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Lester Bangs on Astral Weeks: http://personal.cis.strath.ac.uk/~murray/astral.html

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Young the Giant's "My Body", the first single from their eponymously titled debut album, is one catchy number. We play a snatch of it from their Jools Holland appearance on May 3rd, 2011, as well as some highlights from a rowdy, stage diving filled performance from Slim's in San Francisco, shot on April 22nd by the good folks at http://intheopen.tv/. Last November, the group were featured on Billboard Magazine's "Tastemakers" show, where they played "I Got" at the Mophonics recording studio in Manhattan. These guys seem like they're on the verge of big things.

A new record from Emmylou Harris is always cause for celebration, and the April 26th, 2011 release of "Hard Bargain" is no exception. The twenty-sixth record from the country music legend is a beautiful, if bittersweet affair, touching on absent friends as well as personal and historical recollections. "Darlin' Kate" is a sorrowful lament for her friend Kate McGarrigle, beautifully captured by NPR's cameras during SXSW in March, while Six White Cadillacs is an groovy, upbeat country blues number that clearly impressed the audience on the David Letterman Show. We also play a little of "This is Us" from her underrated collaboration with Mark Knopfler in 2006, as well as "Boulder to Birmingham", the song that first distinguished her as a lyricist back in the 70s.

At this point in his career, Steve Earle isn't content with just making music -- his latest album "I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive" comes with a full-length novel, and the Virginian country rocker has made a bit of a name for himself as a character actor on shows like the Wire and Treme. We've got clips from those two shows: his portrait of recovering drug-addict "Waylon" on the former, and as the street musician "Harley" on the latter, as well as a bit of "Every Part of Me" performed on Letterman on April 29th, 2011, and the chilling "CCKMP" from the Texas Connection way back in 1991.

Wolfgang's ...