New Vampire Weekend video - Diane Young

It turns out that the burning Saab video originally for "Diane Young," the energetic lead single from Vampire Weekend's recent Modern Vampires Of The City, wasn't the "official" video. Today, the band debuted the real thing as a modern Last Supper, featuring an array of indie heroes. Those included are; members of Dirty Projectors, The Walkmen, Chromeo, Santigold, and Sky Ferreira, having a better party than any of us are.

Bears And Bullets Albums Of The Year (#25-11)

Now that the Honorable Mentions are out of the way, here's the official Bears and Bullets Top Albums of 2012 list (part one):

The Walkmen perform on Conan

The Walkmen might as well be everywhere at once right now. The band performed two songs on Conan last night (one as a web-exclusive) from their most recent album Heaven. You can watch both below.

Lollapalooza 2012 Review: Day Three

Sunday, August 5 was a steady continuation of the current drought in the Midwest. The sun was high in a bleakly open sky. The park was sun-dried, putrefying the baseball fields and grass into a off-putting mud that rivaled Bonnaroo. And the night was set for the biggest acts of the entire weekend; Jack White and Justice. But more so than anything else on my mind was the imminent end of not only my weekend, but possibly my tenure at Lollapalooza. If it would be the final day - the truly final day - how would things end?

Day Three:

Five years in a row, three days a year. There's a passage in Into The Wild that reads, "Happiness is only real when shared." Since my second venture in Grant Park in 2008, I have ridden the Blue Line alone waiting for my friends to arrive late. And if this was truly my end, I'd rather share it than wade through half the day alone again.

We arrived pleasantly late - 3 p.m. to be exact. Slowly wandering the park, we traversed the seemingly endless mud pits on the South side of the park for a spot at Sigur Ros, electing to skip The Walkmen. Coming in, I've heard wild rumors about the Icelandic group's live performances; most notably how it can bring people to tears. Considering the heat and the relatively odd time for their performance (4 p.m.), the band put on one of the most memorable shows in Lollapalooza history. Tears didn't exactly happen, but rumblings of grown men crying did get around eventually. Even though the band left several notable songs out of their one hour set, including "Starálfur" and "Glósóli," the time was unmatched in terms of emotions. Jonsi, seemingly alone in a large group, could project unlike most other singers during the weekend to a continually stunned crowd.

Sigur Ros

While it seems like 80 percent of the park made their way to Florence + The Machine, my friends and I had just decided to spend the time languishing most of our last hours at Perry's with Dr. P, Big Gigantic, and Zed's Dead. It was a good change of pace just to not care for a while and joyously waste some time before the night ended.

The final night rounded out with the weekend's two biggest aforementioned acts - Justice and Jack White. Splitting among friends, I stayed for Justice on the North side. Considering last year's final venture with Deadmau5 proved to be a rain-soaked clusterfuck and that I still haven't seen Daft Punk, this would be the biggest electronica show I've ever seen. And that cannot be understated.

Justice

Justice are unbelievably intense live. Total non-stop, combining the best from their first two albums, It was a totally unique live experience. Although I'd relinquish Daft Punk's status at the top of the live electronica experience, Justice to me would be a fantastic second. It remained the best show of the weekend.

And that's how it all ended. What I'll be saying by this time next year is completely unknown to me, but for the time being I couldn't be happier of what these past five years have been.

Best Performances: Sigur Ros, Justice
Worst Performances: Zed's Dead

Highlights: "Varúð" by Sigur Ros
Lowlights: Mud

The Walkmen on Fallon

Last night The Walkmen made their first run in a probable string of late night television performances supporting their new album Heaven, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Check out the supreme title track below, along with a bonus performance of "The Love You Love."

New videos from M83, The Walkmen, Andrew Bird, and El-P

A direct video sequel for M83's "Midnight City," the newest video from directors Fleur & Manu has to be Akira inspired in some form (with an Adam Yauch tribute Easter egg thrown in as well). Check it out below.



Another future Lollapalooza alum, The Walkmen, just released their seventh studio album yesterday, along with a video for the title track "Heaven," directed by Alex Southam.



Despite the fact that Andrew Bird's latest album, Break It Yourself, has already been out a few months, until today we haven't seen any official video from the album. Check out the brain-exploding animation (done by Yu Morita) for "Eyeoneye" below.



And finally, from one of the best albums of 2012 so far, El-P released the video for his heavy single "The Full Retard," which ends up being more NSFW than you might think. Check it out below and grab Cancer for the Cure now.

Tuesday Bears: New Walkmen - We Can't Be Beat

Today, we heard another new cut from The Walkmen's upcoming Heaven LP, due out May 29 via Fat Possum Records. Check out the largely acoustic track "We Can't Be Beat" below.

New Walkmen - Heartbreaker

The Walkmen premiered the fantastic eponymous first single from their upcoming Heaven album a few days back, raising expectations again for group's June 5 release. The new track, "Heartbreaker," (radio version only right now), which you can listen to below continues the band's shift towards poppy melodies and summer-esque guitar rock. Listen below.
 

New Walkmen - Heaven

Earlier today, we got our first listen to The Walkmen's upcoming seventh studio album, Heaven. The new album is due out June 5 on Fat Possum records, with the eponymous single featured below.

Friday Bears: New Walkmen video - While I Shovel the Snow

If the Walkmen's new video "While I Shovel Snow" didn't actually have snow in it, I'd probably be a little turned off by it. Luckily, it has a ton. No shoveling though, which I can deal with.

Lisbon, the group's latest album, is available now via Fat Possum Records.

The Walkmen - While I Shovel Snow