There are economists who argue that life for people in a place like, say, sub-Saharan Africa, is actually worse today than it was in the Stone Age. Maybe so, although I'll admit I don't completely understand the argument. But when it comes to most of the world, at least, the Futureheads are rightly sick and tired of people pining for yesteryear: "If I hear one person talking about these days/ Saying it's hard in this day and age/ I will explode/ How do they know what it was like 2,000 years ago?" Fans of the bouncy UK post-punks will find the multilayered harmonies and jerky, guitar-based arrangements of new song "Broke Up the Time" reminiscent of what the Futureheads were like a couple of years ago. Don't explode, guys-- that's not exactly a bad thing.

The video for this Youth-produced track is as fast-paced as the tune itself, and not for the easily carsick. Speeding down winding roads, capturing the group's rehearsals, or showing us a golf stroke-- and then a dusty mulligan-- the band-made clip is rough and celebratory. If you're willing to hand over your e-mail address and phone number, you can download "Broke Up the Time" for free via the Futureheads' website. And since this isn't the Stone Age, you can also watch the YouTube clip below (or stream the new song at the band's MySpace).

[from the Futureheads' forthcoming third album; due 2008 on the band's own, as yet unnamed, label]

It's a desert party, and kids who grew up in the desert know what I'm talking about. On "Make It Wit Chu", the Palm Desert, Calif.-based Queens of the Stone Age take a break from the riff-heavy thrashing of fellow Era Vulgaris tunes like "Sick Sick Sick" or "3's & 7's". This one's a smoldering blues-rocker, with the cautiously soulful strut of Spoon and the lusty baritone of Morrison Hotel-era Jim Morrison. Give me Josh Homme's poetry any day, though: "Sometimes the same is different, but mostly it's the same."

Homme knows what he wants to do: First, drive through the gorgeous Joshua Tree National Park landscape while the second guitarist runs through sultry blues licks. Then, sing at the desert party while a young couple makes out. Finally, most importantly, as he tells us flat-out-- accompanied by an appealingly Bee Gees falsetto backing vocal-- Homme wants to, well, "Make It Wit Chu". Simple and effective, at least in a rock video. If you get invited to a desert party, and you're not Josh Homme, maybe keep the line to yourself.

[from Era Vulgaris, out now on Interscope]

It's taken several months, but the video for the KY- and Patrón-sleek "Hustlers"-- in which Nas joins with the Game to declare that Hip Hop Is Dead-- has finally snuck out. So if they ever thought the East Coast and the West Coast were gonna collide, guess what, they do here. Over cinematic strings and ominous beats, the Game recalls trying to decide between buying The Chronic or Illmatic, and opting to steal both: "I was the only Compton nigga with a New York state of mind." Like much of Nasir Jones' latest album, it's an ode to rap's bygone days, self-referential because Nas has the records to let him get away with it-- even when the tough-guy poses can't really keep him from occasionally coming off like one of indie-rap's grandmotherly scolds. Anyway, Nas already made his feelings about "hustlers" crystal-clear on the album's closing track, the a cappella "Hope": "You a hustler, you ain't a rapper."

After all the delay, there's not much to say about the actual video, directed by R. Malcolm Jones. The Game is in it, and so is Nas. They ride elevators and drive fancy cars against a presumably green-screen backdrop that should be (yet sadly isn't) some kind of Roger Rabbit homage. Not dead, per se, but there's a reason this clip wasn't properly released.

[from Hip Hop Is Dead; out now on Def Jam]

While many of us still remember the Walkmen's note-for-note 2006 recreation of Harry Nilsson's legendarily soused 1974 Pussy Cats as merely "a curio," it wasn't until this summer that someone, namely Pitchfork's William Bowers, thought to describe the band's preceding album, A Hundred Miles Off, as a "classic audio novel." So you never know what hindsight will do. Daytrotter has posted a couple of recordings of the Walkmen that could count both as curios and-- more naturally than A Hundred Miles Off, in fact-- as parts of an audio novel, or at least a mildly trashy book on tape.

For whatever reason, the New York indie rockers saw fit to record themselves reciting scripts from TV's "Sex and the City", with frontman Hamilton Leithauser in the Sarah Jessica Parker role-- whether because he has a raspy voice and her Carrie character loves to smoke, or just because he loves to narrate, we're not told. In any case, the Walkmen can be heard here rattling off comically expensive brand names, describing a fantastical journey to the New York Yankees locker room ("Well, honey, his cup runneth over") and teaching us how to work through our feelings for our exes ("I always enjoy a good math solution to any love problem"). The sound effects, such as the clacking of high heels in the second clip, are pretty near priceless. And surely even Miranda would love "The Rat".

Streams:> The Walkmen: "Sex and the City" readings
[Pussy Cats and A Hundred Miles Off are out now on Record Collection]

A day in the life of Ted Leo, professional arm wrestler. You don't get as chiseled as the ex-Chisel singer by chowing down Taco Bell, after all. Backed by the jaunty chords of Living With the Living's "Colleen", Leo and his trusty biceps best all comers, a referee at the ready all the while. Things get a little dicey when a monstrous dude wearing a "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" t-shirt that might not be a Beatles reference wants a piece of Leo. But you can tell our hubristic hero might be headed for a fall when he's willing to bet the car he'll beat a smiling young woman who thinks she can pin him to the table. "Everybody wants something from Colleen," Leo sings, but everybody with something to prove wants a piece of the best arm wrestler in town. Especially when he's also Ted Leo. And especially when there's a huge pile of money involved.

[from Living With the Living; out now on Touch and Go]

Justin Timberlake co-wrote and produced Duran Duran's "Falling Down", from the long-running UK new-wavers' latest album, Red Carpet Massacre, which also features a track pairing Timberlake with FutureSex-loving collaborator Timbaland. The video for "Falling Down" was directed by Anthony Mandler, who did the clip for the Killers' "When You Were Young", but it's easy to imagine the dude behind "What Goes Around...Comes Around" coming up with this one, too. Unless you've already forgotten about the famously misbehaving young female celebs with whom Timberlake has associated-- which would be a shame, because, really, there's more to Blackout than "Gimme More".

The best part of the "Falling Down" video is the two minutes leading into the actual song. Melodramatic orchestration with operatic pretensions plays as a guy in a limo tries to sweet-talk his young girlfriend into rehab-- "It's like school...you just got out of school, like, six months ago"-- and she goes "no, no, no." OK, the rest of the clip, which shows the rehab's model inmates laughing and acting out, is pretty entertaining, too. Meanwhile, Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon delivers echoey vocals about falling down, people standing 'round, and what's gotta happen before he hits the ground. Um, is he saying he needs an intervention, too?

Video:> Duran Duran: "Falling Down"
[from Red Carpet Massacre; due 11/13/07 on Epic]

The video for "Good Morning", from Kanye West's Graduation, starts with an alarm clock going off and ends with a graduation. Featuring the animation of Takashi Murakami, the clip also shows the stuffed animal from Graduation's cover art brushing his teeth, hopping into his DeLorean only to have the damn thing break down, running to catch the elevated train only for the door to slam in his face, and finally racing across a football field full of fearsome football players just in time to receive his hip-hop diploma (wearing those goofy Kanye shades, of course). The video is apparently only showing at the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, which explains the wobbly YouTube footage. I'd like to say the clip's protagonist is like the fly Teddy Ruxpin...I just can't think of a way to finish that sentence. Guess that's why they pay West the bucks to buy "any jeans necessary." (Via Stereogum)

[from Graduation; out now on Island Def Jam]

Folk-flecked Austin rockers Okkervil River have never made any secret of their soft spot for covering relative obscurities; their slept-on 2005 album Black Sheep Boy revolved around a cover of a tune by tragically overlooked 1960s and 70s folkie Tim Hardin. For their Daytrotter Session, the group-- led, after all, by a former music scribe, Will Sheff-- dusts off some additional chestnuts, beginning with a full-band version of "April Anne", originally from former the Mamas and the Papas member John Phillips' out-of-print 1970 solo debut. Sheff's stark, solo acoustic renderings of a song Carole King wrote for Dusty Springfield ("No Easy Way Down") and a Jimmy Webb song once recorded by Nina Simone, among others ("Do What You Gotta Do") put Sheff's quavering vocals, the emotional centerpiece of 2007's Best New Music'd The Stage Names, in a more feminine light. The session closes with a "skiffle version" of the new album's "You Can't Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man" backed by the full band, with Sheff comping on acoustic guitar and member Brian Cassidy trading his electric guitar for piano.

MP3s/Streams:> Okkervil River: Daytrotter Session
[The Stage Names is out now on Jagjaguwar]

Photo by Tina Kreibich

Neil Young's "Philadelphia" appeared on the soundtrack to the 1992 Jonathan Demme film of the same name. Although it didn't win its Academy Award nomination (that honor went to Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia"), it showed up in the final tear-jerking deathbed scene that featured Tom Hanks' Aids-ravaged character in vintage childhood home movies. In his world weary falsetto, Neil Young sang "Sometimes I think that I know what love's all about/ And when I see the light know I'll be all right/ Philadelphia." While some think that Neil's track is superior to the Bruce contribution, if I were asked to play a song that summed up Philadelphia for me, I'd pick this song, or maybe The Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl."

Philadelphia foursome Remote Islands feels the same way. They recorded this song for their upcoming tour with Miller Carr & The Shalants, which happens to fall on Neil Young's birthday, November 12. Frontman Colin Pate provides the sweet, little-boy-lost vocal backed by some industrial found sounds and an organ that sounds like Sunday morning church bells. It's as affecting as the original, a statement of hope and beauty when both are in short supply these days. Look for a follow-up to 2005's "Smother Party" on Oakland, California based Isota Records (home to author Rick Moody and his band, One Ring Zero).

Radiohead is webcasting tonight and they've named the event "Thumbs Down".

Then before we caught this thing, the band played "Bodysnatchers" (mp3 here).

RADIOHEAD: "BODYSNATCHERS"

Anyway, Thom Yorke, in his inifinite wisdom, was spinning "Near Dark" by Burial from his awesome new Untrue album (plug: full review next week!). OK, now he's spinning M.I.A.'s "Pull Up the People" And...we don't know what else is going to happen because I'm going to stop typing and publish this so you can enjoy it as well. It's all terribly exciting, and it's all happening right now at Radiohead TV. (Note: This is a slightly different address than last night's webcast.) (Thanks to Bobby Young for the initial tip.)

Update: Radiohead also made a partial homemade vid of "15 Step" using images from Se7en with Thom Yorke playing the Gwyneth Paltrow role, they did a bit of "Faust Arp", and then covered the Smiths' "The Headmaster Ritual"! "The Headmaster Ritual" mp3 here

RADIOHEAD: "THE HEADMASTER RITUAL" (SMITHS COVER)

RADIOHEAD: "15 STEP" vs. SE7EN

RADIOHEAD: "FAUST ARP"

"Faust Arp" mp3 here.

That was followed by more records-- Kenny Rogers, Jorge Ben, etc., a message from Thom promising low-quality throughout the night and then a performance of "Jigsaw Falling Into Place". With bike helmets. Who says they don't have a sense of humor?

RADIOHEAD: "JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE"

Update part 4758: A performance of "Reckoner".

RADIOHEAD: "RECKONER"

Then some car park action, and now Jonny takes his turn on the deck with "Nightclubbing" by Iggy Pop. And now it's like a flashback to the Kid Amnesiac webcast days with Squarepusher's "My Red Hot Car". Maybe Múm will be next. No, actually that may have been Peter Baumann covering "Strangers in the Night".

Colin's turn and he starts with Bauhaus. Pitchfork is going to the fridge for a beer. It's 5 o'clock somewhere, etc. (Actually, it's 4:45 here and, sorry, we're getting punchy, plus every time I update this I am staring at Thom Yorke's head in a box. Psst, Colin, "White Car in Germany" by the Associates would sound good with that right about now.)

More Burial, now in poem form-- "The Burial of Sir John Moore After Corunna" by Charles Wolfe, recited by Ed O'Brien, who first learned it age 8.

Next the band performs a cover of "Ceremony" by New Order. Thom doing a bit of an Ian Curtis impersonation rather than a Bernard Sumner one. Sorry about the loss of critical faculties here, but man this song is so good.

RADIOHEAD: "CEREMONY" (NEW ORDER COVER)

Stereogum, you swiped our Thom-in-a-box screengrab -- boo! hiss! apologies!

The Se7en bit is back on, so maybe that's the end of the new content and we can, as the webcast chalkboard suggests, "Switch off your computer and do something else." That reminds me: Pitchfork is out of beer.

Oh, it's not over. Phil spins Iron & Wine. "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car" to be specific. Followed by "Sun Zoom Spark" by Captain Beefheart and now Bonnie "Prince" Billy's "Lessons From What's Poor". Sam Beam and Will Oldham from...the drummer? More Asian Dub Foundation-- really, guys? Ray Charles' "It Should Have Been Me"-- that's more like it. Phil took us out with Juana Molina's "Micael" and Fela Kuti's "Alu Jon Jonki Jon" and, wow, thanks apparently Dead Air Space will list these songs when it's all done so I don't have to try to sit here and trainspot all night.

And with that...our sound is out. But you get the idea by now: There is a Radiohead webcast.

Here's what we all missed. Turns out it was "It Might Be Wrong" and "Videotape".

RADIOHEAD: WEBCAST FINALE (INCLUDING "IT MIGHT BE WRONG" AND "VIDEOTAPE")

Here is a list of songs they played in their DJ sets:

Burial: "Near Dark"
M.I.A.: "Pull Up the People"
Tomas Anderson: "Happy Happy"
!!!: "Heart of Hearts"
Kings of Leon: "My Party"
Asian Dub Foundation: "Model Apprentice"
Jorge Ben: "Take It Easy My Brother Charlie"
Les Baxter: "The Ancient Galleon"
The First Edition: "Just Dropped in (To See What Condition My Condition Was in)"
Iggy Pop: "Nightclubbin'"
Squarepusher: "My Red Hot Car"
Bauhaus: "Bella Lugosi's Dead"
Iron and Wine: "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car"
Captain Beefheat: "Sun Zoom Spark"
Bonnie Prince Billy: "Lessons From What's Poor"
Asian Dub Foundation: "Naxalite"
Ray Charles: "It Should've Been Me"
Juana Molina: "Micael"
Fela Kuti & the Africa 70: "Alu Jon Jonki Jon"

Plus, hell, more screengrabs:

Iceland's Amiina recently set to music what's said to be Lee Hazlewood's final recording, resulting in the previously posted "Hilli (At the Top of the World)". At first glimpse, the video might seem not to adapt Hazlewood's lyrics literally. Like a tough grandfather lovingly reading Dr. Seuss, Hazlewood intones, "At the top of the world, there's an island, a place where the sun never shines/ But the people don't care because the snow over there is so bright, they nearly go blind." However, we see no snow, only a young woman in a Little Red Riding Hood coat striding gracefully through a field, arriving on a boat, and bringing a package to a friend whose blue stockings match hers. Smiles abound. And then, as the Icelandic quartet's strangely affecting arrangement continues to unfold, the video turns out to be a depiction of Hazlewood's fairy story, after all. Let it snow.

[digital single; due 12/11 on iTunes and 12/18 worldwide on Ever]