam in hopes of packing the house and saving the club. While making preparations, a drifter named Sonny (real life blues guitarist and singer Gary Clark Jr.) shows up with a guitar but is intercepted by the sheriff and railroaded into picking cotton to pay off a trumped-up charge of vagrancy.

Writer/director John Sayles, who penned two of the pioneering independent films—Passion Fish and Lone Star—of the nineties, shows his adept eye for colorful characterization in Honeydripper, and the performances from his outstanding cast are what make the film so engaging. Clark’s screen debut is especially impressive considering that he doesn’t truly show his prowess as an entertainer until the end of the film. And Yaya DaCosta, who plays Tyrone’s daughter China Doll, is absolutely charming. In another brilliant casting decision, the great bluesman Keb’ Mo’ appears periodically as a blind, slide guitar playing ghost who offers up advice to Tyrone and Sonny.

Unfortunately, every time a potentially volatile scene gives this great cast an opportunity to let loose, Sayles’ script reins them in. The relationship between Tyrone and the sheriff, for example, could have exploded into a period representation of Southern racism. Instead, Sayles chooses to play down the bigotry, giving the sheriff more bark than bite. At times, the film feels more like a movie of the week. In fact, it would make an interesting series, picking up where the acclaimed I’ll Fly Away left off. But in spite of its harnessed drawbacks, the character-driven Honeydripper is a sweet little treat.

Click here to read the Film Clips article about Honeydripper from issue 39, featuring an interview with director John Sayles.

View the trailer for Honeydripper:

Hometown: Chicago, Ill.
Fun Fact: With multiple members holding college degrees in math, Mahjongg has composed music in every time signature that is a prime number, up to 23.
Why It's Worth Watching: The post-post-rockers unite organic and cutting-edge technological elements to create eminently danceable sounds that are unlike anything else.
For Fans Of: Can, Gang of Four, Remain in Light-era Talking Heads, Battles

The back cover of Mahjongg's latest album, Kontpab, doesn't deliver much immediate information. There is no tracklisting, no band member names, not even a copyright date—just a monochrome graphic that resembles TV static.

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, writers of last year’s Beatles-inspired musical Across the Universe, are working on a new animated film. This time, though, they’re setting their sights on the music of another legendary 60’s rock band – the Rolling Stones.

The film, titled Ruby Tuesday, tells the story of a single mother searching for happiness in New York City. Clement and La Franais finished writing songs for the film well before the Writers Guild of America strike began last November, though plans to start production on the film next month have been put on hold until the writers return to work.

Like most animated films, the duo said that Ruby Tuesday would probably take several years to complete. The film will feature a “pretty hip” style of CGI animation, and will be made in Paris, La Frenais told MovieWeb.com. While the film will not be rated R, he said that it will not be marketed toward children. “Obviously, this is not just a kiddy film,” he said. “You can’t do the Stones and think it will just be for kids.”

Stones’ frontman Mick Jagger signed on to produce the film back in 2006, and 12 of the band’s songs will be featured in the project. Brothers Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi (Walt Disney’s Enchanted and Fantasia 2000) are slated to direct.

Shout out to The Playlist for the tip!

Related links:
Paste: Rolling Stones Documentary Shine A Light
RollingStones.com
IMDB: Across the Universe

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Bet Travis Morrison is sick of his name always being preceded or followed by the words "former Dismemberment Plan frontman." Unfortunately, that's what happens when you're part of the best band of the '90s (sorry, every other band).

Morrison's second solo album (and his first with new band The Hellfighters), All Y'all, is still streaming on his website, long after last year's Aug. 21 release on Barsuk.

After last April's D-Plan benefit reunion shows, Morrison quietly shoved All Y'all into the world with just a tiny East Coast tour behind it. He'll remedy the situation by cutting a wide swath across America this winter, letting his "Freak" (as in "You Make Me Feel Like A...") flag fly in every region but the Northwest.

"Catch Up" with Morrison on tour:

February
23 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Union Hall (Brooklyn Next Festival) !


March
7 - Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Garfield Artworks 

9 - Chicago, Ill. @ Subterranean 

10 - Minneapolis, Minn. @ 7th Street Entry 

11 - Lawrence, Kan. @ Jackpot Saloon 

12 - Denver, Colo. @ Larimer Lounge 

13 - Salt Lake City, Utah @ Kilby Court 

14 - Boise, Idaho @ Neurolux 

20 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Rickshaw Stop *

22 - Las Vegas, Nev. @ Beauty Bar 

25 - Austin, Texas @ The Mohawk 

27 - Tallahassee, Fla. @ The Beta Bar

! - w/A Sunny Day in Glasgow

* - w/Facing New York

Related links:
TravisMorrison.com
Stereogum: Quit Your Day Job - Travis Morrison
Video: PETA gives Travis Morrison a Perfect 10

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Yesterday, the Eels announced via both their Myspace blog and their website that their winter/spring tour has been extended to include dates on the shores of the continental United States.

Now Eels fans in the U.S. no longer have to be jealous of people in Europe. (Well, at least not for their ability to see the Eels in concert. Depending on what happens come November, we may have plenty of other reasons to be jealous of them, outside of music. Sigh.)

This announcement comes on the tail of not one, but two releases, put out by the band on January 15, Meet the Eels: Essential Eels, which was their first greatest hits compilation, and Useless Trinkets, a DVD/CD collection complete with essays, photos, and lead singer Mark Oliver Everett's track notes, as well as his commentary on each of the Eels videos.

Get ready for the upcoming tour with the following video. The production quality is truly astounding! (OK, so maybe it's not.) However, it does feature Bobby Jr., Everett's awesome singing dog!

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue:

March
28 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ First Unitarian Church
29 - Washington, D.C. @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
31 - Boston, Mass. @ Somerville Theatre

April
1 - New York, N.Y. @ Highline Ballroom
2 - New York, N.Y. @ Highline Ballroom
4 - Toronto, Ontario @ The Mod
5 - Detroit, Mich. @ Majestic Theatre
6 - Chicago, Ill. @ Park West
7 - Minneapolis, Minn. @ Pantages Theatre
9 - Boulder, Colo. @ Fox Theatre
11 - Seattle, Wash. @ Showbox Theatre
13 - Portland, Ore. @ Wonder Ballroom
14 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Palace Of Fine Arts
16 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ El Rey Theater

Related links:
Bobby, Jr., the talented singing dog, on MySpace
EelsTheBand.com
Eels on Myspace

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Rootsy garage rock plus cheerful irreverence equals big fun

It takes nerve to cover a Kinks classic and make it your own, but Atlanta’s Anna Kramer meets the challenge with audacity to spare on her terrific second album, belting out “Got My Feet on the Ground” with the same defiant exuberance Dave Davies displayed more than four decades ago. That unsinkable spirit also informs her bracing originals, which employ everything from smoldering power-trio noise (“When You See Him”) to spiffy Bo Diddley beats (“Da Da Rock”) and a spooky banjo/organ tandem (“Death Comes Knocking at My Door”). Supported by bassist Shannon Mulvaney (Magnapop) and drummer Adam Renshaw (The Forty-Fives), Kramer is a charismatic yet down-to-earth bandleader whose clear, forthright voice and concise guitar playing rely more on taste and finesse than pure power. While Kramer may well go on to weightier achievements, she couldn’t be much more engaging than she is here.

Former Jayhawks frontman releases first-ever solo album

Gary Louris is one of the unsung heroes of contemporary roots music. His band The Jayhawks made one of alt.country’s landmark albums, 1992’s stately Hollywood Town Hall, and since then he has collaborated with a range of artists including Jeff Tweedy, Rhett Miller, The Sadies and the Dixie Chicks. Strangely, Vagabonds is his first solo album, shuffling onto shelves some 20 years into his career and three years since the (permanent?) dissolution of The Jayhawks. All of the Louris hallmarks are present: the low-key choruses on “Omaha Nights” and “D.C. Blues”; the dusty harmonies of “True Blue” and “Meandering”; the country-rock hooks of “She Only Calls Me On Sundays” and the title track. Certainly, Vagabonds sounds warmly familiar, but over 10 tracks, the album settles into a genial lull that even the punchy “I Wanna Get High” can’t rouse. Too low-key to rival his best work, the album nevertheless serves as a reminder of Louris’ continued relevance.

Haunted Ouija boards, Byzantine chord changes, all sullied by the funk

Since the splitting of At the Drive-In’s emo-atom into the separate components of Sparta and The Mars Volta, the latter has proven the more radioactive and unstable element. Comprised primarily of guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and belter Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the band has been prolific in the 21st century, emitting four sprawling full-lengths, two EPs and a live album. But The Mars Volta is nothing if not maddening—a starburst of modern-rock effulgence buried under wankery and overindulgence.

While previous albums were riddled with questionable genre infatuations, tours with the Red Hot Chili Peppers have added a new bad habit: The Mars Volta now revels in the funk. The band bursts out of the gate on The Bedlam in Goliath with the fast and furious “Aberinkula,” but it’s not long before slap bass derails all momentum. The band locks back in, though, with an incandescent guitar solo at song’s end leading into “Metatron,” a dizzying rock whorl.

Overstuffed with glitches, vocal falsettos and field recordings of bazaars and mosque prayers; rubbery bass and processed horns, Bedlam has certain stretches that are exhilarating—with a furious lead from Rodriguez-Lopez, a soaring vocal line from Bixler-Zavala or a thunderous drum roll all collating into something exquisite. But even the highest highs soon crash and dissipate, wallowing once more in a proggy bog.

Slip on those boat shoes, duck under that chandelier, and dash to your record store! (Careful, don't get your shirt all wrinkly.) Vampire Weekend, that collection of smartly-dressed, Afro-pop-playing Columbia University kids, finally released its debut album Tuesday via XL Recordings.

To celebrate this momentous and long-awaited occasion (we've christened it Vampire Week), Paste offers you a video tribute to Vampire Weekend:

First, see our Video of the Day from Dec. 10, "Mansard Roof."

Second, watch decidedly the most charming video from the new album, "A-Punk." (Hats, scarves, fish gloves, flashing lights...what more could you want in a video?)

And last, but certainly not least, La Blogotèque's Take-Away Shows recently gave Vampire Weekend a prestigious spot among the laundry list of enviable musicians they've featured with their beautiful Vincent Moon-directed videos. The three live performances they filmed on buses, strolling sidewalks and turning courtyards to concert halls, can be watched here. Songs performed include "Mansard Roof," "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance," "Walcott" and "One" in their entirety, but the videos also include snatches of other songs in between, like "Oxford Comma."

As if that wasn't enough, the quartet also appeared on NPR's World Cafe with David Dye Jan. 24. You can listen to the show at NPR.org.

A flurry of press has surrounded the pointy-fanged and Oxford-shirted group as they've toured solo and behind some impressive headliners over the past year. The roar has reached a new pitch with the band's self-titled debut. With several rave reviews (including ours) under the band's collective belt, Vampire Weekend is riding the hype waves to a couple dozen Nor