Everyone seems to be talking about the weather today, and like the good little Minnesotan I am, I've been doing the same. But maybe -15 degrees will be refreshing? Maybe it will make us appreciate these days when it's 15 above zero even more? At least there's no mosquitoes? And we can do that thing where we throw boiling water in the air and watch it crystallize?

While I continue searching for the silver lining around the impending, soul-freezing cold snap, let's take a listen to a handful of fresh tracks and peep some videos from our fellow hardy Minnesotans...

Jeremy Messersmith's "Ghost"

Though I typically reserve this space for the shiniest and brightest new music videos, I wanted to give a shout-out to this new Jeremy Messersmith song, "Ghost," lest it get buried in the New Year's chaos that has dominated much of this week.

The new song—which is the second he's released off his Glassnote Records debut, Heart Murmurs—is an acoustic guitar driven tune that definitely sounds like it belongs on the same label as Mumford & Sons, especially in the drum-and-strum chorus. Still, there are plenty of Messersmithisms tucked in here, like the sweet little synth line at the outro, and I'll take Jeremy's soft melodies over Mumford's blaring emotional hubris any day.

[soundcloud url="api.soundcloud.com/tracks/121220236%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-EppZn" params="color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

Mason Jennings' woodland creatures

Well, this is adorable. For his new video, "Lonely Street," Mason Jennings recruited paper-craft animators Stephanie Erlandson & Aaron Evans to create a little squirrel and porcupine who tumble through a world of woodland and marine creatures.

Martin Devaney's heartbreaking tribute

December 21 marked the one-year anniversary of the passing of former Turf Club manager Leah Rule, and to celebrate her life a whole slew of musicians have gotten together to release a new tribute album, Rock For the Rules, Vol. 2—including fallen guitarist and songwriter Slim Dunlap, who penned a song for Leah prior to suffering his stroke last year.

One of the musicians from the compilation, Martin Devaney, filmed a video to accompany his tune, "Over My Shoulder," and it includes footage of Martin playing the Turf and visiting Leah's farm in rural Wisconsin. Watch this somewhere where it's safe to shed a tear; even if you didn't know Leah personally, the video presents a heartbreaking glimpse into the vicious world of cancer and how a bright light was dimmed all too soon.

Nicholas David's "Lonely"

If you missed Nicholas David's (a.k.a. Nick "The Feelin'" Mrozinski's) latest in-studio performance for the Current, revisit it here and in the video below, which features him performing the new song "Lonely."

The Starfolk's winter wonderland

And last but not least, we have a well-timed video from the Starfolk called "Winterwalk," which depicts some all-too-familiar scenes from this harsh Minnesota winter. They sure make it look pretty.