The Shins Squeeze Levi's

Yeah, that was bad. The Shins covering Squeeze's "Goodbye Girl" for Levi's Pioneer Sessions, however, is far from bad. As a fan of the song, it is great to hear the band give it their own spin which, to a degree, shows a bit of a Squeeze influence when you listen it. It is a very cool cover of a very cool band by another very cool band. I realize that I sound like Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder being "a dude portraying a dude disguised as another dude" and I do not care one bit. Download the song here and check out a video of James Mercer (also of Broken Bells) discussing "Goodbye Girl" after the jump.

Levi's Pioneer Sessions

Levi's, as in the denim company, has created a new project entitled Levi's Pioneer Sessions. Levi's Pioneer Sessions consists of contemporary artists cover songs by one of their favorite artists who helped influence their sound. Some of the artists included in this six-week series are John Legend featuring the Roots, the Swell Season, the Shins, She & Him, Jason Mraz, Raphael Saddiq, and the Kills.

Hear Gorillaz' Plastic Beach And Broken Bells' Self Titled Debut

Two of the biggest and most talked about albums of the year (so far, anyway) will be in stores next week: Gorillaz's anticipated follow-up to their successful 2005 release, Demon Days, entitled Plastic Beach and the long awaited collaboration between James Mercer of The Shins and Danger Mouse entitled Broken Bells. A week is a long time to hear these albums so NPR is streaming both of them. Stream Gorillaz's Plastic Beach here and Broken Bells' self-titled debut here.