Yesterday-o!

Hawksley Workman's latest video, We Dance To Yesterday, features the singer-songwriter as a gum-chewing roadie on a Japanese game show. Will he wear the same rockin' wig when he performs March 14 at the Winspear Centre? Is there any way to see his set, then rush over to the EEC to catch Vampire Weekend?

The first of Workman's two new albums, Meat, will be released next Tuesday, Jan. 19. Vampire Weekend's Contra is in stores TODAY.

"There's no such name as Brahbrah!"

Oh man, I can't get enough of the second season of Flight of the Conchords. Too bad it's their last. Sniff. I guess they really ARE vincible. I wonder if Jemaine Clement's film, Gentlemen Broncos, will ever open in Edmonton?

YEG gigs: Mangan, E & A, Woodhands

* Rising star Dan Mangan will perform Feb. 5 at The Haven Social Club. Tickets are $15 plus service charges at Ticketmaster.

* Eyedea and Abilities: Feb. 3 @ Brixx Bar & Grill. Ticket info to be announced soon.

* Woodhands with Brasstronaut: Feb. 24 @ Pawn Shop. Tickets are $12.50 plus service charges at Ticketmaster, Blackbyrd and Megatunes.

No fang you

“Somebody approached us before we signed a record deal (with XL): ‘We have this thing, we’ll buy your songs outright and give you a flat fee for it.’ Then, Ezra (Koenig) and I were hanging out for a second, after we had that meeting, thinking ‘OK, let’s try to demo these songs, see what we can offer to them.’ Thankfully, we didn’t …” -- multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend

Read my interview with Batmanglij and drummer Chris Tomson in Saturday's Edmonton Journal. Vampire Weekend's second album, Contra, is in stores Tuesday, Jan. 12. The band performs Sunday, March 14 at Edmonton Event Centre.

Sci-fi Stroke?

"I got music coming out of my hands and feet and kisses." -- Julian Casablancas

January releases

Jan. 5
Ke$ha, Animal (RCA)
Katharine McPhee, Unbroken (Verve)

Jan. 12
Vampire Weekend, Contra (XL)
Owen Pallett, Heartland (For Greater Justice/Domino)
OK Go, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (Capitol/EMI)
Deric Ruttan, Sunshine (Black T/EMI)
Miley Cyrus, Time of Our Lives EP (Hollywood)
The Paperbacks, Lit From Within (Parliament of Trees)
Kate Maki, Two Song Wedding (Confusion)
Esmee Denters, Outta Here (Interscope)

Jan. 19
Spoon, Transference (Merge)
Hawksley Workman, Meat (Six Shooter)
Scout Niblett, The Calcination of Scout Niblett (Drag City)
Eels, End Times (Vagrant)
k.d. lang, a truly western experience - 25th Anniversary Edition (Bumstead)
Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston: 25th Anniversary Edition (Sony)
We Are The City, In A Quiet World (Independent)
Motion City Soundtrack, My Dinosaur Life (Sony)
The Sojourners, The Sojourners (Vancouver/Black Hen)
Leif Vollebekk, Inland (Nevado)

Jan. 26
David Bowie, A Reality Tour (Sony)
The Magnetic Fields, Realism (Nonesuch)
Beach House, Teen Dream (Sub Pop)
Retribution Gospel Choir, 2 (Sub Pop)
Woodhands, Remorsecapade (Paper Bag)
Basia Bulat, Heart of My Own (Secret City)
Oh No Ono, Eggs (Friendly Fire)
Pat Metheny, Orchestrion (Warner)
Postdata, Postdata (Halifax/Sonic)
Joan of Arc, Joan of Arc Presents: Don't Mind Control (Polyvinyl)
Barry Manilow, The Greatest Love Songs of All Time (Sony)
Alesana, The Emptiness (Fearless)
Gorevette, The Lustfully Yours EP (Strange Girl)
Pit Er Pat, The Flexible Entertainer (Thrill Jockey)

A parade of Vampires

Edmonton is about to be dazzled by another group of bloodsuckers – of the indie-rock variety. Vampire Weekend will perform Sunday, March 14 at the Edmonton Event Centre as part of their first cross-Canada tour. Tickets are $27.50 plus service charges. On sale: Friday, Jan. 8 at Ticketmaster.

The New York hipsters, who owe a huge debt to Paul Simon’s Graceland, released their self-titled debut in 2008. Their second album, Contra, which mixes Afro-Cuban rhythms with Ezra Koenig’s eccentric lyrics, will be in stores Jan. 12. Fans can now listen to it on the band’s MySpace page.