No Age - "Eraser" (live on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson)

These are tense political times we live in. While taping their appearance on CBS's Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, No Age guitarist Randy Randall was told he could not wear his Barack Obama t-shirt. "I have recently come under what can only be called extreme censorship," Randall wrote afterwards, the reason being that it would apparently violate the Equal Time Rule entitled to both candidates. "I felt it was important to voice my choice for presidential candidate, Barack Obama, seeing as the episode would air eight days before election day," he says. Instead, Randall obscured Obama's face and wrote "Free Health Care" on his shirt. "Dean and I decided that it would be better to take advantage of the stage we had at our disposal." When the clip aired last week, Ferguson candidly acknowledged the situation.

Lil Wayne - "Lollipop" (live on Saturday Night Live)

The raddest thing about this clip is that Lil Wayne has a guitar slung around his back the whole time. He whips it around at the end and does quite possibly the worst guitar solo on the SNL stage ever. Still, I thought it was awesome, but not everyone shares my opinion. Billy Sunday hilariously writes on XXL's Blog:

I’m tired of motherfuckers walking around with guitars like they can play them just like I’m annoyed with kids who walk around with skateboards but never get on them. We have become a culture of poseurs and wannabes with no motivation or courage to actually be that shit we pose off as. I don’t want to see Lil’ Wayne play the guitar until he learns HOW to play the guitar. What is so difficult in actually learning something. This is the same guy that supposedly is enrolled in the University of Houston. Let’s hope Hurricane Ike hasn’t washed away the transcript.

MGMT - "Electric Feel" (MTV Live Performance)

I am going to go on record as calling "Electric Feel" the "song of the summer." It is kind of close to the Scissor Sisters, yet somehow MGMT have managed to establish a greater amount of hipster cred. I am sure Elton John will be singing their praises in no time. Actually, when I first heard this, it reminded me a bit of New Radicals. With this single, I have fully warmed up to MGMT. "Kids" was alright, but I really like "Electric Feel." Speaking of "Kids," the Kooks have done a pretty solid cover and you can download it over at Music Ramen.

Kings of Leon - "Sex on Fire" (Live at V Festival)

I've just never gotten into Kings of Leon. It's not that I dislike them. But like the Black Keys and the Mooney Suzuki, they were one of those garage bands I just didn't pay attention to while I was too busy rocking to the Strokes and the White Stripes. But then I heard "Sex on Fire" last week and it absolutely blew my away. This isn't raw garage rock at all - in fact, it sounds like nothing on indie and alternative radio right now. "Sex on Fire" boasts a bigger sound, reminiscent of Journey and Foreigner.

Kanye West - "Love Lockdown" (Live at the MTV Video Music Awards)

Kanye West has been feeding us quite a lot lately in the way of new videos from Graduation, guest appearances, and producer credits. Now comes the rumor that he may even be dropping a new album as early as December. After feeling dissed at the VMAs last year, West was given the closing spot in 2008 (see kids what a temper-tantrum can get you). He took the occasion to debut a brand new song - "Love Lockdown" - which should be available as a digital download very soon. Of the track, West wrote on his blog today: "LOVE LOCKDOWN.... wrote a week and a half ago, it's my favorite song 2 date!! Go where your heart takes you..." The song is very interesting and very different from what we have heard from Kanye in the past.

Radiohead - "Talk Show Host" (live at Outside Lands)

We've been posting footage from Outside Lands all week - both professional and fan shot. We thought we'd end right where we started - with Radiohead footage caught from the crowd. Apparently, the band is playing "Talk Show Host" in its set now, and it sounds like the crowd was pretty excited about that.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - "Free Fallin'" (live at Outside Lands)

Tom Petty was another headliner at Outside Lands this past weekend in San Francisco. He really must have gotten a kick out of playing with all these indie rockers. Petty is actually the first artist I ever got into. Here's a performance of "Free Fallin'" with lots of singing-along from the crowd.

Radiohead - "Idioteque" (live at Outside Lands)

Radiohead were one of the headliners at San Francisco's Outside Lands festival this past weekend. I didn't go, as I'd seen Radiohead a few years back at Coachella, but by all accounts it was amazing (despite a pair of technical glitches). Our friend Barbara saw Radiohead in Seattle last week and gave us this lovely review. All this hearing about Radiohead made me want to track down some recent live footage. I found a performance of my favorite Radiohead song from Outside Lands, and perhaps this is what it would have looked like if I had been there. I remember when I did see Radiohead, there was a moment when all the lights went out, and things got quiet. Then the glitchy intro to "Idioteque" started and that was just a great moment.

The Confusions - "Thin" (live)

About a month or so back, I was listening to Bagel Radio and a fantastic song came on on that really piqued my interest - "The Pilot" by The Confusions. Doing what I normally do when a new song or band strikes me, I went into serious research mode - I checked the band's MySpace, found out about their label, etc. The Confusions are a six piece from Sweden, who have been releasing records since the early nineties. As it turned out, "The Pilot" was from their 2002 record, Trampoline, yet it's getting a good deal of American radio play right now. The band also has a new record out entitled The Story Behind the Story and you can read my review of that at our record label blog. "Thin" is the latest single from that album and also my personal favorite.

MP3 - "Thin" - The Confusions

R.E.M. - "Supernatural Superserious" (live)

Radiohead - "Talk Show Host" (live/2001)