New xx demo: "Open Eyes".

As if the cosmos were somehow listening to my thoughts, just as I started a pleasant rediscovery of the xx's first album, the internet bears me a gift of new xx material.  Here we have "Open Eyes", a very stripped down version of a new song off of the in-progress sophomore effort.  Sophomore albums are scary ones.  Great bands have crumbled beneath awkward attempts to evolve (Wolf Parade) and some have thrived (Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver).  Hopefully when all the bells and whistles are added to this one, it retains what sounds like a solid core.

New video: Panda Bear - "You Can Count On Me"

Hello again!  A couple days ago Panda Bear released an official music video for one of my favorite songs of the past year: "You Can Count On Me".  If you've been to a Panda Bear show, the video largely looks like the visuals designed by Danny Perez that project on the stage.  There's even a puppy in there...

So here you are, enjoy!

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Hello!  I'm not dead!  The semester is finally wrapping up.  My first screenplay is written (not without very obvious continuity errors BUT HEY I'M TRYIN'), my final portfolio for poetry is coming along, and it's almost EFFIN CHRISTMAS.  Anyway, I was shoppin' today and heard this in a store.  I demanded the clerk tell me who it was.  When they said, "I don't know."  I stood there silently and insisted with my eyes that they find the hell out.  They did.  Turns out it was Unknown Mortal Orchestra, a Portland based group who makes something that sounds like friendly and sometimes heavy Beefheart-esque pop with a hint of hauntology.  Got the album right when I got home.

Here's the song I heard.  Enjoy.  It's awesome for shopping for sweaters to.