A few weeks back, we wrote a post about Seattle's Fleet Foxes and how they ended up on many, many, many best-of lists at the end of the year, and wouldn't you know it — they've been tapped to perform on this weekend's "Saturday Night Live."

So to give you a preview of what's to come on "SNL" (and see if you should stay up late), check out the stripped-down performance of "White Winter Hymnal" the band did especially for us.
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As you no doubt know, it's end-of-year list— and critically — music lists have reflected one thing about 2008 - everyone was listening to the same few records.

One of the bands getting a ton of love across the board is Seattle's Fleet Foxes. Their song "White Winter Hymnal" was thought to be one of the indie songs of the year — and when the band stopped in for an interview with John Norris — we got them to play a stripped down version of the new classic.
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This week we were pretty jazzed about the 20th anniversary of Sub Pop, an influential record label with a roster that ranges from grunge legends Nirvana and Soundgarden to indie chart-toppers the Shins and the Postal Service. We celebrated by listening to Executive Vice President Megan Jasper's 21 favorite releases, then told you about a few of our own. We talked to Fleet Foxes about what being on the label means to them, and we even went straight to the source with a VIP tour of Sub Pop HQ. In case you're still fuzzy on what makes the label a musical treasure, get caught up with this quick three-minute history.

After a certain airplane manufacturer and purveyor of java, Sub Pop Records just may be Seattle's most famous brand. And while they may not have given us the 747 or the Frappuccino, Sub Pop has delivered — and continues to deliver — great music. (Take a tour of the label's offices here.)

In fact, maybe the coolest aspect of the 20-year milestone that the label is marking with a two-day celebration in Redmond, Washington, this weekend is that its 2008 roster is one of its strongest ever. And no Sub Pop newbie has been talked about more in the past couple of months than Fleet Foxes. They are locals with a love of vocals — pastoral melodies and four-part harmonies — backwoods Beach Boys from the Pacific Northwest.

"I grew up in Seattle," explained Fleet Foxes' frontman Robin Pecknold, who was all of 2 years old when the label was born, "and for me growing up and listening to Sub Pop, it was Ugly Casanova and Beachwood Sparks, and the first Shins record. That was when I was, like, 14 or 15. But the earlier stuff, my knowledge of it I inherited through my older siblings, you know. And, I mean, Sub Pop's a total legend."

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