Watch: jj - "VI" (official video)

Last year Sincerely Yours gave us jj's kills mixtape as a Christmas gift and this year we've got a  jj video instead. The video is for the track "VI" and it was directed by Olivia Kastebring. Watch it below.

Listen: Niki & The Dove – "The Christmas Song"

I haven't really understood that is' Christmas in two days but hey, at least there's some good Christmas music coming out of this. Last night Niki & The Dove's cover of Nat King Cole's classic "The Christmas Song" premiered on Huw Stephens’ BBC Radio 1 show and thanks to the good people at The Line of Best Fit we've got a radio rip available for you below. It's very short (only 51 seconds) but quite lovely.

Download: The Weeknd - Echoes of Silence [mixtape]

Abel Tesfaye, more known as The Weeknd, is making a pretty good case for himself as artist of the year as he's now released three very good albums (or mixtapes if you really wanna call them that). The third and last one for this year, Echoes of Silence, dropped a couple of hours ago and while I'm only a couple of tracks in it definitely seems to stand up to Thursday, if perhaps not as good as his debut mixtape House of Balloons.

Watch: Oupa - "It's Rough" (Smog cover) (official video)

Oupa is the solo project from Daniel Blumberg of Yuck and it released a pretty impressive and unfairly forgotten debut record this summer with Forget and now Oupa has released a cover of Smog's "It's Rough" and you can watch and listen to it below.

Download: Lykke Li - The Lost Sessions Vol. 1

Lykke Li treated her fans with a nice little Christmas gift today in the form of a free three-track demo collection titled The Lost Sessions Vol. 1 which features alternate versions of "I Follow Rivers", "Jerome" and "Youth Knows No Pain" from her excellent lp Wounded Rhymes. You can listen to The Lost Sessions Vol. 1 using the Soundcloud widget below, and download the tracks individually as well.

Listen: Francis - "Traktor"

The Swedish band Francis released their debut record Lekomberg, We Were Kin this summer via Strangers Candy and they've now finished their second release; an ep titled This Must Be Blood. The ep will be released via Strangers Candy on February 27 and Francis have decided to share its lead single "Traktor" ahead of release. Listen to it below and be ready for some impressive power pop.

Watch: Panda Bear - "You Can Count On Me" (official video)

I don't belong to Animal Collective's rabid fanbase, but there's no denying that they've released some good stuff, and Panda Bear's latest solo effort Tomboy got its fair share of listens around here. Panda Bear's now released a video for album opener "You Can Count On Me" and you can watch the trippy Danny Perez-directed clip below.

MP3: Blitzen Trapper - "Christmas Is Coming Soon"

Last week I posted Blitzen Trapper's new single "Might Find It Cheap" and today we've got another free mp3 from the Portland, Oregon group in the form of the seasonal "Christmas Is Coming Soon". "Christmas Is Coming Soon" originally appeared on Blitzen Trapper's self-titled debut record, which was released in 2003, but seems to make an appearance every Christmas. Listen to it (and download it) below.

MP3: Simone Felice - "New York Times"

Former Felice Brothers and The Duke & The King member Simone Felice is releasing his self-titled solo debut album on April 3 and he's shared a first track from the album in form of the dramatic "New York Times".

"New York Times" touches on subjects such as perverts, New Year's Eve at Times Square, Michael Jackson and naturally the New York Times. It definitely sounds promising. Listen to and/or download it below.

MP3: ceo - "Illuminata" (D Lissvik remix)

ceo, the solo project of Erik Berglund of The Tough Alliance, released its debut record White Magic last year and in November a follow-up ep titled White Magic Epilogue was released. The White Magic Epilogue ep features three new versions of tracks from White Magic by other Sincerely Yours artists. Listen to and grab an mp3 of Dan Lissvik's excellent remix of "Illuminata" below.

Watch: Diamond Rugs - "Christmas In A Chinese Restaurant" (official video)

A few weeks ago I posted "Christmas In A Chinese Restaurant" - the debut track from Diamond Rugs, a side-project consisting of members from Deer Tick, the Black Lips, Los Lobos, Dead Confederate and Six Finger Satellite, and today the video for the track was premiered on SPIN.

Deer Tick frontman John McCauley takes the lead on the track, and it's a strong track but the video is merely footage of McCauley in a Chinese restaurant singing into the camera while painting his face. Watch it below.

Watch: James Blake - "A Case Of You" (official video)

As part of his relatively lackluster Enough Thunder James Blake released an excellent cover of Joni Mitchell's "A Case Of You", and it has now been given a video featuring The Prestige/The Town actress Rebecca Hall. Watch it below.

Full album stream: Everyman of Parts - Travelling Time

Last week I posted "Arid Eyes", the debut track of New York-based Everyman of Parts - the project of Balto producer/mandolinist Andrew Sheron, and today the full Travelling Time album was released. I've only had the time to give the album two quick listens but it's definitely an impressive album, and it covers far more musical ground than I expected but it still manages to remain cohesive. You can listen to Travelling Time in full below, and if you like what you hear you should definitely show your support and buy the album.

Watch: Talib Kweli - "Distractions" (official video)

Talib Kweli is set to release his upcoming album Prisoner of Conscious in 2012 and he's now released a first track from the album titled "Distractions", which is supposedly available as a free download on his Facebook page but I can't get it to download. Kweli's also made a video for the track and it was released earlier today. Watch it below.

Watch: Idiot Wind - "Try To Bend A River" + "Big Red Sun Blues" (Lucinda Williams cover)

Idiot Wind aka Amanda Bergman released her debut ep late last year, and excellent set of five songs, and she's planning to release her debut full-length sometime in spring 2012. In August this year she recorded a session with Johan Stolpe (who's made videos for The Tallest Man on Earth, Francis and Bengtsarvet) but I had somehow managed to miss it until earlier this week.

It's a great video, with Idiot Wind performing a excellent still-unreleased original titled "Try To Bend A River" and a cover of Lucinda Williams' "Big Red Sun Blues" (from Williams' self-titled 1988 record) in the middle of a summery field. Watch it below.

Listen: Radiohead - "The Daily Mail"

I don't really keep up with everything that's going on with Radiohead, but new studio tracks and albums are always interesting. Radiohead will be releasing a new single tomorrow with the tracks "The Daily Mail" and "Staircase", both of which first appeared on their From the Basement session (watch "Staircase" here) and "The Daily Mail" premiered on Zane Lowe's radio show earlier this week. Listen to a great-sounding radio rip of "The Daily Mail" below.

Watch: Bengtsarvet - "Slutet"

I wrote about this band/track for Ja Ja Ja Nordic a couple of days ago but in the spirit of introducing more people I'll post it here too. Bengtsarvet is a post-rock band from the province of Dalarna in Sweden and they're named after a village in the same province.

There's almost no information on the band available online, but they released their debut single "Slutet" / "Monarken" this summer via Strangers Candy and in November a video for "Slutet" was released. The video is really great and it was directed by Johan Stolpe (who's previously directed videos for The Tallest Man on Earth and Francis). Watch it below, and stream "Monarken" below the video.