A few days ago I noticed that Pitchfork was running small, not-clickable pictures of John Slattery. Then the images started including members of The National. The band’s been cryptic with their advertising before (High Violet ads appeared on websites with no link to or mention of the band), but it was clear something was coming. And here it is, a video for High Violet‘s “Conversation 16” featuring Mad Men star John Slattery (as opposed to The Adjustment Bureau star John Slattery, or the Sex And The City politician who liked to urinate on women have women pee on him John Slattery). Weirdly, Slattery’s romantic competition here is James Urbaniak, who played Buster, the guy with a foot fetish, on Sex In The City. In the video they fight over Kristen Schaal. She wasn’t on Sex And The City to my knowledge. The video was directed by Scott Jacobson, a writer for The Daily Show. Watch:

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“It’s early Saturday afternoon and you guys are still drinking, aren’t you. You’re just like, ‘I can take off next week to dry up and process everything that happened during SXSW.’” Well no Ben Gibbard, we can’t take this week off — but the rest was true enough. There was free food and booze so why not continue with the debauchery. But at least the Range Life debauchery was dialed in to our needs on day last in Austin: an afternoon of acoustic sets, showcasing rising songwriters like the morning benders and Wye Oak, and a very special set of deep-cuts and the hits from Ben Gibbard, who opened with “Title Track,” “405,” “Title And Registration,” almost to be like “Haa you forgot how awesome Death Cab was for a second didn’t you.” Nonstop jams presented delicately, showcasing an enviable sense of songwriting, and later a sage sense for playing the right covers: Pedro The Lion’s “Big Trucks,” yes, but also a beautiful spin on Magnetic Fields(!) “I Don’t Want To Get Over You” — the first time Ben’s done it. We’ll have the video soon.

Before Ben even jumped up to summon dreamy stares from the front-row girls, the show had momentarily morphed into the best comedy show in Austin: Compliments of host Joe Mande, and compliments of the surprise “& Friends” portion of the afternoon which featured tight fives and big laffs from Flight Of The Conchords‘ Kirsten Schaal (“is a horse”) and Kurt Braunohler, Chelsea Peretti, and Pete Holmes. Neat! Lots of love. And of the impressive number of folks that stuck around after Ben’s set for Dominique Young Unique (scheduled as “DJ,” but straight up showing “My Ass” and other stuff until our lease was up), nearly all asked me the same question, formulated the same way: “OK, so clearly she is going to be huge, but what is her name?” To save time for the next time I hear it: It’s Dominique Young Unique.

Thanks to Samsung, and thanks to all the artists — Ben Gibbard, the morning benders, Wye Oak, Dominique Young Unique, Joe Mande, Kristen Schaal, Kurt Braunohler, Chelsea Peretti, and Pete Holmes — for a pretty special day. And thanks to you all who made it, it was nice to meet some of you. Hope you had fun! We’ll have more video and stuff from the show very soon. For now, these photos from Ryan Muir, and a few YouTubes to get you in the mood, Gibbard-wise.

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Pretty Good Dance Moves, the Chicago/Brooklyn duo of Aaron Allietta and Jimmy Giannopoulos, are set to release a self-titled full-length this year to follow up on their self-released EP of last. “Leave Me Alone” is its first single and wrangles guest vocals from Swedish pop vet Björn of Peter Bjorn & John and Chicago newcomer Angelina Lucero on a triumphant little electro-pop track that tickles hearts and synths and hearts like Passion Pit, trades and harmonizes vocals like Ra Ra Riot or those guys behind “Young Folks.” Which makes sense. “If you don’t leave me alone / I will find somebody who will” is the objective here, which is circular and self-defeating but somehow makes for unquestionable pop logic. It’s gotta be the melodies.

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A.C. Newman’s second solo effort Get Guilty (1/20, Matador) has a pretty ugly cover, but will likely have some pretty, poppy songs. Before you slip too comfortably into that realm, though, the New Pornographers are offering up a video from their long-ago released Challengers. The clip stars comedians Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal, who pilot a narrative that includes mislabeled boxes, a trigger happy guy in a bear suit, a unicorn, a knife, Penthouse and Borges.

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