Toyota Antics

The xx wowed indie crowds with their dark and luscious genius tracks in xx almost 2 years ago. Now, they give us a look into what they've been working up to with "Open Eyes" (Demo). We've seen Jamie xx on the rise with his creative and innovative ideas, collaborating with artists such as Gill Scott and hip hop artist Drake. However, we now have something new from the band as a whole. This demo, courtesy of Young Turks Records, is a perfect and tasteful tease for what's to come from The xx. Even the simple and subtle imagery in the youtube video (as seen below) allow for a whirl of talk amongst fans and curious music paletes. 

Although most people are tranistioning from Holiday/vacation or a break of some sort, we understand that the usual festive happenings and activities get a bit redundant after a while. In fact, a lot of us tend to have Holiday traditions that are, well, not so "Holiday" themed. FILTER asked Nashville-based indie-folk rock artist, Tristen, to give us some tips to share with our readers for "non-Holiday activities" during "the Holidays". This is a Top 5 list she came up with, including picks from a Nashville staple record shop to an interesting pub.

Tristen is gearing up for her new release in 2012, and has a new EP Deck the Halls 7" vinyl available to order Here. Check out the free digital download of the release below!

5. Robert's Western World

 Any night of the week you can listen to country covers by awesome country players, dance, get a fried bologna sandwich and even get you a pair of cowboy boots.

4. Grimey's New & Pre-loved Music 

(Take a virtual tour of the store by clicking on image above)

One of the best record stores in the country, with an awesome staff & at night you can go downstairs to the Basement to see live music.

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Earlier last week, Londoner SBTRKT (Aaron Jerome) slipped us a listen of a B-side track "Ride to Freedom" off of the single "Hold On" (via Young Turks Records). This B-side gets to the point right off the start with a burst of electrifying swirly synths and a touch of soulful percussions. Identifiable to SBTRKT's style, "Ride to Freedom" is sure to be a party hit  and will most likely be spun by plenty of DJs and playlist-makers while ringing in the New Year. 

Don't miss SBTRKT when he hits the states in 2012 (see dates below)! 

LIVE U.S. TOUR DATES IN 2012:

18 MAR - MARDI GRAS WORLD (LIVE) - NEW ORLEANS

25 MAR - ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL (LIVE) - MIAMI

3 APR - WEBSTER HALL (LIVE) - NEW YORK

DFA Records is rounding up listeners and their label followers with a DFA Records Holiday Card for 2011 in the form on a vimeo video! Play the video to keep the DFA ambience growing with the Technics record player, DFA Menorah, and DFA Holiday tree twinkling with disco flashing lights. If you have access to a laptop, flatscreen that connects to the internet/a laptop, you might want to link up to this virtual holiday card for a nice background during your end-of-the-year happenings.

Don't forget to keep visiting http://www.dfarecords.com/2011/  for an exclusive DFA download.

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Buzz artist and New York singer Lana Del Rey has now reached a climactic point in her career and is celebrating with a performance on Saturday Night Live next year, January 14th. This performance comes just weeks prior to the release of her debut record, Born 2 Die, out in late January via Interscope. Daniel Radcliffe is set to host the show that night.

Catch her latest music video for the track sharing the album's title below.

Mathieu Santos, founding member and bassist of chamber-pop quintet Ra Ra Riot, is pleased to share a reworking of his debut single "I Can Hear The Trains Coming" by Los Angeles trio Superhumanoids. The rework accurately tacks on the sound of SoCal-based indie rock band Superhumanoids. The two set of artists mesh their catchy, carefree vibes for a fun track.

Additionally, Mathieu is currently on the road with Ra Ra Riot. A full list of dates is below.
 

Mathieu Santos - I Can Hear The Trains Coming (Superhumanoids Rework) by superhumanoids

This month, Trent Reznor and the creative minds behind HARD (Gary Richards and team) put on one of the most talked about promotional event series for music and film. Reznor's latset composition project for the film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo inspired the promotional partnership dubbed "HARD X Mouth Taped Shut", hitting up major cities such as Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London (UK) and Stockholm. The events were free to the public (18+), featuring special performances from acts like James Murphy, Major Lazer, deadmau5 (unhooked), Bloody Beetroots, Proxy and Eye.

Photographer Jesse Fulton hit up the Los Angeles event this past Saturday (December 17) at the Hollywood Palladium to see what all the fun was about. We couldn't miss a groovin' disco time with one half of Special Disco Version and DFA Records artist James Murphy in celebration of the release of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.’ Check out the photo gallery of HARD x MOUTH TAPED SHUT Los Angeles featuring James Murphy, and maybe a snap or two of the cat friendly deadmau5 (unhooked).

For more information on all things Mouth Taped Shut, visit http://mouth-taped-shut.com/.

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