Earlier this year I was all about NYC outfit Asobi Seksu’s self-titled debut, and their blend of J-Pop and shoegaze stylings. The record hasn’t gotten nearly as many spins in the second half of the year, but it’s still with a fair amount of interest that I note their follow-up, Citrus, is complete and should be out in the Spring of 2006. And in keeping with the holiday spirit, they’ve released a split 7″ with Detroit’s PAS/CAL, their contribution being a cover of The Ramones’ own Christmas carol, “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight)”, which they’re generously allowing to be downloaded off their website. Like many bands, they’re using their MySpace page for keeping fans abreast of news, but I have Indie MP3 to thank for reminding to even check it out.

MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight)”

Awful Bliss talks to Will Johnson of Centro-Matic, South San Gabriel and Will Johnson about songwriting and hats. Centro-Matic’s new one Fort Recovery is out March 7.

The Toronto Sun previews Stars’ now completed four-night, six-show stand at Lee’s Palace this weekend.

The Tennessean talks very briefly to Sam Beam about the In The Reins tour and the Associated Press, via The Asbury Park Press, talks to Beam and Joey Burns of Calexico about the fine art of collaboration.

Billboard solicits year-end lists from a wide range of artists. Their critics have also posted their lists, but really – who cares what critics think? They’re not celebrities. Also- lists from Questionable Content, Cokemachineglow and More Cowbell. And the big guns are finally out – Popmatters has their year-end retrospective up, Stylus has begun their week-long countdown and Pitchfork has tallied up their top 50 singles of the year. I find it really interesting that while most lists have a lot of overlap in terms of who shows up, the rankings have been wildly divergent.

Magnetic Fields fans will be pleased to know that a collection of Stephin Merritt’s recent theatrical compositions for Chen Shi-Zheng will be collected and released as Showtunes on February 14. He is currently working on a musical adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. I just finished Gaiman’s latest Anansi Boys this weekend, and am happy to see that he’s finally come into his own as a novelist. His earlier efforts read very much like comic book scripts in prose form, but with this one and the last one, American Gods, he’s showing a knack for the whole book thing. Anansi Boys was fun and funny and happily did not have a precocious young girl as a protagonist.

The new trailer for V For Vendetta is now up here. Despite some glowing sneak previews like this one at Ain’t It Cool News, The Beat reports that Alan Moore has successfully petitioned to have his name removed from the film’s credits entirely. It now cites only illustrator David Lloyd as creator.

I’m immensely saddened by the passing of The West Wing‘s John Spencer this past Saturday. Rest easy, sir.

np – The Delgados / Universal Audio