Judging from that press photo, you’d picture the alt-rock power quartet Monsters Of Folk — featuring Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, M. Ward and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James — to rock no harder than a Grateful Dead track. Yet the supergroup showed their true colours with a wicked cover of KISS’ “Detroit Rock City” at their Halloween concert at the Louisville Palace, dressed in full regalia. Here’s hoping tonight’s performance at Massey Hall has at least one Peter Criss shout-out.JAY-Z’s EMPIRE STATE OF MIND Sure, Jay-Z’s latest single heaps on the post-9/11 schmaltz, equivalent to the “I Love NY” episode of Sex and The City. But seeing it performed last Saturday on the ACC stage with shimmering video-screen cutouts of iconic New York buildings, I got the shivers. Check out the classy black and white video here featuring our girl Alicia Keys as Jay-Z shouts out to State Street, gypsy cabs and “Afrika Bambaataa shit.” They still have those $1 Megabus tickets, right?YO! WEEZER Possibly the only children’s show worth watching on YouTube while incredibly stoned, Nickelodeon's Yo Gabba Gabba! has featured its share of indie-rock celebrities, including appearances by MGMT, Mates of State and Mark Mothersbaugh, in addition to regular implausible beats by Biz Markie. Following appearances this season by The Roots, Taking Back Sunday and Weird Al Yankovic, Weezer is the latest to visit the set, though Rivers apparently was not so familiar with Yo Gabba Gabba’s charms (i.e., like this.) EW has the scoop on the band’s performance. Now, here's a video too scary for our Halloween playlist:YEASAYER’S “AMBLING ARP” Brooklyn band Yeasayer led the Wesleyan Mafia before Chairlift could ever score an iPod commercial. Their new single “Ambling Arp” is made for technophobic pot freakouts and pseudo pool parties. Download: Yeasayer - Ambling ArpNEW ALBUM ALERTS: HOT CHIP, SPOON, LIARS Tonight’s gonna be a good night thanks to news that Totally Wired faves Hot Chip, Spoon and Liars are set to release albums for early 2010. For those who want a taste of Spoon, here’s single “Got Nuffin,” a song that premiered at the band’s SpoonX3 fest in their hometown of Austin.
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