After the writers’ strike canceled their appearance last November, Grizzly Bear finally made it on to Late Night With Conan O’Brien this week where they performed their brand-new song “While You Wait for the Others.” Check it out below, along with an MP3 of the band playing the song on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic.

MP3:
Grizzly Bear - “While You Wait for the Others” (Live On KCRW)

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Conan O’Brien’s first-ever musical guest, Radiohead, dropped by his show last night for a “green performance” of their song “House of Cards.” As Thom Yorke explains, the environmentally conscious band (one of the top ten, actually) chose not to fly from London to New York because a transatlantic flight would’ve left a carbon footprint equivalent to driving a car for a year. Check out their performance below.

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Kenneth Ellen Parcell, the perpetually cheerful NBC page from 30 Rock, opens up to this week’s EW about the top ten albums that warm his Georgia-reared heart. (“Midnight Train to Georgia” didn’t make the list, but The Golden Girls theme pops up twice!) Here’s Kenneth’s list along with his commentary:

1. TV LAND PRESENTS: FAVORITE TV THEME SONGS
Various Artists

This is the best album ever! I especially love Cynthia Fee’s rendition of ”Thank You for Being a Friend.”

2. TRACY JORDAN’S WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT LOVE
Tracy Jordan

Listening to this album is just like hanging out with Mr. Jordan: It makes me cry and dance!

3. SOOTHING SOUNDS FOR SLEEP 

Hush Little Baby

This white-noise album makes me feel like a baby again…a baby out in a rain forest!

4. DULCEM TUNES
Colonel Tugbeard Band

There is truly nothing better to have on your Zune during a Civil War reenactment!

5. E=MC2
Mariah Carey

The high notes really make my parakeet dance!

6. AUTHENTIC SOUND EFFECTS, VOL. 4
Keith Holzman

After some glaring missteps on Authentic Sound Effects, Vol. 2, Mr. Holzman has recaptured the magic from Vol. 1. So many versions of ”Boiling Water”!

7. I didn’t list one here, because my family considers 7 an unlucky number. Because of the deadly sins. And days of the week.

8. CERTIFIED HITS
Crystal Gayle

Ms. Gayle has hair to brush for days, and ”Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” always makes me think of the special contact lenses I have to get for Ms. Maroney.

9. USA (UNITED STATE OF ATLANTA)
Ying Yang Twins

I don’t understand most of the lyrics here, but these guys are from Atlanta!

10. ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO
Andrew Gold

So many things to love. For starters, it says heaven right in the title! I also love his rendition of Cynthia Fee’s rendition of ”Thank You for Being a Friend.”

Below, Hypeful put together a l’il playlist of songs based on Kenneth’s faves - including Je Suis France’s ace cover of (you guessed it) “Thank You For Being A Friend”!

MP3s:
Je Suis France - “Thank You For Being A Friend”
Cynthia Fee - “Thank You for Being a Friend”
Tracy Jordan - “It’s a Jordan Christmas!”
Tracy Jordan - “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah”
Mariah Carey - “Touch My Body”
Crystal Gayle - “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”
Ying Yang Twins ft Pitbull - “Shake”
Andrew Gold - “Thank You For Being A Friend”

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Can you believe it’s been almost five months since the last episode of The Office? Thankfully, the series returned last night with plenty of hilarity, brutally awkward moments, and - oh, yes! - a soundtrack of cringe-inducing coffee-shop tunes courtesy of Jan’s former assistant Hunter! Last night’s ep (”Dinner Party”) revealed that Hunter’s band (The Hunted) released a CD featuring a song (”That One Night”) that seems to imply cougar Jan took her assistant’s virginity. Another fun fact: the music for “That One Night” was written by Todd Fancy of The New Pornographers!

If you’re interested in winning an exclusive copy of “The Hunted” CD (that you could share with Hypeful, of course!), Dunder Mifflin Infinity has released a forty-five second clip of the song and are asking fans to create a music video! If you want Jan’s Serenity Candles, however, you’re going to have to pay to smell Merlot Morning…

MP3:
The Hunted - “That One Night”

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The good news? Flight of the Conchords are returning for a second television season! The bad news? The new episodes won’t be airing until January 2009. Luckily, there’s three great ways to help pass the time waiting for Bret & Jermaine’s return. First, the band recommends checking out the Australian mockumentary series Summer Heights High (enjoy it with a big, delicious gallon of beer). Second, you can check out the Grammy-winning duo’s debut full-length album Flight of the Conchords (not produced by Quincy Jones’ brother) on April 22nd. Finally, if you’re lucky, you can see the Australians New Zealanders perform live on their upcoming tour. (Will Murray be present for some dates?). Check out the songs below and the first episode of Summer Heights High is after the jump!

MP3s:
Flight of the Conchords - “Ladies of the World”
Flight of the Conchords - “Business Time”

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R.E.M. dropped by The Colbert Report last night to chat Accelerate, perform “Supernatural Superserious,” and try to avoid looking at Stephen’s elevated crotch. (Michael Stipe to Colbert: “If you will, just keep your legs crossed.”) It was a great segment - maybe they’ll be invited back for “Rock and Awe: Countdown to Guitarmageddon 2″…

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Having apparently consumed an entire Oktoberfest, a very drunk Adam Green appeared on German talkshow TV total last week where he sat in the host’s lap, joked about serving in Iraq with Hanson, and performed his new single “Mornign After Midnight.” Too bad Adam didn’t take a page from the DeVito/Limoncello playbook when he was on The View back in January. American talkshows need more drunken interviews and Tracy Morgan, Quentin Tarantino, and Paula Abdul can’t do it all themselves!

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Andrew W.K. draws musical inspiration from a wide variety of sources - like partying, partying, and…um, political shoutfest The McLaughlin Group. Although host John McLaughlin only makes Hypeful think of Dana Carvey (“Wrong!!!”), AWK put together a song for Fair Game with lyrics drawn from the following strange exchange that occurred between McLaughlin and Pat Buchanan:

MCLAUGHLIN: Question: Does Romney’s endorsement seal the deal? Is McCain now the inevitable Republican nominee? I ask you, Pat.
BUCHANAN: John, absent celestial intervention, I think he’s going to get the nomination.
MCLAUGHLIN: Absent what?
BUCHANAN: Celestial intervention.
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, it happens, Pat. May he rest in peace, Paul Wellstone. John Heinz was killed in an airplane crash.
BUCHANAN: Well, let’s not speculate on it.
MCLAUGHLIN: Death comes in the night on cats’ paws, Pat. You never know.
BUCHANAN: On little cats’ feet. That’s the fog, John, that comes in on little cats’ feet.
MCLAUGHLIN: I changed it to cat - Sandberg be damned.

You can listen to Andrew further explain why he is so inspired by Mclaughlin’s artistry/poetry here, or just listen to the song below. Someone should totally put together a “Wrong!!! Remix”…

MP3:
Andrew W.K. - “McLaughlin Groove”

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With Spin covers and MTV promos behind them, Vampire Weekend continued their white hot trajectory to super-mega buzz band with an appearance on this past weekend’s Saturday Night Live. Backed up by a small string section, the band sounded (to quote Amy Poehler during the episode) like a fierce hot tranny mess - which means to say they were great, I think…

VIDEOS:
Vampire Weekend - “A-Punk”

Vampire Weekend - “M79″

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If you’ve tuned into MTV over the past week or so, you’ve probably noticed in between seemingly marathon episodes of The Hills that the network has been airing brief promos featuring Vampire Weekend (including one where frontman Ezra Koenig confesses his hatred of Spencer Pratt). Obviously the talented band had plenty of buzz without being co-opted by MTV, so it’s awesome to see a longer spot featured on the network where the guys humbly and entertainingly promote safe sex rather than themselves. Although it may be easier to imagine the Columbia-educated band fighting werewolves rather than riding a city bus, the clip is amusing and contains more prophylactic slang than a Diablo Cody spec script!

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