A few months ago, The Mars Volta played NYC. While standing in the mezzanine area we noticed one Erykah Badu over in the VIP section “rocking the fuck out” as TMV melted faces and minds. It was a good piece of news, because Ms. Badu’s public appearances seem to have been scarce lately.

Now, it seems Erykah’s been spending her time growing out her hair and listening to some rock and roll music. At a recent stop in Dallas, MY MORNING JACKET was playing a slinky soul jam when Erykah appeared on stage. She then performed her song “Tyrone” with the jacket acting as the backing band. The match makes sense considering the musical waters MMJ are currently treading in and with Erykah sometimes having a need to “rock the fuck out”. Video after the jump. (more…)

Not only does it have a great song title, but now MY MORNING JACKET’s song “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 2″ has a great video. The song itself is a bit of a departure for the band, incorporating a bit of a disco beat and an Omnichord. But it’s still very much a MMJ tune because of frontman Jim James’ silky voice.

The video’s creators, The Mixtape Club have said the drew heavy inspiration from the Maurice Sendak book Where The Wild Things Are as well as the BBC documentary Planet Earth, foliage from the streets of NYC, and Russian animator Yuri Norstein to make the video happen. (more…)

STREAM: My Morning Jacket :: Evil Urges on Spinner.com

Three years removed from their last studio album, 2005’s Z, MY MORNING JACKET is ready to run shit this summer with their new album Evil Urges. The influences on the record still remain rootsy, with clear nods to Neil Young and even a definite Meat Puppets influence in there as well.

This album sounds like the Black Angels record if it was more rootsy than psychedelic. The songs take a great bluesy riff and go off in tons of eclectic directions. Some of the songs are like Neil Young meets late-60s Dolly Parton. At other times the record is like The Flaming Lips and Galaxie 500.

The psychedelic moments shine with layers of organ and absolutely beautiful slide guitars and harmonies. They’ve been met with a lot of success on their last few albums, and it’s awesome to hear a band that still has such an ear for incredible melodies and simple songwriting. These guys have clearly established themselves as the alt-country version of indie rock’s Spoon. They continue to expand the borders of what the genre can be and can’t stop releasing records with consistent track after consistent track.

If you’ve ever felt a need to listen to Neil Young, The Beach Boys, and The Flaming Lips at the same time, start digging on the new My Morning Jacket record.

Summer tour dates can be seen after the jump. (more…)

MY MORNING JACKET just filmed an episode of the Black Cab Sessions. It seems the BCS are quickly becoming a popular destination for artists to test out their musical chops in the back of a moving vehicle.

You know you are in for a solid performance when the band rolls up to your cab wearing a cloak and carrying an omnichord. Just sayin’.

MY MORNING JACKET stopped by the set of Saturday Night Live this weekend and performed two new songs from their upcoming album Evil Urges. As expected, they were awesome!

Watch the jacket rip things up now!

“I’m Amazed”

“Evil Urges”

MY MORNING JACKET’s upcoming album, Evil Urges, is on the horizon and you’re probably teeming with anticipation. Today, Jim James and Co. bring you one step closer. The band just released a new MP3 from the album, getting me closer to my goal of hearing the entire record. The song was sent out to the band’s fan list where they were given a code to download the track. Give it a listen and love the fact that it’s 80 degrees in Jersey today.

Visit this link and enter the code “urges101″ to get your own copy of the track. It’s only going to be live for a week.
Go get Adobe Flash Player!

A statement from the band can be read after the jump. (more…)

For more pictures of SXSW, please visit our Flickr page.

The trend of late seems to be getting great indie rock bands and use them to supply the tunes for major film and television franchises. It’s a great marriage because it lends credibility to the one and grants exposure to the other.

So when NBC announced the lineup for their upcoming soundtrack to their breakout show Heroes, it was tough to act surprised. Darlings such as Nada Surf, My Morning Jacket, Death Cab For Cutie, and Wilco will all have songs on the soundtrack.

If that wasn’t enough, the heads of the peacock network have big plans to launch the soundtrack as well. (more…)

MY MORNING JACKET have hit us with a bunch of updates all at once. This is a great thing to hear because just the other day we were wondering when the band was going to drop a new album on us. It’s been a few years since we got Z but at least we were able to us their amazing live double disc Okonokos and some re-issues to hold us over in the meantime.

The band has announced “An Evening With My Morning Jacket” that will take place on Friday, June 20th at Radio City Music Hall. We’re assuming that we’ll be treated to a few hours of some great Jacket Jams from the crew. The pre-sale for this event begins this Friday, January 18th at 10am.

As if that wasn’t enough to get you excited, the band has also stated that June 10th will be the street date of their next studio album (on ATO like usual). And there will be some performances in Austin around SXSW. They will be at the Austin Music Hall on March 13th and frontman Jim James will also be performing solo at St. David’s Church on March 15th.