Rising out of the bombardment that was New York’s no wave scene, Swans were like the dark, brooding older brother of Sonic Youth’s bratty sibling. By their break-up in 1998, the loud, clangy aggression of their early albums had taken on an almost baroque elegance, though still sonically quite ferocious. Front man Michael Gira then went on to form the Young Gods record label – who put out Akron/Family, Devendra Banhart and Mi and L'au – and set about forming and recoding with the slightly more mellow Angels of Light. Since Swans reformed earlier in the year, their first album, My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, was fun... article continues »

this is a tribute i have a song in , its a charity compCheck it out here.100% of the profits go to War Child!!!

this is a tribute i have a song in , its a charity compCheck it out here.100% of the profits go to War Child!!!

Devendra Banhart photo by Lauren Dukoff

Last year, we reported that space-case buddies Beck and Devendra Banhart had teamed up to record a song for Life During Wartime, the new movie from ooky auteur Todd Solondz. (It's a sequel to Solondz's deeply disturbing 1998 black comedy Happiness.) The song, also called "Life During Wartime", has now made its way to the internet, and you can stream it above, via Spin. It's not a Talking Heads cover.

According to Spin, Solondz himself, along with Beck, wrote the song's lyrics, and composer Marc Shaiman wrote the music. The wispy, delicate track marks the first time we've ever heard Devendra sing the word "iPhone".

hello! i did a song with Beck for Todd Solondz' AMAZING new movie "Life During Wartime"!!! Todd Solondz wrote the lyrics and Marc Shaiman wrote the music. if ya haven't seen Todd's films check them al...

hello! i did a song with Beck for Todd Solondz' AMAZING new movie "Life During Wartime"!!! Todd Solondz wrote the lyrics and Marc Shaiman wrote the music. if ya haven't seen Todd's films check them al...

Photo by Drew Brown

Between his Record Club covers project and his increasingly impressive production work for famous friends, Beck has recently put in studio time with what seems like everybody recently: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Wilco, Feist, Jamie Lidell, Thurston Moore, Tortoise, Bat for Lashes, St. Vincent, Liars, Devendra Banhart, MGMT, Tobacco, and Stephen Malkmus. These creative partnerships have helped to revitalize the alt-rock originator, who just turned 40 last month.

He's also contributed songs to several recent soundtracks, including Twilight: Eclipse, "True Blood", and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, which found him writing garage rock songs for the lead character's fictional band, Sex Bob-Omb. He's a busy guy. And, during a recent phone interview, he jumped from project to project and thought to thought in a casually random way that shouldn't be surprising considering his penchant for genre-hopping.

Beck talks in a spacey California drawl. He takes long pauses in between sentences; over a windy phone line, it was tough to tell whether he had completed a thought or was taking a break only to get deeper into it. In the following interview, he touched on all the topics above and hinted at new Beck material that may come out sooner than you'd expect:

Hey everyone!!! Please help support a great cause and a great charity Trekstock. I designed a little tshirt for them as did alot of other great artists. Here's the link with more info. Thank you!!!!!h...

Hey everyone!!! Please help support a great cause and a great charity Trekstock. I designed a little tshirt for them as did alot of other great artists. Here's the link with more info. Thank you!!!!!h...

Influential British singer-songwriter John Martyn passed away at the age of 60 in January 2009, and now a tribute album is well in the works, according to his official site. (Via Twenty Four Bit.) So far, the lineup of artists covering Martyn tunes is impressive indeed: Beck, Robert Smith, Devendra Banhart, Vashti Bunyan, the Swell Season, and more. There's no release date for the comp yet, but a list of artists and the songs they're tackling is below.

A two-disc reissue of Martyn's Live at Leeds album is due September 6 via Universal-- more info on that here.

John Martin Tribute LP:

Beck: "Stormbringer"
Snow Patrol: "May You Never"
Robert Smith: "Small Hours"
Blackships (Nick McCabe and Simon Jones, formerly of the Verve): "Rope Soul'd or Sapphire"
Beth Orton: "Go Down Easy"
David Gray: "Let The Good Things Come"
Lisa Hannigan: "Couldn't Love You More"
The Swell Season: "I Don't Want to Know"
Paolo Nutini: "One World"
Devendra Banhart: "Sweet Little Mystery"
Vetiver: "Go Easy"
Vashti Bunyan: "Head & Heart"
Skye Edwards (Morcheeba): "Solid Air"
Ted Barnes [ft. Gavin Clark]: "Over The Hill"
The Blind Boys of Alabama: "Glorious Fool"
Brendan Campbell: "Anna"
Sonia Dada: "Dancing"
Sabrina Dinan: "Certain Surprise"
Oh My God: "John Wayne"
Foley (Miles Davis bass player): "Clutches"
Nicholas Barron: "Angeline"
Cheryl Wilson: "You Can Discover"