Blog: Bears and Bullets

The Kills made another late night television appearance last night, performing the continually somber "The Last Goodbye" on Letterman . Keeping it short, Jamie and Allison are still both wearing leather jackets, which I imagine they sleep in, and Allison's hair was slightly bananas. Watch below.

I'm usually not one for off-hand remixes, but Shabazz Palaces altered rendition of Battles ' "White Electric" is pretty on the spot. It's a little side-project for the group, who are releasing four separate remixed 12" parts of last year's album Gloss Drop , with plenty of good artists set to help out. I'll keep an eye on it, but for now listen to "White Electric" below.

Dana Buoy, better known as Dana Janssen of Akron/Family , released "Call To Be," the first single from his upcoming album Summer Bodies . Listen to Janssen's single below and grab the album May 8, via Lefse Records . Dana Buoy - Call To Be by Bears and Bullets

A little while back, Beach Fossils premiered their newest single "Shallow," a bouncy, shining, but typically good Beach Fossils-esque outlet. In preparation for the release of their "Shallow" 7", the band also released the single's B-Side, "Lessons." Check it out below, and grab the single February 21 via Captured Tracks . Beach Fossils - Lessons by Bears and Bullets

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Fresh off last week's cutie-cameo on Portlandia , Annie Clark ( St. Vincent ) premiered her newest video for "Cheerleader," the most-recent single from the Dallas-native's acclaimed third LP Strange Mercy . Watch the video of a giantess Clark below, and grab the aforementioned album now via 4AD .

After last week's debacle of Lana Del Rey , in whatever form you may find it more comforting to explain (along with a good impersonation from Kristin Wiig on last Saturday's show), Justin Vernon and the rest of Bon Iver made their first appearance on the Channing Tatum-hosted Saturday Night Live . Just a week before the 53rd Grammy Awards , in which the aforementioned group is up for several awards, including 'Best New Artist,' despite being relevant for four-plus years now, Bon Iver performed a spectacular rendition of "Holocene" and [...]

Things got exciting a few weeks back when The Shins returned with their first new material in nearly five years with the exceptional " Simple Song ." In addition to the recently reunited group (still led by James Mercer, but with different band members along the way) scheduling a handful of tour dates, including Coachella and Sasquatch! appearances, the band released the B-Side to "Simple Song" earlier today, "September." The "Simple Song/September" 7" will be available February 14 via Columbia Records . You can watch the lyric video for "September" below, [...]

Sasquatch! , held every year in the Pacific Northwest, isn't regarded as one of the bigger music festivals in the United States, but is usually regarded as one of the best. Last year, festival organizers enlisted the talents of the Foo Fighters , Wilco , Death Cab for Cutie , Modest Mouse , The Flaming Lips , and lot more over the course of four (yes, four) days. While that may be fairly impressive for what isn't regarded as one of the year's bigger events, this year's does boast a fairly heavy - [...]

John McCauley of Deer Tick - Out On The Weekend (Neil Young) from Rollo & Grady Sessions on Vimeo .

Beach Fossils are planning the release of their newest single "Shallow" later this month (February 21, via Captured Tracks ), which is also expected to be on the band's next LP. Listen below.

While Grizzy Bear may be prepping for a new album later this year, members of the band have been doing a lot in the mean time. Ed Droste was recently married, Chris Taylor released his first studio album as CANT last fall, and now Daniel Rossen is set to release his own solo studio effort. We heard Rossen's first song " Saint Nothing ," off the upcoming Silent Hour/Golden Mile EP a few weeks back, but "Silent Song" is more assuredly worth your time. Listen below.

There shouldn't be much of a reason why I ask you to watch the new Trailer Trash Tracys ' video for "Engelhardt's Arizona." The 'Here-there-everywhere' imagery play, spliced with the song's languid, off-center pace combine for a deceivingly memorable output. You watch.

Earlier today, High 5 Collective , the group that premiered their unofficial video for The Weeknd 's " The Morning " a few weeks back, released another unofficial video for "Montreal." Watch below.

Pretty Lights debuted his newest video for "We Must Go On" earlier today, another particularly well-done trip hop cut set with street shots. If you're trying to recognize where the video is, don't bother. The shots come from all across North America and Europe. Watch below.

Shabazz Palaces debuted their new video for (and this is the title) "Are You ... Can You ... Were You?(Felt)" earlier today, a spectacularly well-shot and well-paced video directed by Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes. The video features an incredibly attractive woman dealing with somewhat normal problems, placated by slip-ins of Shabazz-centric imagery. Watch below. And it goes without saying that Black Up , Shabazz Palaces' latest album, is available now and must-listen.

It's been a long time coming. Ever since the effective end of the White Stripes , it's all been a matter of the waiting game until Jack White would truly release some real solo material. And while I can't imagine this will hault the eventual work of The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs , it's better than five-minute shots on Storage Wars. Listen to White's first single "Love Interrupted" below, and grab his first solo album Blunderbuss this April.

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Forgive me for not knowing too much (okay, anything) about BADBADNOTGOOD . There's not a ton of information out there, but from what I can tell from the group's Youtube channel, is that they're fairly high-caliber hip-hop instrumentalists. Most of the videos are worth a viewing, but the video for "Orange Juice" below featuring Tyler, The Creator is pretty fucking spectacular. Watch below.

Tennis ' new song "My Better Self" has pretty much made its way around the internet already today, but in case you haven't gotten a chance to listen yourself, it's available to stream below.