Enjoy last night’s take on her mega single, ‘No One’, in the clip below.

MP3: Alicia Keys – No One

Enjoy last night’s stellar performance below. Jay-Z MP3 at bottom of post.

MP3: Jay Z – We Made History

Enjoy ‘Touch The Sky’/'American Boy’/'Stronger’/'Good…’/'Heartless’ below.

MP3: Kanye West – Heartless

Enjoy last night’s performance of ‘At Last’ below. Beyonce MP3 at bottom.

MP3: Beyonce – Single Ladies (Brad Walsh Mix)

Enjoy this afternoon’s beautiful duet below. YYM MP3 at bottom of post.

MP3: Yo Yo Ma & Bobby McFerrin – Ave Maria

Enjoy today’s take on ‘My Country Tis Of Thee’ below. MP3 at bottom.

MP3: Aretha Franklin – Rock Steady

Congratulations!

Today’s swearing-in will begin at 11:30 AM (EST).

MP3: The Stills – In The Beginning

Last year, the President elect was given a copy of her debut LP, Alright Still. This week, Lily responds (via The Telegraph): *I wondered if he listened to it. I just assume that someone took them off him and put them in a bag somewhere, or threw it away, but a little part of me was thinking maybe he was sitting on the plane on the way back: ‘Michelle? Have a listen to this’.*

Lily recently chatted with Billboard.

Last month, she debuted a video for ‘The Fear’.

MP3: Lily Allen – Everyone’s At It

Enjoy yesterday’s brilliant takes on ‘Pride’ & ‘City Of Blinding Lights’ below.

MP3: U2 – Beautiful Day (Live)

On Tuesday, January 20th, the United States will swear in their 44th president (you might of heard of him, apparently he’s rather popular). And starting this weekend, our nation’s capital will be overrun with supporters, gawkers and t-shirt hawkers converging for the inauguration. In the midst of this, hundreds of parties will be happening all around the Beltway, including one mega concert Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial featuring Beyonce, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, Bono and about 10 other big names. I will be there trying to catch a glimpse of Josh Groban (you think I’m kidding) along with 1 million other people.

If you are headed down to DC as well and the thought of standing outside in the freezing cold for 6 hours doesn’t sound too appealing, then for those less masochistic but still looking to rock this weekend, how about listening to an oral history of each American president as told through song? Seriously.

In February of 2006, three intrepid songwriters, Christian Kiefer, Jefferson Pitcher and Matthew Gerken, set out to immortalize Barack Obama’s predecessors in verse. The result of which is Of Great and Mortal Men, an epic three CD box set of 43 songs sung by over 50 of indie rock’s greatest musicians such as Cake’s Vincent DiFiore, Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart, Bill Callahan of Smog and Jesse Eilliott of These United States. Think you know a lot about American history? Not as much as these guys, I assure you. These songs are so fun and so accurate, some schools have started using them in the classroom. On January 17th at Sixth and I, Nellie McKay, Jukebox the Ghost and These United States, amongst others, will be performing the album live, from George Washington to George Dubya. They will also be premiering their brand new tune about our next president entitled, ‘For Someone to Wake.’ A beautiful and bluesy song which already we can’t get enough of:
MP3: Christian Kiefer – ‘Someone to Wake‘

For those of you who don’t know Jana Mashonee, get to. I didn’t know her until 4 hours ago and I already love her. If you are signed up to our mailing list, then you already received a sneak preview of this but for everyone else, her new song ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ is so good, I literally just played it 5 times in a row after it arrived in my mailbox:
MP3: Jana Mashonee – ‘A Change is Gonna Come‘

The song features Juno award winner Derek Miller and was written especially for Obama’s inauguration. It will premiere at the Native American Ball Tuesday evening. I actually feel completely robbed that I had never heard of her before even though she has won 7 Native American Music Awards. She sounds like the American incarnation of Adele and Duffy with a harkening back to not just 50s and 60s soul but the real Americana music of Otis Redding and Ben E. King coupled with overtones of gospel. It actually made me think of a song I used to sing in Sunday School called ‘Go Tell it on the Mountain.’ All of that coupled with the powerful vocals of Alicia Keys, man, it’s just awesome.

Last but not least, we have two local New York City songwriters making some election inspired music for you, Lacrymosa and Casey Shea. The two musicians have collaborated on a double sided single called Hope/Change. Lacrymosa’s song ‘We Breathe, We Hope’ has the theme of, duh, hope, while Casey’s ‘The World is Waking Up’ is about Obama’s message of Change. The single is available through Family Records but you can DL both songs here:
MP3: Lacrymosa – ‘We Breathe, We Hope‘
MP3: Casey Shea – ‘The World is Waking Up‘

Both singers have separate release shows coming up in New York as well that we suggestion going to check out:

1.19 Lacrymosa @ Living Room, 8pm (NYC)
EP Release show, debut release (on Family Records), with Wakey! Wakey!

1.23 Casey Shea @ Living Room, 9pm (NYC)
Single Release show. The is the first in a series of 6 monthly release shows. One 3-sided single per month, followed by an album in month 7.