Hey! It’s another Tom Scharpling directed video! This time Real Estate’s stream team (including Gabe) are heading into mafia thug territory, but with good cause.

Watch Real Estate’s video for “Easy” on Funny or Die

White Rabbits are offering their new track “Heavy Metal” off as a free download in exchange for your email address. It’s weird; I’ve done dozens of these things and no one has ever sent me an email newsletter or anything. Milk Famous is out March 6.

Xiu Xiu’s new album Always will be released March 6 on Polyvinyl. “Hi,” our first listen to the record, sounds like the most dramatic, paranoid dance track you’ll ever hear.

Track list after the jump.

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Here’s the short (non) story about why my girlfriend and I received the only Christmas card mailed out by Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag and Portlandia fame.

Carrie posted on Twitter that she’d found an addressed, but not addressed Christmas card on the side of the road. I suggested she mail it to my girlfriend, Pamela, who was around this time collecting the cards we’d received for use in a holiday display. Being that I shot my address over with the suggestion, she picked us and dropped it in the mail.

There’s nothing exciting about the actual card (outside, inside), but it was pretty cool that I was randomly mailed a card by an artist who made one of my favorite albums of the year.

So if you’re a Pamela who was waiting on a Christmas card from Heather in Portland, you can at least feel happy that it wound up in good hands.

Justin from Bishop Allen has started a new project with his wife, Darbie Nowatka. You might remember her beautiful voice from one of Bishop Allen’s most popular songs, “Butterfly Nets.” So yeah, this is a team-up that I can get behind 100%.

MP3: The Last Names – The Dirt
MP3: The Last Names – Dead Reckoning
The biggest compliment I can give these tracks is that I think for a lot of people this isn’t going to be the “Bishop Allen side-project.” These tracks are melodic, sweet and everything you want from a guy/girl pop duo. You can also snag a third free track at their bandcamp.

The Last Names have also started a fun little project on their tumblr. Every week they’re posting a new cover song for free download. This week they did Dire Straits.

MP3: The Last Names – So Far Away (Dire Straits cover)

Last Names on Facebook | Tumblr | Bandcamp.

Knoxville group COOLRUNNINGS just shared two new songs: the new track “Spirit of the High” and “Rock Yr Baby,” a George McCrae cover.

MP3: COOLRUNNINGS – Spirit of the High
MP3: COOLRUNNINGS- Rock Yr Baby (George McCrae)
COOLRUNNINGS polished up their enjoyably rough sound for these tracks. “Spirit of the High” steps a bit toward reverb riff-rock territory, but “Rock Yr Baby” does its best to dirty up a classic track.

COOLRUNNINGS on Bandcamp

Of Montreal let slip another song from their upcoming record Paralytic Stalks, due out out Feb 7th on Polyvinyl.

MP3: Of Montreal – Dour Percentage
This track brings in a new range of instruments under Of Montreal’s ever-increasing production umbrella. It’s still a free-flow dance track, but it seems to live in Sufjan’s Disney forest of woodwind instruments.

YANP-buddy Reese Richardson is a hard guy to keep track of. He’s got a great solo project going on, but has a strong thing going with NO as well. They’re an LA-based group which makes things all the more confusing since I swear I see him in town every month or so.

MP3: NO – Stay With Me
NO are a very strong group that share a lot with the National through both melody and vocal style. Songs like “Stay With Me” broadcast their emotional level before the lyrics have gotten far enough to paint you a full picture.

NO on Bandcamp

When Wooden Wand was working* on raising money for the now-released Briarwood, one of the things he offered to fans is that he’d record a cover song of your choosing. One dedicated fan donated to the cause and asked him to cover Pink Floyd’s “Echoes.” Not the choice my mind would first go to, but the end result is great.

MP3: Wooden Wand – Echoes (Pink Floyd)

So big thanks to Wooden Wand fan and apparent YANP-reader Brian for sending this in!