When the Decemberists held their green screen contest so fans could finish their video for "O Valencia", they only promised to air it on mtvU. We've haven't seen the winning entry yet, but in the meantime, it looks like the band have created their own official video for the song. Maybe Colin Meloy and co. just came up with a concept they liked too much to leave in the hands of amateurs.

The love-on-the-run video for "O Valencia" follows the lyrics pretty closely, which means its story is less humorous than you'd expect, and even gets a bit maudlin towards the end. But the introduction of comedic characters ("The May Day Bratva Folk Band" and "The Piano Wire Girls of Burnside") and the inter-film tableaus are a lot like those in "16 Military Wives". Both videos were directed by Aaron Stewart.

Bristol-based experimental duo Fuck Buttons have a strike against them right out of the gate: Exercising almost impossibly poor judgment, they called themselves Fuck Buttons. But in a world where even a group called something like Broken Social Scene can transcend their bandname's overwrought connotations to get at the heart of some really great music, it may not prove that great an obstacle.

Though Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power have been recording together for years, beginning this project primarily as an outlet for the kind of abrasive, face-melting carnage put forth by noise purists like Wolf Eyes, Prurient, and Forcefield, the duo has since incorporated more ethereal and melodic elements to craft a sound that more closely resembles Rainbow, Boris' more restrained recent collaboration with Ghost frontman Michio Kurihawa.

That restraint is the key to their seven-minute "Sweet Love for Planet Earth": While the vocals, buried deep in the mix, are pure throat-shred, they're a striking contrast against the twinkling keys, clacking percussion, and lush, supermelodic guitar drone.

MP3: > Fuck Buttons: "Sweet Love for Planet Earth" [MP3 only]

Who knew there was a little supergroup lurking inside Animal Collective? Last week we fawned over Panda Bear's Person Pitch, along with the rest of the independent music community, but this new recording from bandmate Avey Tare proves similarly stunning-- the other piece of the Animal Collective puzzle missing from Panda Bear's gold-hued, experimental pop.

Culled from an upcoming compilation on the newly formed Rare Book Room Records (and not from Tare's upcoming full-length collaboration with Kria Brekken), "I'm Your Eagle Kisser" unfurls in different directions. A hollow steel-string drone fades up and then out before Tare's vocals enter beneath a one-handed ragtime piano. The lyrics meander as his voice oscillates between exhaustion and shrill frustration. Eventually, some strummed acoustic guitar enters-- but Tare's voice is so entrancing in its seemingly arbitrary moods swings that it's difficult to focus on anything else.

[from the forthcoming RBR 001 compilation; due this spring on Rare Book Room Records]

Hindsight may be 20/20, but Good Shoes don't leave much time to reflect. Two minutes in, they're already gone-- and "The Photos on My Wall" fades quicker than that. But even if Good Shoes had tarried a while longer, it's unlikely to have helped their cause: "Photos" is nostalgic without recalling a specific time or place, breezy without being particularly carefree. That disconnect leaves the song feeling oddly isolated, despite that it sounds like a B-side from The Futureheads' debut.

Chalk their transgressions up to youthful arrogance, which in this case proves more of a liability than a selling point. When Rhys Jones says he stares and nods his head so that he can "leave straight when it finishes," it sounds like he's building toward a bold exit. But in truth, when the end comes, you'll hardly notice.

Stream: > Good Shoes: "The Photos On My Wall"
[from The Photos on My Wall Single; out now in the UK on Brille Records, out March 20 in the U.S.] | [ORDER]

Musician and black belt Lou Reed has been into the "healing arts," like Tai Shi and meditation, for a while. But he's traditionally kept those interests separate from his music. Well, that was then.

"Wind Coda", now streaming on Lou's MySpace page, is the first track available from his upcoming album of instrumentals titled Hudson River Wind Meditations. Nevermind that the wind off the Hudson River is nothing to meditate on-- we're just surprised to see Reed finally sharing a label (and presumably, prime real estate at Whole Foods registers) next to Oprah faves Deepak Chopra and Dr. Weil.

Designed as background music for healing bodywork and meditation practice, "Wind Coda" is little more than processed bell tones and white noise, but when played on headphones, we were surprised to find it did seem to have a soothing effect, allowing us to enter into the blissful, healing state of eternal boredom.

Stream: > Lou Reed: "Wind Coda" [MySpace]
[from Hudson River Wind Meditations; due 04/01/07 on Sounds True Records]

My Latest Novel's "The Reputation of Ross Francis", from their debut album Wolves, leads two lives. It begins as a charming, literary folk song, and ends in a swell of violins and church hall echo loud enough to snuff out candles. The subject matter works two ways, too: While the main thread tells the tale of a liar who lies about his lying to get past the gates of heaven, it also explores regret and salvation-- as the song grows louder, the protagonist begs to be given another chance at goodness.

MP3: > My Latest Novel: "Track"
[from Wolves; out now on The Worker's Institute] | [ORDER]

Clinic recite foreboding incantations on this B-side to UK single "If You Could Read Your Mind". A single fuzzy guitar saws over the tribal beat, breaking intermittently for menacing chants uttered atop windchimes. It's hard to make out what's being said through the dense echo, but words like "spirits," "angels," "lord," and "crucified" emerge, as possible references to biblical figure Bartholomew's call to apostleship-- although sonically, it more readily invokes bloody martyrdom. St. Bartholomew was flayed alive before ultimately being crucified upside down, but it's hard to tell whether Clinic are on God's side here.

[from the "If You Could Read Your Mind" UK single; out 2/07/07 on Domino] | [ORDER]

We also ran the video for "If You Could Read Your Mind" earlier this month, but you know what, we might as well post it again 'cause wtf:

We were pretty big fans of Vitalic's "Poney Pt. 1" video last year, which took the art of extreme slow-motion to new heights with shots of jumping, panting, shaking dogs of all breeds. The result was both a physics lesson and cute overload. Of course, we didn't stop to think about how applying the same effect to different species might have the opposite effect.

The video for Warp Records artist Clark's latest single, "Ted", directed by 1stAveMachine, is equally mesmerizing but for totally different reasons: Call us specist, but watching these alien-like insects flare and retract their body parts is just revolting, their steel-plated exoskeletons creepily fluid and mechanical at the same time. Naturally, their movements are edited to keep time with "Ted"s own pulsing beat, and yup, it fits: here are doughy, soft, human hands eliciting synthetic sounds from machines, while robotic, mech-like insects writhe and slither.

There was plenty to dance to on Booka Shade's Movements (the #50 entry on Pitchfork's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2006), but "Darko" was one of the disc's more cerebral tracks-- one that proved just how much they could blur the line between dancefloor-ready and headphone-ready without readily fitting either mold. And while the Darko Remixes II 12" that this track is taken from features versions by heavy-hitters Tiefschwarz and Radio Slave, lesser-known Le Grand Noir turn in the most effective reworking, crossing the t's, dotting the i's, and dragging the original like a hesitant friend onto the floor.

It takes a good two minutes to get off the ground, swapping out the original's introductory rubbery organ whoosh for a more ominous beat-- but just when you expect a straightforward upshift, it lets out a lightning scream of guitar, and the original's understated beat becomes a monster, evoking one breathless moment where the doors fly open, the lights flood the room, and everyone moves.

MP3: > Booka Shade: "Darko (Le Grand Noir Club Mix)"
[from Darko Remixes II; out now on Get Physical] | [ORDER]

Some of the video models The Game insulted when he released Doctor's Advocate are, six months later, starring in his latest video. In "Wouldn't Get Far", the Game (along with guest star Kanye West) calls out the ladies by name, saying, "...wouldn't get far/ If they kept their legs closed." It's also got Pop Up Video-style bubbles for additional commentary, like calling the girls "clueless" and warning "...if you give them an inch, they'll take a mile." Hey, at least some of them turned down the invitation.

Kanye's brief guest appearance is the video's best moment, dropping nerd wisdom like, "Since they all fall in my Palm I'll take a Treo" (always charming). Of course, his greatest contribution is his organic production work, a welcome break from the cold, invasive synth-n-drums recipe on the rest of the album. [via Nah Right]

Alex Kapranos has a little trouble with the pacing of this song, which Franz Ferdinand wrote for the forthcoming film Hallam Foe, which is based on Peter Jinks' 2001 novel of the same name. "Hallam Foe, Dandelion Blow" calls for something halfway between singing and speaking, but Kapranos sounds best singing fast and strong. Reverb-drenched guitar and piano are the only instruments for most of this track, and sadly, Kapranos sounds a bit naked without more aggressive backup.

Franz's accompanying blog entry says, "Sexual tension, voyeurism, dark humour, Scotland and death are themes of the film-- all of which seem good ingredients for a song by the Ferdinand." But the lyrics are also uncharacteristically sentimental, and lines like, "When you leave/ You're a dandelion blown on the breeze," aren't exactly indicative of something more sinister lurking underneath.

Stream: > Franz Ferdinand: "Hallam Foe, Dandelion Blow" [MySpace]
[from the Hallam Foe soundtrack; out later this year on Domino]

Cam'ron's talking a lot and saying nothing new on this track from Kay Slay's new Sign of the Times mixtape, which isn't to say he doesn't have a few nice lines (witness: "We celebrities with guns: shooting stars" and "Piss on your tombstone/ Write on it, 'Told you so'"). The problem is, the guy writes lines like these in his sleep; even his flow here makes it sound like he needs to be woken up to stay on the beat. So when we hear his threats to "shoot the wake up and dead the funeral," it sounds like he's on anger autopilot. Killa Season was a disappointment, and if Cam'ron wants to recapture our imaginations like he did on Purple Haze, he should loosen up and stop trying so hard to look hard. His buddy Jim Jones couldn't rap if he had Rakim's playbook, but at least "We Fly High" was fun.

Stream: > Cam'ron: "Dead the Funeral" [via XXL]
[from Kay Slay's Sign of the Times mixtape]