If you're having a lazy lie-in this morning, your peace is about to be shattered by Epic Myth, the last single from Pulled Apart By Horses' album Tough Love.
The video comes ahead of the release of a deluxe edition of Tough Love on Monday, and it's a proper story of hard rock.
Guitarist James Brown explains: "The video idea for Epic Myth seemed a great way to celebrate Tough Love and the final single from it - even if we all did have the worst collective hangover ever after! Happy Christmas everyone!"
Get more from Pulled Apart By Horses via the iTunes link below - and look out for the deluxe edition of Tough Love from Monday December 10th.
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Today's Advent Calendar post is a good one - Ultan Sherry's instant classic Let The Snowflakes Fall.
Ultan has Asperger's Syndrome, a condition on the autism spectrum that can make it difficult for some people to express themselves in the usual ways.
However, in Ultan's case, there seem to be no such difficulties, as the second video below reveals.
The media studies student at NUI Maynooth is pursuing his dream of releasing a Christmas number one, and has caught the public's collective conscience with Let The Snowflakes Fall.
Now, let's be clear - we're not saying this is the greatest song of all time. But most good Christmas songs are a bit cheesy, right?
Let The Snowflakes Fall has more than a little in common with some of the more recent Christmas songs that the nation has taken to its heart - such as 2003's Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End) by The Darkness, or Peter Kay's Once Upon a Christmas Song, released in the guise of Geraldine McQueen in 2008.
It also has some of the most unintentionally hilarious lyrics ever penned, including the instantly infamous line "when that fine morning comes, get out the Christmas plums" (skip to 2:39 above for that gem).
But we're not laughing at Ultan - we're smiling with him. This is an unashamedly upbeat song in the true Christmas spirit, and I for one will always support that.
It's also a man in pursuit of his dream, which makes it a worthy contender not just as a 'Rage Against the Machine' style alternative to The X Factor (that's, like, so 2009), but as a worthy Christmas number one in its own right.
Ultan, good luck from us - we hope you get the top spot when that fine morning comes.
Help to let the snowflakes fall on Ultan's Christmas wish by buying his track from iTunes (click the button below), and make a little Christmas magic happen in 2012.
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Published on YouTube today by Paramount, the trailer for the upcoming Star Trek sequel Into Darkness hints at more of the same from J.J. Abrams - including an intelligent recognition of the science of Star Trek and a nod to the franchise's best-loved storylines.
This time out, it's Wrath of Khan that gets a reinterpretation, the storyline that turned Star Trek's fortunes around following a fairly muted reception for The Motion Picture.
Now Star Trek's place in history is already assured, does that mean expectations are higher? Possibly. But then, so are the budgets and the visual effects capabilities.
The team seem to be pushing the 'darkness' angle on this one - the music's about as ominous as it gets, the Benedict Cumberbatch voiceover puts Khan very much in control, and the title seems to be styled as the somewhat shouty STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS by Paramount.
But this is a different cinema-going public than it was a generation or two ago, and a trundle through space on a mission of scientific exploration perhaps wouldn't cut it (and definitely wouldn't suit Abrams' style of film-making).
I've always been more of a Trekker than a Star Wars fan, and while Star Trek earned a certain amount of criticism for compromising on certain aspects of science, I thought it did a decent job (and yes, I have studied thermodynamics and astrophysics, so I like to think I have the necessary awareness...).
The criticism so far here is that the last shots from the trailer might give a little too much away - but again, I'm not worried. If I had to guess, I'd expect that shot comes from early in the film - the set-up rather than the finale - but even if that is the broken remains of the Enterprise splashing down, well, they'll probably build another one - there are plenty of letters left in the alphabet.
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A personal favourite finally get their first mention on Popsiculture, as David Cronenberg's Wife's 'Spiked' is today's advent calendar post.
David Cronenberg's Wife are a fine example of making good music, rather than lots of music - their first album Bluebeard's Rooms was released in 2008, with follow-up Hypnagogues coming in November 2009.
Don't Wait To Be Hunted To Hide, their third album, has taken three years to appear, but finally went on sale at the end of November.
Spiked is typical DCW - energetic and entertaining, with a darkness that reveals itself if you pay close attention to the lyrics.
It's a unique balance of covering challenging topics, without becoming depressing, and it's a style David Cronenberg's Wife have had spot-on since their earliest days.
If you've never heard Hypnagogues in particular, I'd highly recommend downloading a track or two and familiarising yourself with this much under-rated group.
You can keep up to date with our Advent Calendar posts via RSS here.
Slight technical problems with the SoundCloud server have delayed today's advent calendar post, but here better late than never is Tina Weymouth, the upcoming single from This Many Boyfriends.
You may have seen them mentioned on Popsiculture a couple of times in 2012 - back in February, and again in May, when Starling and (I Should Be A) Communist were released.
Tina Weymouth continues the trend of tracks that wouldn't sound out of place alongside New Order or The Smiths, and I continue to say that's no bad thing in my opinion.
You might have heard Tina Weymouth already, but it's worth another listen ahead of its release as a single in its own right.
It's due out officially on January 21st 2013, ahead of a nine-date mini-tour by This Many Boyfriends which lasts through late January, February and early March.
You can keep up to date with our Advent Calendar posts via RSS here.
Sinkane's new album Mars is due out on December 17th, but we've got a preview of Runnin' for you below.
Today's Advent Calendar post pulls no punches, with a particularly timely video of street violence and martial law, but it's a worthy addition to our December line-up with a free download of the track available via the SoundCloud player below.
Look out for a full album review closer to the 17th, and more track previews to come too as Mars nears its release date.
You can keep up to date with our Advent Calendar posts via RSS here.
Our second Advent Calendar post is Eugene McGuinness's Sugarplum, due out on December 10th, but here for you to preview below.
It's a punchy track with good development and, according to several commenters so far, a particularly good ending.
We'll let you decide what you think of it...
I'm in two minds on this one; I certainly don't think it's a bad song, and I love the punchy backing music and the catchy chorus.
There's just something in the verses that doesn't quite do it for me - although not to such an extent that I haven't listened to it quite a few times already.
Weirdly, I also find Sugarplum strangely reminiscent of Walk Like A Panther by All Seeing I (with vocals by Tony Christie). Obviously it's an up-to-date and much younger equivalent... or perhaps it's my imagination.
Anyway, make up your own mind - and you can find Sugarplum on iTunes via the button below.
You can keep up to date with our Advent Calendar posts via RSS here.
The award-winning (not really) Popsiculture Advent Calendar is BACK and this year we're kicking off with newcomers Among Brothers, whose 7" single I Am Certain was released on November 26th.
You can see the video below, and catch Among Brothers TONIGHT at The Chameleon in Nottingham, or tomorrow at The Croft in Bristol.
Your last chance to see them live on their current mini-tour of the UK is at London's Assembly Hall, Islington, supporting Los Campesinos! on December 15th.
I Am Certain is a musical and visual oddity, slightly unsettling in a Nick Cave or Smashing Pumpkins kind of a way, and with a couple of definite similarities to some of Smashing Pumpkins' more melancholy works, particularly in its opening.
But it's very much its own song, albeit an unusual song, and that personality is likely to attract a fair few fans to this track.
The Ale House isn't the most obvious of live music venues, hidden away on a Leigh side street with bar prices that would have seemed cheap 20 years ago, but Rachel Kaye managed to make this one corner of the world her own on Saturday night with a blindingly brilliant solo set.
It can't be easy setting up your own audio gear with no time for a sound check, before launching straight into a series of spellbinding renditions of all-time great tracks - not to mention remembering to change out of your Uggs before you start singing.
For Rachel - who by her own admission had not had the best of days - the set-up looked almost effortless, the show began within minutes of her entering the building, and she was warming up the crowd literally within seconds of walking in.
A lesser talented performer might have struggled to compete with the dozen or so TV screens showing live darts, but Rachel's glittering personality, instant likeability and sheer strength of talent meant there was only ever going to be one star of the evening.
We were only able to stay for her first set of modern classics - and I'd love to have been able to stay for the second half of the show, when she'd promised to bring out some of the oldies - but that was still enough to recognise the brilliance of this young lady.
When, halfway through her first song, the guy sat next to me turned and mouthed "she's good", there wasn't much to do but nod in agreement.
My personal high point among what we saw was Rachel's Devlinesque rendition of Torn, into which she managed to inject more character and finesse than Natalie Imbruglia's original effort, without over-complicating what is a fairly sweet and simple track.
In a dirt-cheap side-street drinking hole, Rachel was every bit the glittering star, and well worthy of a much bigger stage - and I say good luck to her. Instantly likeable and enduringly memorable, look out for her in any given bar across the north-west on a weekend night, and know that, if you spot her, your luck's in.
You can't always spend eight years on an album, but that's what Benjamin Gibbard did with Former Lives, his debut solo release.
You may know Benjamin better from Death Cab for Cutie - but Former Lives is an opportunity for an intimate glimpse into some of the landmark moments of his life from recent years.
"These songs span eight years, three relationships, living in two different places, drinking then not drinking," he explains. "They're a side-story, not a new chapter."
However, they're also more than just a release of pent-up angst - and while some of the music and lyrics are admittedly simplistic, I don't see that as anything of a problem.
Some of the greatest love songs ever written are equally free from complexity, and there's definitely nothing 'basic' about Former Lives.
Instead, this is an album with a charming honesty to it, lacking in the commercial cynicism that you may have become accustomed to.
Gibbard is both a storyteller, and the subject of these stories - making for a uniquely tangible character to this solo debut that you're unlikely to find in much of the album chart.
