Certified indie dreamgirl St. Vincent is streaming her new album, “Strange Mercy,” at NPR’s First Listen right now. She also lived in Tulsa once, but I forgive her for not really claiming it. On the condition that she will go on a date with me the next time she visits, of course. Watch the video for "Cruel" below.



In less attractive musician news, Denton, Texas’ Neon Indian is also streaming a new album on First Listen this week. Check out “Era Extraña,” too, while you're at it.

Many an indie musician is drawing from throwback video games for influence these days (see: Neon Indian, Flying Lotus, The Nghiems), so it just kinda made sense for dance and techno-soundscape artist Polinski to put together this awesome, pixelated text-adventure video for the song “Stitches.” Pretty dramatic stuff:

Jeez, what a weekend.

By the time Denton, Tex.'s Neon Indian took the stage at the Coca-Cola Center in Bricktown Sunday night, only about half as many people were in attendance as the night before. Much of the place's atmosphere seemed diminished for this, and the fact that ringing in 2012 was day-old news.

Nobody told Wayne or Yoko Ono, though, and each celebrated the stroke of midnight for January 2, 2012 with as much fervor as January 1. That ineffable enthusiasm seemed to stoke fans' fire more than any single piece of music possibly could, but Alan Palomo of Neon Indian really gave them a run for their money with the "Hex Girlfriend," "Deadbeat Summer," and "Polish Girl"'s disco beats, splotchy synths and catchy choruses. And dance moves. He's pretty well set in that department.

Another Plastic Ono Band set featured the previous evening's murderer's row of talent, fronted by Yoko's indecipherable but enthusiastic yowling.

"Race for the Prize," "Drug Chart," and a Palomo-assisted version of "Is David Bowie Dying?" all made the Lips' cut tonight. I swear, "Sweet Leaf," "Worm Mountain" and "Race for the Prize" all in a row is just enough gets me so amped up I could go run four or five marathons. It was the usual mess of ephemeral chest-beating  and affection. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hibernate the rest of Monday away.

Photos are below. Also be sure to check out last night's photo set if you missed it.

Youth Lagoon — “July”
Youth Lagoon proved 2011’s most fragile new sound, and this song’s a textbook example. Watch a sad, bloody teenage drama unfold here. Also note the car driving on the wrong side of the highway near the video’s end.



Iron & Wine — “Godless Brother in Love”
Less fragile than delicate, this Iron & Wine video supporting the very-good 2011 album “Kiss Each Other Clean” goes camping. This one’s much more into celebrating youth than mourning it. Warning: chicks with armpit hair abound.



Craig Finn — “Jackson”
Here, The Hold Steady front man (who plays The Conservatory on Feb. 2!) plays a reminiscent, kinda downtrodden song off his forthcoming album, “Clear Heart, Full Eyes,” due out Jan. 24 on Vagrant Records. “It’s good” is all I have to say about it.



Phantogram — “Running from the Cops” live in OKC
I actively decided not to listen to dark-toned New York indie-synth act Phantogram prior to its NYE Freakout opening set, just to be surprised. Turns out I was overwhelmed. Here’s a trippy, strobed-out video I helped Nathan Poppe shoot on night one of the festivities. Nathan says he’ll have a video from Neon Indian’s night-two opening set by the end of the week.