Proceeds from the sale of Pearl Jam’s new video for “Amongst the Waves” on iTunes will benefit Conservation International’s Ocean Campaign. The video is beautiful and resonates deeply; please feel free to post it to your station’s web site to help spread the word about this worthy cause.

I’ve seen and enjoyed many a Black Cab Session, but this recent one featuring Jamie Lidell might do the best job of any of showcasing their potential. This talented man makes a whole lot of music for one person in a backseat.

Jamie Lidell from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

Dr. Dog offers up a soulful, intimate performance of “Jackie Wants a Black Eye” from the confines of a Lower East Side bar booth. If this is what being at a bar with Dr. Dog is like, then the Non-Commvention can’t come fast enough.

Every once in a while you see something that makes you look twice. Check out Dawes singing “When My Time Comes” at the sold-out Bowery Ballroom in New York. Seeing this online made me plant myself in the front of a show at SXSW to capture it on my own camera. The real deal.

Dr. Dog turned in a terrific performance of their new single, “Stranger,” on Jimmy Fallon. Click to watch! (Performance starts at the last “line,” 36:40 into the broadcast.)

They also did a beautiful backstage acoustic track which is available as a web exclusive.

One Eskimo has been one of the most delightful success stories to come out of the Triple A landscape in the past year. We’re so happy that this song has resonated with listeners, and we also love this animated video!

The vocal track for Galactic’s great new single “Heart of Steel” wasn’t recorded precisely as you hear it. The guys brought Irma Thomas into the studio to lay down a track that was eventually chopped up and spliced back together to create a perfect match for the tune’s deep funk grooves. They were a little bit nervous to share the final results with the soul legend . . .

Thanks to NOLA for posting this video, and for the complete story. And thanks to Irma for her creative spirit!

Here’s the hot-off-the-presses video for She & Him’s new single, “In the Sun.” It’s every ounce of the sweetness and light you’d expect.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t delight in the pleasure inherent in watching a Rube Goldberg device flow through its motions to a successful conclusion.

Though OK Go has been around for a relatively short time, they’ve quickly become known for their creative videos. Their latest, for “This Too Shall Pass,” is no exception. An elaborate Goldberg contraption, captured in one long shot, accompanies the full length of the 3:53 track, and also provides the solution to the puzzle of why the band members spend the filming covered in paint.

Getting this shot is every bit as labor-intensive as it looks. It took 55 to 60 people and over 60 takes to get it right, and lmost an hour to reset the machine properly each time it didn’t work.

If I talk to you regularly, or if you have other friends in Pittsburgh, Philly, Baltimore, or DC, you’ve no doubt heard about the overwhelming amounts of snowfall and cold that we’ve experienced this winter. Here in the ‘burgh, we had our first major accumulation of snowfall on December 16, and that same snow is still on the ground, buried under lots more that’s followed it. It’s quite unusual for us to have such a long stretch of cold days; in most years, the snow we get here tends to melt almost as quickly as it comes.

The biggest storm of all hit on Friday night, February 5th. It dropped 26″ on the city in less than 24 hours. Thanks to Pop City for passing along this excellent video shot by a group of filmmaking skiiers who took advantage of a rare opportunity to do some urban skiing on Pittsburgh’s steep, hilly terrain and unusual city staircases.

–Melanie