OK Go

(cool vinyl Sound Wave sculpture by Jean Shin)

A sparkling new OK Go Spotify playlist for January, curated by Damian. Hear it at Spotify, or quietly absorb the songs by carefully reading the words below.

“Groovy Little Thing” – Beres Hammond
“Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” – The Shirelles
“Everything I Own” – Ken Boothe
“Life is Good” – Los Lobos
“Sincerely” – The Moonglows
“The Clapping Song” – Shirley Ellis
“Bo Diddley” – Bo Diddley
“Just Won’t Do Right” – James Brown
“Get Related” – Wild At Heart
“I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)” – The Temptations
“To Kingdom Come” – Passion Pit
“Scale It Back” – DJ Shadow
“Oviedo” – Blind Pilot
“Boomerang 2005″ – DANI
“Take Time To Know Her” – Percy Sledge
“It Ain’t What You Do It’s the Way That You Do It” – Fun Boy Three and Bananarama
“Green Lights” – Aloe Blacc
“He Venido” – Los Zafiros
“High On Your Love” – Kings For Forth

Ho ho ho, happy Hanukkah, glorious Kwanzaa, and bitchin’ Boxing Day all. It also would’ve been former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson’s 99th birthday today, too. So there’s that. Anyway you slice it, ’tis the season.

To celebrate all of this and so much more, we offer a free mp3 of “The Greatest Song I Ever Heard,” originally recorded for Morgan Spurlock’s POM Wonderful Presents… The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. One more thing you don’t have to buy this week. And if you already bought it–thanks!–and enjoy this free app that involves battling a giant man-eating holiday fruitcake.

Listen to the brand new OK Go Spotify playlist for December!

“Hand Clapping Song” – The Meters
“Crave You” (radio edit) – Fight Facilities feat. Giselle
“That Ain’t Right” – PYYRAMIDS
“Midnight City” – M83
“VINC3NT COM3 ON DOWN” – Brainiac
“Peek-A-Boo” – Siouxsie and the Banshees
“Mer Du Japon” – Air
“Bad Feeling” – Veronica Falls
“Mont Chaberton” – Ali Renault
“Anticipate” – Skream feat. Sam Frank
“City Kids” – Dirtyphonics
“Let’s Go” – Hurricane Bells
“My Expertise” – Debate Team
“Bizness” – Tune-Yards
“Perfect Picture” – PYYRAMIDS
“To The Stars” (original mix) – Feed Me
“Nerd Mountain” – Adam Benjamin, Shane Endsley, Kaveh Rastegar, Ben Wendel, and Nate Wood

Did anybody else have that weird dream about OK Go randomly showing up at gas stations in Brazil in a mirrored truck, playing a few songs, and disappearing into the night? And showing one of those gigs on the internet, where the band was replaced by swirling and pulsing Twitter and Facebook avatars? You’re not alone! While Japanese scientists are hard at work trying to visualize people’s dreams using some new-fangled brain-scanners, here’s some tangible, streamable proof that all of the above actually happened.

You can watch the tweet-pixelated evidence below or go relive the dream by inserting your social selves (and those of your friends) into an interactive OK Go live video. Other compelling and convincing documentation includes this Facebook photo gallery.

Are you Brazilian? Do you live in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro? Consider this a spoiler alert, then. Because this is totally going to kill the surprise if you walk around a corner next week and randomly see OK Go playing on the back of a truck. Sorry for ruining it, but warning you in advance seems only right and fair if you want to catch one of these special shows. But even if you can’t make it to South America, you can still join in the fun.

You can watch Twitter and Facebook all week for exclusive videos of the guys hanging out south of the equator, but you can also participate in the project via a new microsite launched today where you can create tweet-pixelated versions of your favorite OK Go videos. The trip down south will culminate with a sure-to-be super-excellent one-song live-stream performance from the streets of Rio that will transform into the world’s first participatory tweet-pixelated video. Confused? Simply follow the instructions on the site and beam your messages and avatars in using Facebook and Twitter to watch your contributions swirl into the mix. Check out the schedule below, and stay tuned for more surprise shows we’ll announce soon, including the aforementioned live-stream event!

And, if you’re in São Paulo or Rio: please be patient. This might also be the first rock tour in history where the venue could literally get stuck in traffic instead of the audience. In the meantime, some mood music.

OK Go in Brazil – all times approximate

November 19th in São Paulo:

16:00 GALERIA DO ROCK – AV. SAO JOAO 439 CEP 01035-000

21:45 TREVO ESTACIONAMENTO – RUA AUGUSTA ALTURA DO NÚMERO 700 (ESQUINA COM RUA DONA ANTÔNIA DE QUEIRÓS), CEP 01304-001

November 20th in São Paulo:
19:00: AV. BRIGADEIRO FARIA LIMA, 3825, CEP 04538-133 (EM FRENTE AO POSTO DE GASOLINA), ITAIM BIBI

21:45: OPEN BAR, RUA HENRIQUE SCHAUMANN, 794, CEP 05413-011

November 23rd in Rio de Janeiro:
17:00: AV. VIEIRA SOUTO, ALTURA DO NUMERO 110, IPANEMA, CEP 22420-000

21:00: AV. MARACANÃ, ALTURA DO NÚMERO 766, PRAÇA VARNHAGEN, MARACANÃ, CEP 20511-060, 21H

November 24th in Rio de Janeiro:
21:00: BAIXO GÁVEA, PRAÇA SANTOS DUMONT, ALTURA DO NUMERO 108, CEP 22470-060

November 25th in Rio de Janeiro:

13:00: PRAÇA FLORIANO, ALTURA DO NÚMERO 55, CINELÂNDIA, CENTRO, CEP 20031-050

23:00: AV. MEM DE SÁ, ALTURA DO NUMERO 47, LAPA, CEP 20230-150

It’s not everyday that Tim puts out a mysterious new project. But this week, that day happened to be Monday, and the project is Human Beings, the debut EP by PYYRAMIDS, Tim’s collaboration with Drea Smith, formerly of He Say She Say.

It contains almost a half-dozen new songs by Tim and Drea — dark and dancy, with lots of messy heartbreak, and other things ideal for these long autumn nights. You can hear it in all kinds of ways. We recommend the 10-inch vinyl but, hey, you can get mp3s, too.

And videos. Oh, yes, there are videos. Use your webcam to make an interactive video for “That Ain’t Right.” Or watch the blurry, love-achy version that Ericka Clevenger directed below.

October 31st is Halloween and while we’re sure you already have plans for all kinds of costumed debauchery, sugar consumption, TPing of one-percenters, and the like, we feel you should be aware of all your options. Because Halloween is also the release date of Human Beings, the debut EP by PYYRAMIDS, led by none other than Timothy (“Tim”) Nordwind of OK Go and Drea Smith, formerly of He Say She Say. It also happens to be the first release on OK Go’s Paracadute label not by OK Go themselves, which we think is rather awesome in and of itself.

The music is strange and moody and even kind of spooky, perfect for Halloween. So go ahead and listen to the whole Human Beings EP. It’s available as delicious high-quality mp3s or 10-inch vinyl (!!). Tim and Drea are prepping for some more live shows in the Los Angeles area. Join the mailing list for updates, plus a sweet free mp3. They’d love to have you. And, hey, even if you do plan on deploying some good old-fashioned TP, you’re gonna need a soundtrack for that, right?

BANDmade Books and OK Go are teaming up to make a book. What’s it about? We can’t tell you yet. What’s in it? Your clothing!

Combining a 12th century technique called “rag paper” and more modern methods, the good folks at BANDmade will shred the living bejeesus out of your old clothing and process it into pulp using a hollander beater. They will then form individual pages one at a time with a mould and deckle. (A what and a what?)

Now all they need is your old clothing. Below are BANDmade’s quick ‘n’ easy instructions on how to go convey your old clothing to them so they can turn it into something like the above. Except filled with all kinds of OK Go goodness.

1.) Round up your old white cotton, hemp, or linen shirts, pants, bedsheets, tablecloths, and the like. We are looking for white but we understand that old white isn’t always super-white. That’s okay. Don’t worry if your shirt has a colored image on it. As long as the rest of the shirt is white we can accept it.

(1a. Notice how we didn’t ask for your socks or underwear. That was intentional.)

2.) Look at all the tags and make sure they are 100% cotton, hemp, linen, or a blend of these fibers. We cannot accept any fibers other than cotton, hemp, or linen, so if there’s no tag, please don’t send it to us. 5% lycra is not acceptable. It’s all or nothing with rag paper.

3.) Box up what you have and mail it to:

BANDmade Books
1090 Eddy Street, #104
San Francisco, CA 94109

4.) Check BANDmade’s site as well as OK Go’s Twitter and Facebook accounts to watch as your clothing is transformed.

5.) Patience, grasshopper. Handmade books take time!

Need something to listen to this weekend, next week, or even right now? Check out this bandmember-curated playlist on Spotify. Or if you haven’t registered for Spotify yet, here it is in silent but awesome text form:

“Vibes and Stuff” – Tribe Called Quest
“Feather” – Little Dragon
“Wildfire” – SBTRKT
“Swagga” – Excision & Datsik
“True Love” – Hooray For Earth
“Trouble” – Lindsay Buckingham
“When U Were Mine” – Cindi Lauper
“Take It Or Leave It” – Computer Magic
“Shanghai Girls” – Io Echo
“Mais Non, Mais Non – Henri Salvador
“A Thousand Hours” – The Cure
“Groovin’” – Willie Mitchell
“Fugue In D Minor” – Egg
“Imperials” – Ratatat
“Our House” – Crosby, Stills, and Nash
“Dance Floor pt. 1″ – Zapp
“Born Under A Bad Sign” – Richard Hawley
“High On Your Love” – Kings Go Forth
“Sunspots” – Julian Cope
“Blood Money” – 10 Ft. Ganja Plant
“Don’t Give Up On Me” – Solomon Burke
“Only You” – Yaz
“You Broke My Heart” – Lavender Diamond