M.I.A. is now a calm and more subdued musician. This is more mainstream music than ‘Galang’ and safer than ‘Bucky Done Gun’ I’m not sure safer is the correct word by I’m going with it. I know what I mean. The video is wonderful. It’s directed by Romain Gavras, the genius behind M.I.A.’s own controversial ‘Born Free’ and Justice’s ‘Stress’. I’m pretty sure that’s the one with the gangs in a highrise. I could be wrong though because I haven’t checked my facts. That was a bit controversial as well I think. There is a pattern forming here.

As a slight aside, it is hosted on Vice’s new youtube channel, noisey. Can I just say that the branding looks great. Apart from the colourful ‘O’. I’m not sold on that. Other than that, well done Vice.

Check out The Maccabees’ video for ‘Feel to Follow’ on this Friday and then #followfriday the band on twitter. And me while you’re there if you like.

I won’t lie, Fleet Foxes bore me at times. I appreciate the quality within and undoubted quality, but they do just bore me at times. The drummer, Josh Tillman, does not however. Here he is with his solo project thing he calls Father John Misty. The video to the pretty damn excellent ‘Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings’ goes even more exciting. It features Aubrey Plaza. For those that don’t watch Parks & Recreation (you fools), she plays one of the top three characters in the show. The other two are Ron Swanson (obviously) and Jean-Ralphio since you ask. Anyway, she’s in the video and this is obviously a good thing. Father John is also giving the track away as a free download. You can get it off the fancy new html5 soundcloud wotsit below.

this is the cast of cheers. that’s right, it is norm, ted danson and the fella that does the voice of the pig in toy story. brilliant. i imagine that is the first time that joke has ever been made. i’m the louis ck of the music blog world. anyway, if you’ve quite recovered from that hilarity, enjoy two minutes and twenty seconds of involuntary head jolting via their new video. and if you like that you’ll love the remix, which you can download below.

the kills have been going for ten years. ten years. that’s quite a long time. i love the kills. they’ve got in hollywood start samantha morton to direct the video for the beautiful ‘the last goodbye’. it starts with alison in a photo booth. about two minutes in, jamie pops up as well. not just is alison looking very helena bonham carter, but jamie is looking very noah taylor. it’s uncanny.

i would hope that nobody reading this blog doesn’t like bos angeles. i’m not in the habit of trying to shed readers, but if you do dislike them you have two choices. listen to ‘days of youth’ on repeat until you can’t enjoy life without hearing it or kindly leave and never return. i’m sorry to be harsh, but sometimes it is the only way. what a band bos angeles really are.

as an early indication of why 2012 will be the year of the niki & the dove, here’s their brand new video for ‘dj ease my mind’. another soaring synthy pop single with that little bit of je ne sais pas, malin and gustaf have yet again struck gold.

if i was in the habit of tipping bands for 2012, san cisco would be right up there. how fucking catchy is this? i think i even prefer it to ‘golden revolver‘, which i loved (loved so much in fact that i almost used capital letters there). seriously, what a song. i suppose you could compare them to metronomy in that this is very simple but effective pop. also they have a female drummer who sometimes sings. if you delve a bit further into the band though, you’ll find that there is a whole lot more to them than just an australian metronomy and i look forward to seeing what route they take. i also really like the lead singer’s shirt. i think i might be a little chunky to pull it off though as it looks quite thin and has a straight cut.

my reasons for posting this are numerous. firstly the song is pretty much brilliant. beautiful in fact. beautiful. also it is produced by gold panda. who doesn’t like gold panda? nobody. it just helps make the song as beautiful as mentioned just a few words before these words. the only reason is that it is the directorial debut of joshua kissi from street etiquette. you’ll know him from the cooler.blogs.than.this link over to your right. the video looks just as good as you’d expect.

just because.