Did you catch Kathleen Edwards last night singing the Canadian National Anthem before the NHL All-Star Game? Pretty cool, huh? If you don’t know as much as you’d like to about Kathleen and her new album, Asking for Flowers, this video provides some great insight:

Check out the cool new video for “Goodnight” by Zox:

Bell X1 is a terrific Dublin-based band, but they’re not yet well-known outside their home country. Many of you may be hearing about them for the first time as the force behind the Cake Sale project — members Brian Crosby and Paul Noonan came up with the idea of the Oxfam benefit and collaborative album. Others may know them from their days in Damien Rice’s first band, Juniper.

Their new record is called Flock, and it’s set to be released by Yep Roc early next year. It’s already out in Ireland, where it went straight to #1 on the pop chart (their previous record went double platinum and had four #1 singles). We love this song, “Rocky Took a Lover,” and its video:

Bettye LaVette’s new record, The Scene of the Crime, is an autobiographical look at the long hard road the artist has traveled. Collaborators the Drive-By Truckers (complete with new member Spooner Oldham) help to make the music raw and direct.

The album was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Bettye recorded a 1972 album, Child of the Seventies, that was shelved for 30 years. In this video, she tells her story and lets us know how she’s gotten to where she is now.

I downloaded the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, on Wednesday, and not surprisingly it took a while. Not only has it been four years since they released anything, but when you offer an album for free, there’s bound to be a few million fans that will try to take you up on the offer. All at once, in this case.

After fulfilling their six-album deal with Capitol Records in 2003 with Hail to the Thief, the band decided to cut out the middle man and release their new album independently. What’s innovative about their decision is the mode of delivery that they eventually settled on. As of Wednesday, the music is available, but the only way you can get it is to download it from their web site, paying as much or as little as you want. There are conflicting reports — even amongst the band’s management and spokespeople — over whether the project will at any point be released on CD.

It doesn’t need to be stated that the recording industry has been in a digital music-induced tailspin recently, and I’m sure that a band of the magnitude of Radiohead offering their new music for free won’t seem like the most comforting turn of events to some. On the plus side, when you think about it, they are offering all of us some invaluable market research. Industry insiders and critics alike have speculated for years about how the digital revolution will affect everything from consumer behavior to label and artist profit, and today we have a real live experiment to help us come up with some answers. How far can a song go with just the internet and word of mouth? How much do people think music is worth? When music is technically free, will people still pay for it? (Record of the Day, a U.K.-based company, has created a web site where consumers can volunteer the amount they paid for In Rainbows. The company has promised to report back on the average amount at the end of October). I’ve just taken a look at a BBC chatroom on the subject, and many fans say that they have paid 40 pounds sterling — $80 — for the forthcoming box set, which includes an immediate download upon purchase. If it does turn out that people are still willing to play quite a lot for music when they could have it for free, how will that affect the RIAA’s lawsuits against illegal file sharing claiming loss of income?

In the U.S. alone, Radiohead has two gold albums, three platinum discs, and, in OK Computer, a double platinum release. Needless to say, they probably don’t need more money. With In Rainbows, if they follow through with their claims that they’ll only offer it online (not counting box set sales), they’ll take 100% of whatever profit they make and much more if they follow up with a tour. (The Police have so far been happy to stick with touring since they reunited, grossing $107 million in the first leg.)

If Radiohead’s new venture is a financial success, there is obviously the possibility that more major artists coming to the end of their contracts could follow suit and simply release their music on their own web sites — for free; for less than the cost of a traditional CD; or for less than $0.99 per individual song download. Although it seems probable that fledgling bands will still pursue record deals and the marketing and promotional advantages they carry, the implications for major labels can be read as ominous.

I am equally interested in how this may affect radio. Triple A, a relative latecomer to downloading music for airplay using digital delivery services, seemed to turn a corner this fall, as many major releases — Mark Knopfler, Steve Earle, and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few — were serviced digitally, with hard copies of full CDs following much later. This move forced the hand of many stations that had previously opted not to use digital download services, since their only other option was to choose to begin playing major releases a month later than other stations in their markets. American radio has long had the luxury of receiving free product, which is, let’s face it, an anomaly in corporate America. What would happen if major acts — Radiohead, U2, Coldplay — decided to release their music independently and/or online, and to charge less for it? Would radio be willing to pay for the music? Would they steal it? Or would they choose to ignore these releases?

We’ve been anticipating the day when record labels release all promotional music to radio digitally for a while, but will a world where radio must actively seek or even pay for music turn us all on our heads? I heard lots of music from In Rainbows on several Triple A stations that I streamed online these last few days. It helped me keep the faith that when the band is big enough, and the music is good enough, radio will always be there.

–Julia Clarke

Everyone is falling in love with the new collaborative record Raising Sand from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. This video clues you in to the process of its creation. Check it out!

It’s easy to forget that Linda Thompson was once considered to be one of the finest female voices in music. Without a premature death on her resume, her name tends to be overshadowed by the more legendary Sandy Denny and Nick Drake, who were once both part of her inner circle. Her meager output in terms of records has been eclipsed by her former partner Richard Thompson’s illustrious solo career. A painful divorce, the dissolution of a musical partnership, and a psychological condition that prevents the ability to perform live will do that to a musician’s career.

However, her new record, Versatile Heart (out August 18th on Rounder) is a gorgeous reminder that Linda Thompson is still very much of consequence. On Wednesday night, we sat in on an interview of Thompson at the Bowery Hotel in the East Village–conducted by Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone–to hear what she has to say about music, family, Celine Dion and the Summer of Love.

Versatile Heart is actually only the third album Linda has put out since her split from Richard 25 years ago. It is, she says, the result of staying home and writing songs because she can’t go shopping anymore: “nothing fits!” Since she doesn’t tour, the type of setting we were fortunate enough to see her in is one of the few ways to get to know her beyond her recordings. She is bittersweet in disposition; equal parts wistful and capricious, and always engaging. There is a certain sadness to her demeanor, and a frankness in that temperament. When asked by an audience member whether she had supported or discouraged her children from pursuing music as opposed to, say, going to medical school, she responded: “I supported whatever they wanted to do. I mean, nobody’s really happy anyway, are they?”–albeit with a smile cracking the corners of her lips. She seemed to approach question after question with a very British no-nonsense attitude, and a sharp dry wit that had us laughing out loud.

Like Nick Drake, nervousness has restricted Linda’s career. In her case it’s Hysterical Dysphonia, which physically renders her unable to sing on occasion. The only period during which it didn’t affect her, she related, was when she and Richard toured together for Shoot Out the Lights after they had split up in 1982. The breakup was like having an anvil dropped on her foot repeatedly, she said. One pain cancelled out the other, and for a brief time she just forgot to be nervous. Despite her condition, she exudes a very centered confidence in person. She’s refreshingly unapologetic. She likes what she likes, isn’t afraid to tell you. She thinks Celine Dion is a brilliant, angelic singer (though she acknowledges that her material is “drivel”). In fact, she took an open-ended assignment from Performing Songwriter and chose to write about Dion, and even saw her live in Vegas. She also loves traditional folk music, particularly bagpipes, but she is fine with the fact that most people don’t. A diehard realist, she noted that she’s not going to get rich playing traditional folk: “I did that buying real estate.”

Talk invariably turned to her family. Versatile Heart is a family affair, with her children Kamila and Teddy writing and playing, and even an elbow in the ribs to Richard, whom she describes in the liner notes as a “little-known but extremely useful guitarist.” Her 12-year-old grandson had come to the interview with her and was sitting in the front row. When asked about the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, she clearly felt that indulging in that sort of nostalgia was a lot of pish posh, and confided that all she remembered from that time was taking a copious amounts of speed. Surveying the room, her eyes suddenly widened when she remembered Zach was there: “Oops, grandson!”

As for Richard, they sat together at their daughter’s wedding last week, and apparently the only drama stemmed from Linda having to prevent Teddy and Richard from singing “Shotgun Wedding” for the “just a teensy bit pregnant” bride. (The groom’s family are devout Catholics.) She claims convincingly not to hide from Richard’s music, but when asked about his latest releases, she seemed unaware that he has put out any records since 1999’s Mock Tudor, deferring to her grandson: “Do you listen to your granddad’s stuff? Oh, you’re a good grandchild.” (I actually think she might like his newest release Sweet Warrior. She and Richard certainly share the same dark humor, and his album is dripping with it.)

Though she speaks with great fondness of her early days with Drake, Denny, John Martyn and Martin Carthy, she seems much more interested in new music. She said that her current favorites are Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash, Maximo Park and Bat For Lashes. She co-writes with her 30-year-old son Teddy, and through his solo career she is earning a new generation of fans. While reaching a younger audience may be a key to the successful continuation of her career, she’s creating a significant musical legacy regardless: at the end of the interview, she asked her grandson to play us a tune on his guitar, and he eagerly agreed as she looked on gleefully. Apparently, he’s inherited the chops and not the stage fright. That’s a good start.

–Julia Clarke

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals treated us to a new song they’ve been working on during their May showcase at Joe’s Pub. It was intriguing, and it had something to do with urinating in one’s hand. Sadly, we were told it didn’t make the new record, This Is Somewhere, but as Grace explained before launching into the drinking song: “We’ll release it as a B-side or something.”

This is unlikely to happen, unless the label decides to release a promotional 7” to hand out at shows, which many people won’t be able to listen to anyway, due to a general lack of turntables in the American home these days. Many people have lamented the end of the single, but I’m far more upset the death of the B-side. B-sides originally appeared on 7” singles in the 1950s, but the concept of including a song that was on the album with a single managed to survive both cassettes and CD singles. It won’t survive the digital era.

Sure, in the digital world, the B-side has already been “replaced” with bonus tracks available as downloads only. But it’s not as exciting to me as when I was a teenager, going out on Saturdays to drop all my pocket money on my “new favorite song,” and turning it over to discover some rare gem that I sometimes liked even more than the song I’d purchased the record for. (Think “Talk Tonight”, the B-side to the first #1 hit Oasis had, “Some Might Say.”) Once CDs fully took over, the B-side would sometimes be nothing more than a remix, usually disappointing to me. And naturally there were times when the B-side was just a track that hadn’t made the cut, and I could see why when I heard it. But a lot of times the B-side would be something special, different, cool. Oasis, who were one of many bands that became almost as celebrated for their B-sides as the singles, did so because of their philosophy: a B-side is no excuse not to care.

I miss the B-side; Ocean Colour Scene’s B-Sides: Seasides & Freerides is permanently located in my top 5 favorite albums of all time, and I’m sad to think that I won’t have that feeling of discovery again in a world where everything is just a click away. Some of the songs that I fell in love with as my musical tastes were forming began life as B-sides, and many have found a home at Triple A radio.

Take for example “Yellow Ledbetter”. It might be one of the most famous B-sides in recent years, originally appearing as the B-side to Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy.” It has since appeared on their greatest hits album and their B-sides album; plus, a live version was included with the single “Daughter.” It even appeared on the series finale of Friends.

And speaking of Friends, could there be a better B-side than “I am the Walrus”? This one only half counts; it did appear on Magical Mystery Tour, but it was also the B-side to “All You Need Is Love.” My brother and I used to play that 7” incessantly on our old record player up in the attic; it showed us what acid trips would feel like in about ten years. Maybe that’s where my future as a social deviant was born? Certainly helps explain my fondness for “Dear God” by XTC. This B-side of “Grass,” produced by Todd Rundgren, didn’t appear on the original pressing of 1986’s Skylarking, but it was such a hit that “Mermaid” was bumped from subsequent pressings so that “Dear God” could be included. What a great, weird little song that only becomes more politically pertinent as time passes.

Graduating on from playing our parents records in the attic, I started going to night clubs at entirely too young an age. The big trend back then was playing “cheesy” music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. There was no Triple A radio then (in Scotland, anyway), so this was quite novel, and a great way for my generation to experience music from our parents’ days that we couldn’t hear on hits radio. Van Morrison’s “Gloria” is the best example I can think of. It has become one of Van Morrison’s best-known, best-loved and most-played songs, but it was originally the B-side of “Baby Please Don’t Go” (Them). Jimmy Page played on the original, and it’s been covered by everyone from Patti Smith and the Doors to Hendrix. I cannot help but howl along to this one.

Challenging Van for Ireland’s biggest act is U2. Now I’m not a fan of them as I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen, but I’ll admit that “The Sweetest Thing” is a pretty catchy song. It was all over the radio in 1998, but that was a re-recorded version. The original was the B-side of “Where the Streets Have No Name.” It didn’t make the cut for The Joshua Tree, but has ended up on many “Best of the 1980s” compilations.

These are just a few great songs that we take for granted when we hear them on Triple A radio, some of which we might never have heard if someone ingenious A&R person hadn’t come up with the concept of the B-side. So even though we might not have many B-sides to look forward to, there are plenty to remember. The most distressing part of all of this is that in my own shortsightedness, I have long since thrown away all the old singles I bought over the years, so I no longer have most of the B-sides I once enjoyed. I suppose I’ll just have to go and download them now.

–Julia Clarke