The Roots – HELLO COME IN

Favorite Album Art Of 2011

I spend a lot of time listening to music throughout the year, making my lists of favorite records, the best songs and so on and on. But in the process I cannot help but look at and think about the album artwork and how that accompanies this music. Increasingly, in this digital age, album art is relegated often to postage stamp-sized icons on our screens and iPhones, already downsizing from the pretty small size of CDs. Maybe people do not think about album covers as much, yet I still love to stare over them like I did as a kid. And I still tend to buy albums in LP format because I like seeing that cover nice and big.

In lieu of a best albums of the year list, I decided to curate this list of my favorite album covers of the year. Below is but a sampling of some of the excellent artwork from 2011, some of which point to a few of the thematic trends in imagery, typography, illustration and intricacy.

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Talk Show Roundup: Chillin’ Out Max And Relaxin’ All Cool

From time to time, I like to check in on recent musical performances on the late night talk shows. Here is are a few new finds from the ol telly.

Who knew Jimmy Fallon did such a spot on impersonation of Neil Young? Who knew the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air would make such a great folk ballad? I didn’t, but I’d say this is one of the best comedy bits I’ve seen Fallon do since he debuted on Late Night earlier this year.

Talk Show Music Roundup

Lately, I seem to have gotten back into the routine of watching late night talk shows again. Not sure if it’s because of Conan taking over the Tonight Show, the Roots serving as house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon or just a recent string of good musical guests, but there have been some incredible bookings of late.

Here is a quick rundown of a few from just the last week:

The Dead Weather on Conan O’Brien:

Elvis Costello on Conan:

Wilco on Conan:

Sonic Youth on Jimmy Fallon:

St. Vincent on Letterman:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGG6ukPDgVA[/youtube]

and even The Roots themselves debuted a new song on Fallon:

Reblogging: Paul Simon, The Roots and Talk Show Team Ups

I have a new post on the All Songs Considered blog about Paul Simon’s recent performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon alongside The Roots and Antibalas. Read that post here.

Or just watch the video if you want below: