A new video from Roman Ruins for the track, “Mighty Love”, from off a forthcoming full-length LP, “Homebuilding”, out February 28th on Gold Robot Records. Roman Ruins is 31-year-old Oakland-based songwriter and producer Graham Hil. The song is muted with dreamy ambient architecture. Tribal backing vocal loops mix with light percussion and drawn out lead vocals to create a hazy, downtempo style like a kind of psychedelic Yellow Ostrich. Watch the video below or listen to the song at bandcamp. — David D. Robbins Jr.

I don’t post a whole lot of remixes at Their Bated Breath, unless they’re just that good — and this one is. Simian Ghost remixed a single, “Traktor”, originally created by the Swedish group Francis. The song is off Francis’ forthcoming February 27th release, “This Must Be Blood” EP, out via Strangers Candy/Playground. The Strangers Candy label website says a video for “Traktor” should be coming out shortly too. Listen to the remix below, courtesy of Simian Ghost’s soundcloud page. You can follow Simian Ghost and Francis at facebook. — David D. Robbins Jr.

This is the latest in a series of collaborative 7-inch records with a pretty cool premise: guest vocalists sing their own lyrics and vocal melodies over a Deerhoof instrumental. The a-side is David Bazan’s collaboration with Deerhoof on their song “No One Asked To Dance” that has been cheekily renamed “No One Asked Bazan To Dance.” (Listen below.) The b-side is a live recording of Bazan’s re-working of a Headphones song “Gas and Matches”. This 7-inch effort from team DeerBazan (I prefer Bazanhoof) is available on translucent blue vinyl from Polyvinyl Records (all orders come with MP3 downloads). – David D. Robbins Jr.

Cheyenne Marie Mize’s latest EP “We Don’t Need” is a different sound for her — which is to say she’s shed her solitary singing, lonely piano, banjo, and lush vocal harmonies, and in turn she’s picked up a couple of bandmates and a decidedly rougher edge. It’s always good to hear musicians take chances and expand their range, not that she needed it. Anyone who’s heard her older tracks, “Over the Moon” (2010), and the stunningly beautiful narcotic slumber of “Lull” (one of the most subtle and breathtaking songs I’ve heard since beginning this blog) know that she’s fine singing any style she wishes. I wrote up a quick review of her record months ago, after being given an early listen to it courtesy of her PR group. But the record is being re-released now that she’s a part of the Yep Roc label. It’s worth purchasing. And before you do, be sure to listen to her new sound, in the video for “It Lingers” below — posted by LaundroMatinee, those curators of very nice live video recordings of songs. The song is country-blues slow-smoked. It rattles like bones, and drifts prettily through electric guitar, and the haunting recollection of love: “It lingers above my bed / And it falls at my feet on the floor / It replaces the things I feel / With those things I felt before.” It contains one of my favorite Cheyenne lines, “Your face is all places I go … / Oh, let it go …” As far as the video goes, I love that blue tone LaundroMatinee get. It’s fitting. The website also posted a second video, for the song “Wishing Well”. Follow Cheyenne at facebook, tumblr, and twitter. Read more Their Bated Breath archived posts about the artist here. Note: All lyrics are unofficial. – David D. Robbins Jr.

And this week just keeps getting better. Canadian singer-songwriter Patrick Watson, one of the best singers around, has a new single out, called “Into Giants”. It’s off his upcoming Domino/Secret City release, “Adventures in Your Own Backyard”, which in fact Watson says was recorded at home. It’s a pretty, ornate track that seamlessly blends piano ballad, folk and baroque into a light reflection: “Time was running fast / While we were walkin’ so slow …” The record is set to come out April 16th in Europe, April 17th in Canada, April 30th for the U.K. and the rest of the world, and May 1st in the U.S. Visit Watson’s official website and you can grab a free copy of “Into Giants” courtesy of the artist. Look out too for Watson to be paired up with Andrew Bird on tour for what will surely be one of the best tickets of 2012. The dates with Bird are as follows: May 3rd in Philadelphia at Union Transfer; May 4th in New York at Beacon Theatre, May 6th in Boston at House of Blues, May 8th in Washington D.C. at The 930 Club, and May 9th in Baltimore at RamsHead Live. — David D. Robbins Jr.

A new video for Young Magic’s molasses-dripping track, “Night In the Ocean”, a single off the band’s upcoming LP, “Melt”, released February 14 via Car Park Records. You can also pre-order the album at Insound. The video was directed by Andrew de Freitas. The video follows behind a video for “Sparkly” and a teaser for “Drawing Down the Moon”. The album track list is as follows: 1. Sparkly, 2. Slip Time, 3. You With Air, 4. Yalam, 5. Jam Karet, 6. Night In the Ocean, 7. Watch For Our Lights, 8. Dancer, 9. Cavalry, 10. Sanctuary, 11. Drawing Down the Moon. You can follow Young Magic at facebook.   – David D. Robbins Jr.

Porcelain Raft’s video for “Unless You Speak From Your Heart” was accidentally posted live last week on vimeo, and like a handful of other music sites I put it up here at Their Bated Breath. But it was really meant for today. Anyway, Porcelain Raft’s PR folks were wonderful about it. Seriously. E-mailed everyone who posted it, asking nicely to take it down until it was officially ready. So here it is. (My apologies to those of you who saw the post and linked to it, only to see me take it down.) This is Porcelain Raft’s second video for a single off his upcoming release, “Strange Weekend”. Porcelain Raft’s debut album is out as of January 23 in the UK and just yesterday in the U.S. via Secretly Canadian. Read archived Their Bated Breath posts about Porcelain Raft here. Note: Photo is a video screen capture. – David D. Robbins Jr.