Ear on TV: Week of 05.17.10: Band Of Horses

Indie Americana group Band of Horses are set to release their third album, Infinite Arms this week, and you can hear three songs from the album next week on the season finale for Chuck. The South Carolina-by-way-of-Seattle band licensed three songs from the album for the third season ender for the NBC show, a series which has featured the band a couple times in the past. Whether they coordinated their release date with the finale, nobody's confessing, but it's a pretty savvy move for their major label debut.

Last month, the band played three songs on Later with Jools Holland in the UK, and their first two albums instantly jumped into the UK Billboard's Top 200 for the first time. It'll be harder to pull that off when they play The Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday night, but between that appearance and the Chuck exposure, their major label debut has been given at least marginally better odds for success.

Meanwhile, I was sad to hear yesterday of the death of legendary heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, Heaven and Hell). The Revolver Golden Gods Awards, airing this Saturday on VH1 Classic, features the last public appearance by diminutive Dio (scroll down for video of interview), who lost his battle with stomach cancer. The heavy metal awards show also features appearances by other legendary frontmen of rock like Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford (Judas Priest), and Lemmy (Motorhead), along with help from Dave Grohl, Slash and hosted by Andrew "Party Hard" W.K. Just typing those names makes my neck sore.


Finally, gracing us with her presence on this planet this week is the one and only Janelle Monae, whose fascination with Fritz Lang's Metropolis has led to some crazy stage shows and a planned four-part conceptual suite. Her debut full length studio release, The ArchAndroid, continues the robot obsession and features two more Metropolis suite contributions along with guest appearances from Of Montreal, Saul Williams and Outkast's Big Boi. How locked into Sci-Fi is the Atlanta resident? She appeared as herself on Stargate Universe last year.

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, May 17
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Public Image Ltd.
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Shooter Jennings (REPEAT)
TBS: Lopez Tonight: Weezer
Tuesday, May 18
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Dirty Heads (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Janelle Monae
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Jakob Dylan
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Broken Social Scene
IFC: Dinner With the Band: YACHT (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: B.o.B. (REPEAT)
SYNDICATION: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: James Taylor & Carole King
Wednesday, May 19
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Reflection Eternal featuring Estelle
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Stone Temple Pilots
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Foxy Shazam
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Nas, Damian Marley
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Mumford & Sons
Thursday, May 20
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Slayer
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Band of Horses
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Vampire Weekend
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Between the Buried and Me
SYNDICATION: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Weezer
Friday, May 21
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Massive Attack
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Robbie Dupree
SUNDANCE: Live From Abbey Road: Seal, Counting Crows - Celebration of 40th Anniversary of The Beatles' Abbey Road recording (REPEAT)
Saturday, May 22
BBCAMERICA: The Graham Norton Show: Andrew Lloyd Webber
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Just Bieber (REPEAT)
VH1 Classic: Revolver Golden Gods Awards: Andrew W.K., Rob Halford, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio. Slash, Dave Grohl, Lemmy
Sunday, May 23
HBO: Treme: Varous artists from New Orleans