​One of my favorite new bands of the past 12 months is Razika, a Norwegian quartet whose blend of gently bouncing beats, chiming guitars, and heartbroken lyrics (their lyrics are in their mother tongue, but Google Translate offers a gist) put them squarely in the tradition of Heavenly, the Raincoats' "Adventures Close To Home," and other great twee-leaning acts. The video for "Aldri," directed by Mona Lerche (she's directed a couple of clips for her husband Sondre as well as the video for Razika's utterly infectious "Vondt i Hjertet"), captures the quiet joy that bubbles through even the saddest songs the band has to offer. Watch below.

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Dinowalrus 2012: Peter Feigenbaum, synth/bassist Liam Andrew, and drummer Max Tucker

In the two years since their woefully under-appreciated debut %, Brooklyn demento-wavers Dinowalrus have been almost completely overhauled, with two-thirds of the trio replaced and their experimental globs diluted from drum-and-drone loogie to synth-wave drizzle. One remaining consistent is the band's longstanding visual affection for psychedelic New York City. There was the Matthew-Caron-directed video for skronk-wave single "Bead," a track from their 2010 Kanine Records release, which was a purple-hazed tribute to old-school New York iconography, a skittish montage of rooftop scenes, graffiti throw-ups, and subway rails, all paced like a crystal-meth fit. Today marks the release of Dinowalrus's sophomore record, Best Behavior, with cover art that's a lavender-tinted Domino Sugar Factory homage to Pink Floyd's Animals. (They're playing the Mercury Lounge tonight in celebration.) Also, the surreal-fable video for Best Behavior's first single, "Phone Home From the Edge," features Dinowalrus founding member Peter Feigenbaum falling asleep and waking up as another iconic New York figure, cult-legend moviemaker Lloyd Kaufman. "They're pretty good," Kaufman recently told us about Dinowalrus. "I hope they stay together."

So do they. That's what Feigenbaum told us recently, over a dying cell phone from his friend's house, when we called to talk with him about working with the man responsible for The Toxic Avenger.

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Photo Roadies

Kalyn Heffernan proudly sleeps 'til noon

We'd like to direct your attention to the new video released by CMJ 2011 underdogs Wheelchair Sports Camp, the little Denver band who came to New York this past fall and demonstrated so much fortitude of character they ended up on our front cover. Since we last heard from the psuedo-hop trio, they've not only opened for old-school rap-heroes Salt N' Pepa, thereby playing to their biggest crowd of more than 1000 people, but the Mile High kids also put together a soon-to-be-released EP Where We All Live, and recently posted a video for the EP's title single.

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​Bless Das Racist for always coming along at the right time, right? The group performed on Conan last night, and while the reactions the group was retweeting in the broadcast's wake seemed a little bit confused/outraged/weary, their take on the completely goofy "Michael Jackson" was, I thought, pretty fun, and it made me wonder if there will some day be tryouts to be one of their "cymbal girls." I can smash things real good, you know? Clip below, and a warning: Watching Heems spin around and bleep himself at the same time made me kind of dizzy.

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It's a dog-eat-hot-dog world out there.

​Presented for your Friday-afternoon viewing pleasure: The canine-centric video for Real Estate's chiming, charming "It's Real," in which an afternoon of looking back on the finest moments in an adorable puppy's life (via home movies that have just the right nostalgically gauzy filter applied to them) turns into a veritable dogapalooza. It's so adorable, it had me typing in "www.petfinder.com" almost immediately after my first view was done. I know, I know, putting adorable animals in your music video is an easy way to reel people in, but come on. Dogs! They're so cute and lovable and dependable and... OK, I could go on, so just watch the video below.

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​Via SOTC pal Will Hermes—whose new book about New York's music scene from 1973 to 1977, Love Goes To Buildings On Fire, comes out next week—here's a clip of the Ramones playing at CBGB sometime during the summer of 1974. (Hermes' blog has a ton of other archival footage from the period covered by his book.) In the grainy video they play "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue," "I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement," and "Judy Is A Punk"; note, also, the glam-inspired moves Joey throws into his performance here and there. Clip below.

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​When the world last received a Beyoncé video, it was... well, it was about 10 days ago, when the sugar-rush clip for the thrill-a-millisecond "Countdown" arrived and brought with it some controversy about where she got her inspiration. In the video for the sumptuous "Love On Top," which more casual fans might remember as "the song that accompanied the worldwide announcement of B's forthcoming baby," she's still drawing from other sources—its first half is pretty much a direct homage to the peeking-in-on-rehearsals clip for New Edition's fantastic 1988 single "If It Isn't Love," although once the song's many key changes kick in, Beyoncé and her posse of backup dancers get a bit brassier and fancier. Clip below.

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​This past Saturday, Drake was the featured musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and he not only got a chance to perform a couple of tracks off Take Care (Cash Money), out November 15, he also showed off the acting chops he developed while toiling away in the Canadian TV salt mines. Clips galore below.

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​Last night was the opening of Stop The Virgens, the opera starring and co-created by Karen O, which runs at St. Ann's Warehouse through Oct. 22. (There are still some tickets available!) The Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer has also lent her voice to an ad campaign spearheaded by the burrito-and-taco chain Chipotle, singing a weary, gorgeous version of the country classic "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys." (The ad campaign is really for Chipotle's pro-sustainable-agriculture nonprofit arm, hence the sadness.) Listen below.

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​Today in new drinking songs that you will probably hear at some point, no matter how removed from mainstream country culture you believe you might be: "Red Solo Cup," Toby Keith's ode to those disposable party cups that you can buy by the sleeve and write your name on so that nobody makes off with your beer while you're at a party. Over a deliberately plucked banjo and a shuffling beat, Keith tipsily unfurls his reasons for deciding on big red cups as his party drinking vessel of choice. But there's so much more buried within—the lyrics have a dis of Freddie Mac! The video has an inexplicable cameo by former Major League pitcher/Mets-fan antagonist Roger Clemens at the end (to be fair, the collection of famous people who are shown enjoying their cups seems to be deliberately trolly—Carrot Top and Ted Nugent and Clemens? surely this is designed for maximum Internet "wtf, that guy!" virality)!

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