If you’re one of the 42 million people that have fallen in love with our recent Hotbox at the Levi’s/FADER Fort video series, it’s possible you’ve forgotten (or never knew) that we used to film bands letting loose in front of our fireplace, too. We did. And yes, have a website and a fireplace. In Manhattan. Lissie, recent Fat Possum signee and acquirer of our tender hearts, rambled on by last week before playing a Mercury Lounge show the very same night. She’s a little bit Loretta Lynn, a little bit Veronica Bennett, but mostly just really really good. Check out “I Don’t Know,” “Wedding Bells” and “Everywhere I Go” below, then scour your town, city or village for a copy of her new Why You Runnin’ EP.

If you’ve heard anything from the San Francisco’s Dominant Legs, then you too are probably rediscovering that itch for Tracy Chapman and the heart massage her vocals proffer. While some kids are turning to muddy guitar riffs and beachy keen melodies, it’s nice to know Mr. Legs’ head resides in a time when vocals were dominant. Har. That and lights were used with purpose during music video shoots. See what we mean above.

What does one do when they need to “break free” you ask? Well, Freddie Mercury slips on his finest cleaning-the-house garb and dances around between fabulous tableaux scenes of housewife gone leather-pants-clad and shirtless human beast eating grapes with stage smoke and backup dancers. If there were such a thing as human print, then this video would be a great representation of just that.

When Florence and her acoustic machine came through the Levi’s®/FADER Fort at the Ace Hotel last month, she was wearing 6-inch heels, which unfortunately in the clips below you cannot see. HOWEVER, trust us when we tell you the following: she was both tall and awesome. Check our visual recaps of “Dog Days” and the ever-so-singable, “You’ve Got The Love” below.

It’s 5 o’clock on a Wednesday, and we’re all in need of a little push to get us over the old hump day. So how’s a little OMD to jump start your generator? This little gem is great for when you’re about to do something really important and scientific, like programming the clock on your VCR or taking a test or writing a blog post. Sure, the repeating (and awesome) keyboard riff sounds a little like the theme from The Exorcist, but that only makes sitting at our desks that much more intense.

The Temper Trap not only stirred things up in our backyard this summer, but they excited and maybe confused everyone at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort by playing one of our favorites, “Sweet Disposition” and the appropriately named, “Fader”. Even amid the din, frontdude Dougy Mandagi sounds like an angel!

Big Troubles is Ian and Alex, two guys from Ridgewood, New Jersey looking to give you a sonic shoulder rub if you can stand it. Just as their fellow Ridgewoodians Real Estate tend to dunk theirs underwater, Ian and Alex blanket most melodies in loads of fuzz and distortion. Lots of kids are doing it these days, few are doing it as well as these two. Check ”Freudian Slips” and “Drastic and Difficult” below.

Director Stephanie di Guiusto made good use of Jarvis Cocker’s string cheese build when she shot the below clip for the former Pulp frontman’s “Further Complications” video. The song’s got an awfully jagged edge, but the visual is as goofily understated as one might hope. Check it out.

Over the past few years, the men of Brand New have been shedding their pop-punk past with every new release. With great success. “Bought A Bride” is a cut from their fine new full-length Daisy, a mid-tempo beauty frontman Jesse Lacey actually penned during a recent tour. Below is an exclusive video of the Long Island rockers taking it for a spin in the studio. Keep it close and if you can, check the band out when they play Nassau Coliseum on November 28th.

To conclude our three day flight through the many orbital rings of Real Estate, we’ve got a strummer from bassist Alex Bleeker and his Freaks. You might recognize some of them from Hotbox videos past. Judging by “Never Goin’ Back”’s titular refrain, Bleeker loves summer  just as much as his bandmates do. Memories.

About thirty seconds after Real Estate had finished paddling through the jams we shared with you yesterday, guitarist Matthew Mondanile asked his friends to back him in acoustic, pedal-less renditions of two Ducktails songs to which we most likely air soloed during Mondanile’s killer set at the Group Tightener party one week ago yesterday. Can’t be too sure, we drink beers. The very beautiful “House of Mirrors” and “Backyard” are below!

If there’s one band you should see live right now it’s Real Estate. The oft-buzzed about North Jersey quartet have become the most vibrant and aurally rewarding live bands to come out of the beach-fi set, that growing number of young bands whose music labels like Woodsist and Underwater Peoples have been catapulting into the musicnerdiverse with alarming frequency these days. It’s why we were so thrilled to have them by for an acoustic set in our Ace Hotel bathroom at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort last week, all three of the songs they slung handpicked from their forthcoming full-length. Kick your feet up.

Why, hello there. Have you heard this new band out of Florida, Surfer Blood? You, like the New York Times‘ Jon Pareles, may have seen them play one of 124 shows last week during CMJ. And you, like us, might have also found their 737-sized pop swells just what you needed to get through that very same week. On Friday, they rumbled over to our hotel suite at the Ace Hotel aka The Levi’s®/FADER Fort and supplied us with some acoustic re-imaginings of “Swim (To Reach The End)” and “Catholic Pagans,” two cuts from a full-length that’s been blaring from our hi-fi and shower stereo since: Astro Coast. That’ll be out on January 10th via Kanine. For now, please enjoy the memories below.

Despite a full CMJ plate and frontman Joseph D’Agostino’s head cold blues, Cymbals Eat Guitars took the time to do things right in our bathroom at the Ace Hotel bka The Levi’s®/FADER Fort. Though the foursome obviously stripped things down, it’s still easy to get a gut-level feel for all the squalid dynamic changes that populate their late 90s indie rock vibes. All that should be most evident in the magic we’re sharing below, two acoustic takes on album cuts “Plainclothes” and “Some Trees,” as well as a cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s heartpounder “Two-headed Boy, Pt. 2.”

As quickly as Portland has loped its way into the cerebral cortex of all things indie rock in the past few years, we’re not sure we’ve seen as accurate and gorgeous distillation of that spot’s energy until this came along. Folk outfit Weinland have taken to animated trees (though sadly not Douglas-firs) here to strum out their wares in this Daniel Fickle-directed clip for “I’m Sure It Helps,” a serving of melancholia that couldn’t have been crafted or broadcast from anywhere else.

Former FADER cover star, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson stormed through Suite 501 yesterday at the Ace Hotel/Levi’s®/FADER Fort, disrobing and re-robing before finally settling into some acoustic restylings of “The Debtor” and “Losing 4 Winners.” While the former’s an older jam that still gives us chills, the latter is a cut from MBAR’s excellent new full-length Summer of Fear, a record you’ll be hearing much more about from us in the very near future. In the meantime, behold the following:

(FULL DISCLOSURE: Joe Tirabassi has contributed to the Tripwire.) Darlings have been slowly turning heads in Brooklyn for a while, playing shows at packed loft parties and getting a good deal of hype from Brooklyn based blogs. I only mention Brooklyn because, well, Darlings are a very local band, in the best way possible, and the new video for “Teenage Girl,” composed of footage Darling Joe Tirabassi shot at a Fourth of July party in Williamsburg, firmly implants that notion. At the same time, “Teenage Girl,” which references Sticky Fingers and Rubber Soul, is the sort of jangly pop song that has no regional identity. If anything, its what happens when kids raised on the Beatles, the Stones and the Kinks start to make their own tunes. Only these kids were also raised on Is This It? A bit shambolic, both the song and the video have that Zack Morris just hit the Pause button and the world has stopped feel. Incidentally, Darlings were named one of SPIN’s 25 Must-Hear Artists from the CMJ Festival and are playing a bunch of shows around on their NYC turf this week. If all goes as planned, they’ll be playing a lot more locales in the not-so-distant future.

CMJ Shows

10.21 New York, NY @ Cake Shop w/ ZAZA, Turbo Fruits, and more (CMJ – Terrorbird showcase) (afternoon)
10.21 Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands w/ Boogie Boarder (CMJ) (night)
10.24 Brooklyn, NY @ Don Pedro’s (CMJ – Impose/Famous Class afternoon BBQ)

Did someone say road trip? or chicken? DOL LOL!

This one goes out to little Falco? Wait, that dude’s name is Falcon?He was in the attic the whole time?!? IN A BOX?!?

Hey Doublemint people, you blew it. This was your jam and you totally blew it.

Amazing Baby have been on a wild ride lately…a BOAT RIDE that is! We caught up with the dudes and took some pics while they got goofy unfurling their new single, “Supreme Being.” This typhoon of an electro-jam can be found FOR FREE only on GreenLabelSound.com. Which reminds us: Amazing Baby will be playing a GreenLabelSound show at Brooklyn Bowl on October 23rd with the likes of Chromeo, Theophilus London and Solid Gold as well as a DJ set by Holy Ghost! Check the good times above and RSVP here while you still can!

Are you smiling yet?

I mean, if this doesn’t make you want to go all Gordy from “Stand By Me” and dance around in your room with your pup, showing off all your odds and ends and trinkets and tronkets, then I just don’t know what will. I really don’t.

Did anyone realize that a) this video had an opening non-musical sequence and b) it stars Elijah Wood beating his headphones into his head complaining that he couldn’t hear THIS VERY SONG? Young Wood, what are you doing in this most underrated Cranberries jam?

Did you know that at one point in recent history there was a whole subgenre of English bands that looked and sounded like Jesus Jones and EMF but weren’t nearly as popular? Like floppy hair and double bass and everything. Oh really, you knew that did you. Liar. Well did you know that said subgenre was known as Baggy? Oh you knew that too! Well great. Did you know that we used to draw Ned’s Atomic Dustbin’s logo—a biohazard sign inside a, um, snot blob—all over our notebooks. Ha! You didn’t DID YOU.

Check out this computer generated clip for “Californication,” a relatively new downtempo rocker from LA alt-funk up-and-comers Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“And for like ten minutes she would just do these fucking amazing animal yelps and screams and growling and all this shit.”

Now it makes sense. Wayne was referring to Karen’s O’s magical mystery vocals in this new Lips song, “I Can Be A Frog” off their upcoming album, Embryonic.

4 syllables go a long way.

“Black Swan” straight from their Jagjaguwar release, Dragonslayer. Video directed by Throneboogie. This video is epic and awesome and wins the ‘Best usage of the itunes visualizer since 2004′ award.

By now I’m sure Ray Concepcion is a familiar-ish, household name. If not, then watch this video and familiarize yourself with the dude’s dreamcicle visual styling, a genuinely perfect fit for Ducktails‘ beautiful guitar bliss-outs.

How about….Thank you Mike Aho, for bringing back the split screen. It’s like two videos in one! Watch out for Will Oldham when he makes his appearance at the arcade. Fresh to death.

Cass McCombs’ Catacombs is one of our favorite records of the year thus forth.  This Aaron Brown-directed clip for “The Executioner’s Song” is its most recent to surface. Side note: how cute are those sheep when they run in slow-mo like that? Fuck, this video is sad and beautiful.

Jay Reatard knows how to piss on a party. Could do without the clown, though. And what is that cute purple monster rumpling around in the background? Where can we get one of him?

Sally Shapiro sings like an angel who married a bird. The Paul Leeny & David Loom-directed clip for “Love in July,” a light cut from the Swedish disco chanteuse’s new full-length “My Guilty Pleasure,” just so happens to include whale clouds-turned-whales and irrepressibly cute flying fish. It’s like watching an aquatic Homeward Bound on acid.  Wait, wouldn’t that be Finding Nemo?

Check out Free Energy’s debut video for “Free Energy”. It is happy and free and energetic and fun and will guaranteed make you smile and entice you to grow your hair out all at the same time. Catch the boys this fall at a city near you:

8.26.09 Philadelphia, PA @ XPN Session
8.28.09 Brooklyn, NY @ After the Jump Festival at Littlefield
8.31.09 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
9.1.09 Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox
9.2.09 Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
9.3.09 Iowa City, IA @ The Music Mill
9.4.09 Madison, WI @ UW Madison Memorial Terrace
9.5.09: Minneapolis, MN @ Clapperclaw Festival -Intermedia Arts
9.8.09 Milwaukee, WI @ Mad Planet
9.9.09 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
9.10.09 Buffalo, NY @ Sound Lab
9.11.09 Philadelphia, PA @ Making Time @ Pure
9.12.09 New London, CT @ I Am Festival – Waterfront Park

Straight from the horse’s mouth, aka Nathan Williams’ blog:

This is a rough live mix from how the song will be when it’s finished but once it’s done the track WILL be on the next record. Lyrically/Sonically the song will be pretty different but jam on it.

Please note the new presence of Zach Hill on drums. Good. Lord. (via Terroreyes.tv)

Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields directed their new Dead Man’s Bones video for “Name In Stone”. They sing a dark and spooky tune alongside the LA Inner City Mass Choir and the Silverlake Conservatory Choir. Shot in one take on 2 rolls of 8mm film, the above video does the band name justice as they are in a graveyard. Everything is very literal.

What do you get when you mix 100,000 individual LED lights with 5 dudes and one giant warehouse? The Dappled Cities guys show us the light in this video for their new single, “The Price”. Keep your eagles eyes out because they plan on wearing these suits on their upcoming Australian tour.

Jeff The Brotherhood knows how to jam…bone jam that is. HAR. A cardboard cheese star, a pizza slice, a leaf blower and the infamous picture-in-picture feature are all included in the above video for “Bone Jam”.

For new video “Hellhole Ratrace,”  native San Franciscan quartet Girls film themselves and friends drinking, kissing, and having puppet shows with stuffed animals on a wild night out on the town. Slutty hipster girls, pirate swords, slow dancing in diners and watching the sunrise at Twin Peaks? Yep, totally all the city by the bay. Aaron Brown directs.

A limited edition 10″ featuring “Hellhole Ratrace” and B-side “Solitude” will also be available for the Girls’ shows with Los Campesinos! Or, for you antsy types, you can download here.