= volcano!.

Pretty fucking radical song, "Africa Just Wants To Have Fun." Too bad this video is fucking terrible, a detriment to the song. I'd advise just letting the tunes play and scrolling on, or moving to another window. Seriously. Better yet, listen to it on volcano!'s MySpace page. "So Many Lemons" aint bad either.

Grab a bowl of candy corn leftover from Halloween and chow down as you watch this new video for Reporter's "Lab Test." The video was created by someone/something named Dickbird, along with this paper's esteemed art director, Scrappers, and was filmed inside the Lone Fir Cemetery. There is plenty of dancing throughout, from both (animated) skeletons and (not animated) human beings. If you look closely, I believe you can see the flaccid genitals dangling from one of the skeletons.

I can't believe I get paid money to type sentences like that. Hi, mom!

Since it seems all of Portland is still basking in the Halloween afterglow, Jookabox's latest video for "You Cried Me" seems appropriate. Plus, it's a great video. And a good song. The Indianapolis four-piece (formerly Grampall Jookabox) released its latest Dead Zone Boys today, an album supposedly steeped in zombie lore. Scary.

But not as frightening as Jookabox frontman David Adamson having the word "Moose" attached to his name. And definitely not as horrific as Metallica ham-fistedly plowing through a couple of Kinks classics with Ray Davies.

Woah. Stop what you are doing right this second and... okay, you can finish watching that video of the kitten falling into the garbage can. Done? Okay, good.

Now you must watch this excellent new Ramona Falls video for "I Say Fever." The first video from Brent Knopf's Menomena side project, and his debut Intuit recording, is a beautifully designed clip that features plenty of textured vintage artwork, odd-looking animals (bonus: with weapons!), and a slinky animation style that works perfectly with the song. It was directed by Stefan Nadelman, who previously worked with Knopf and Menomena on their "Evil Bee" video.

If this blog post had a YouTube star rating, I'd give it five stars, or "awesome."

Have I told you about the fantastic Sam Quinn? I have indeed. But dammit, once is not enough—the group from Knoxville is just that good. And they're perfect for these cold, dreary, darkened days. Enjoy.

Nowhere Boy is a film based on the life of John Lennon—I heard it ends well—focusing on his pre-Beatles days, and is based on the book, Imagine This: Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon. The film deals with Lennon's turbulent childhood years and his relationship with his mother. I wonder if those issues were ever resolved? Oh, guess not.

Of course, there is no shortage of Beatles flicks, and 1994's Backbeat already focused on the band's Hamburg days, albeit through the eyes of Stuart Sutcliffe (he's like a dead Pete Best!). Also, it's curious how Nowhere Boy features zero music from Lennon or the Beatles in the trailer. Granted, he wasn't exactly writing Sgt. Pepper as a teenager, but I can't imagine how poor this film will come across without their music in it. It's supposed to open over Christmas in the UK, no word on a domestic opening date.

We're all big fans of San Francisco rock act Girls around here, especially their Iggy-free single "Lust for Life." The original video was cute, but now the band has unleashed a super sexy NSFW version that could have been entered in our Hump contest. Personally, it's a little weird for me since I used to know—not in the biblcal sense—one of the girls in the video.

The song is (still) great, but the video is not recommended office viewing for anyone that doesn't work at either our offices. Unless you work at Hustler.

Link: MBV

The cute Potlatch Presents cooking series heads back into the kitchen with local alt-country act St. Frankie Lee, who whip up a batch of vegan Beef Stroganoff. Yes, such a thing exists!

The overly perky band—calm down, no need to applaud boiling water—clearly knows what they are doing in the kitchen, and the end result looks pretty tasty. Is 11am too early for me to eat lunch?

Not long after its debut at the Doug Fir awhile back, Weinland has finally released the lovely video for “I’m Sure It Helps.” Stuck in tree tops and avoiding the charge of a herd of surly, yet sensitive, buffalo, the band wraps up their video performance (filmed partially inside the Crystal Ballroom) in front of a nice comforting campfire.

Not seen here is the footage of the band slaughtering the buffalo and eating their delicious jerky. Weinland is like the Ted Nugent of Portland music. Their motto: "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang!"

Link: Tripwire

What did my family ever do to Yo La Tengo to make you to hate them so much?

It should go without saying that Yo La Tengo's collaboration with the Mr. Show cast produced the funniest music video ever—personally, I'm a big fan of the Rock School lesson, "Burning Out vs. Fading Away"—and the jokes still hold up over a decade after the release of the "Sugarcube" single and I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One. The band is playing the Crystal Ballroom tonight, and while they might not be as poetic as a reading of the lyrics to Rush's "Closer To The Heart," the band can still hold their own after all these years.

Spike Jonze's new video with Kanye West is a thousand years long in internet time—it clocks in at about 11 minutes—but it's definitely worth sticking with, and it's one more reason why Jonze is one of my favorite directors.

For those keeping track at home, this is Jonze's second video for West, the first being the gorgeous/creepy "Flashing Lights."

Even more shocking than the fact that someone gave Jimmy Fallon his own television show—not just on cable access—is that local band Hockey made an appearance on the NBC program last night. The band performed "Too Fake" and after they finished, Fallon regaled everyone with a hilarious story about the film Fever Pitch. Oh, you just had to be there.

Due to NBC's weird embedded video—or my personal e-tardedness—you have to fast forward to the Hockey performance. Unless you want to hear Fallon's interview with Ivanka Trump.

Trust me, you don't.

You all know the Ice Cream Man, right? He's the merry fellow that rolls into various music festivals and hands out free ice cream. While he never has any chipwichs, it's hard to have issue with a man that gives away ice cream for free.

Well, he also has a video channel where he posts various impromptu performances from his travels, including this Lollapalooza clip that features both Blind Pilot (playing "Two Towns") and the Builders and the Butchers (playing "Black Elevator") performing on a grassy hill.

After playing, both bands ate Flintstones push-up pops (the orange sherbet Barney Rubble flavor was the best) and played freeze tag.

We laughed our asses off and it wasn't the weed.

Sort of ironic that it took solid production to make something suck so hard. But it did. And it was worth it.

Tip of the hat to: Ned Bananaman

Since we're on the Decemberists' payroll—they pay us in the shiniest of doubloons—we're required to post this new video for The Hazards Of Love's "The Rake's Song." The clip was directed by a pair of students from London's St. Martins College (I heard that to attend that school you need to they have "a thirst for knowledge") and features some pretty literal visual interpretations—thanks for that "womb spilling out babies" animation—from the song.

Link:P4K.

HT: Stereogum

Memorial Coliseum, 300 Winning Way, 7:30 pm, $39.50-62.50. Cheap GA seats for the floor are still available.

"When The World Comes To An End"

How much hocketing (the quickly traded, mono-syllabic vocals) can you take?

Probably the better bit can be found on ?uestlove's Twitter page, where the Projectors do a bit for the Roots backstage. One of the Roots members makes a fantastic observation: that hocketing becomes much more amazing when the listener can realize the real stereo imaging, sitting closely to the different singers in a small room and hearing the lines bouncing between there respective sources.

The IFC (sure, why not?) got first crack at posting this new video for the Shaky Hands' "Already Gone." This stop-motion clip was painstakingly assembled by Seattle filmmaker Clyde Petersen, and seems to touch on some environmental themes (polluting smokestacks, logging) in addition to some sea monster themes as well.

One theme not touched on is the video embedding theme, so here is a link since I can't seem to post the clip here. Oh, the Shakies Let It Die album is out today. Buy it or else a yarn creature will do bad things to you.

So I just got back from two years in Korea, the land of soju, kimchi, and amusing attempts to incorporate English into just about everything.

Well, here's a new one. Female pop group HAM (which stands for Heart and Mind and is represented by a spin on the SPAM logo) recently released a music video that's sure to take over the K-airwaves, which songs often do there in a big way. When a group scores a hit, you'll hear the same song everywhere—in taxis, in buses, in department stores, and coming out of the mouths of the people, especially the kids. I imagine it'll be pretty hilarious to hear children singing a song that sounds like "titty dance, titty dance!"

P.S. The "T.T" emoticon is an Asian person crying.

Hat tip to Brian.

Is there an internet video series the Thermals have yet to do? Well, if Dirty Laundry was on your list, cross it out, since the band recorded a laundromat interview for them while washing their clothes. Up next, the band will be interviewed by Keyboard Cat.

Some Days are Better than Others is the Portland-filmed debut from director Matt McCormick that just so happens to star Shins' frontman James Mercer and former Sleater-Kinney guitarist, and celebrity blogger, Carrie Brownstein. The trailer goes online this morning, and... what's that? Am I crying? Um, no, I just got some dust in my eye. Yeah, um, dust. Pollen, too.

Shot primarily in Portland and the surrounding areas, Some Days are Better than Others is a poetic, character-driven independent feature film starring James Mercer, Carrie Brownstein, Renee Roman Nose, and David Wodehouse. A charmingly melancholy look at abandonment, Some Days are Better Than Others asks the question, “Why do the good times slip by so fast while the sad times seem so sticky?” The film thematically explores heartbreak, abandonment, and alternative forms of communication while observing an interweaving web of awkward characters who seem to get kicked down by life time and time again. Above all else, Some Days are Better Than Others is a quirky black comedy about the disposable relics of our always-consuming society. It’s a film about growing up, growing old, and holding on to hope while looking for second chances.

No word on when the film will be released (or when my girlish sobs will stop), but we'll keep you updated.

While the music of Castanets is nothing like that of Japan's Cornelius—the bearded American thing was a dead giveaway—this new video for “On Beginning” (from Texas Rose, The Thaw, & The Beasts, which just so happens to be out today) feels very much like something Cornelius would come up with. It's a gorgeous clip of textural blasts of color and a nice minimalist design aesthetic to accompany the bleak chirps of electronics that pepper the song. I just watched it twice and might go for thirds.

Link: Fader

Jools Holland clearly has a soft spot for Portland talent—both Alela Diane and Hockey recently performed on his show—and the Gossip furthered their UK dominance by appearing on the BBC program last week. The disco-punk quartet did "Love Long Distance," then following an outfit change, "Heavy Cross" (both songs are from the meh Music for Men recording). Ironically, I am wearing the same outfit as Beth Ditto while I type this. How embarrassing.

Link: Prefix