I’m not exactly breaking the news but singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt died on December 25, Christmas Day at the age of 45. Chesnutt will be remembered for his dark songs. He was reported as going into a coma on December 24 before he passed away the next day 2:59 p.m.. Chesnutt had taken an overdose of muscle relaxants. You can contribute to his family.tribute here. Many who knew the singer reacted here. There is a theory about his suicide here. As a No Depression article title put it: “Vic Chesnutt defined himself with music that can’t be defined”

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JP’s Blog wishes you a Merry Christmas! If you celebrate it.

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For those of you that follow this weekly segment, you might recall that last week I promised to continue with the Beck “Modern Guilt” Acoustic series but it seems that I lied. In honor of Christmas I thought that it would be more appropriate to post something more with the season. This song is kind of depressing but I do love the banjo and Sufjan Stevens. Sufjan Stevens’ ‘That Was The Worst Christmas Ever’ tells of a dreary Christmas that someone had to spend. You can download the track below.

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Julian Casablancas has finally released the video for his first single ’11th Dimension’. The single was released was released some time ago during October and the video just received release now. The video shows off some of Julian Casablancas 80s inspirations, like neon clothing, keytars and cheesy graphics. You can watch the video below.

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UK’s Late of the Pier have released a video for their latest single ‘Blueberry’. The song is the first single from their second album “Blueberry Pie”, which is the follow-up to their 2008 debut “Fantasy Black Channel”/ The new video seems to have been put together with a bunch of weird home videos. You can watch the video below.

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It’s now almost Christmas and a lot of next year’s albums seem to be leaking, Los Campesinos! leaked earlier this week and now Owen Pallett’s “Heartland” has leaked. Owen Pallett recently let go of the name Final Fantasy and is now using his real name. This will be his debut on his new label Domino. “Heartland” features the Czech Symphony, Matt Smith, Gentlemen Reg, Nico Muhly, and the Arcade Fire’s drummer Jeremy Gara. H”heartland” opens with ‘Midnight Directives’ which features a samba-esque drum beat and string arrangements with a rapid synth coming in the middle. The synths are some of the more proinent instruments on the albumu besides the strings in the usual orchestral arrangements. Pallett composed much of the album to contain many different layers orchestral flourishes, frantic synths, almost hidden bass lines. The album does not feature anything that we haven’t seen from the singer-songwriter but it is the best of his career so far. Much of the album hides Owen Pallet’s violin which makes me think of how he will perform these solo while on tour, the layering seems too much even with his loop pedal. Favorites of the album so far include: ‘The Great Elsewhere’, ‘Keep The Dog Quiet’, ‘Tryst With Mephistopheles’. The album is due out on January 12 on Domino, you can buy the record here.

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Julian Casablancas played on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night and playeds his new Christmas single ‘I Wish It Was Christmas Today’. In the original performance of the track JImmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, Tracy Morgan and Chris Kattan rocked out on Satuday Night Live, so Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz performing the intro and then with Casablancas was very appropriate. Casablancas is then joined by the Roots. You can watch the video below. Does anyone else miss the fat Horatio Sanz?

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