Happy Friday! For this week's Five, I have a handful of fresh videos from some of the more exciting emerging artists here in the Twin Cities—including two brand-new collaborations, Weird Visions and VAYNS, that are getting ready to release more new music in 2014.

Weird Visions

Holly Hansen and Grant Cutler's new collaboration Weird Visions gets a close-up in the latest installment of the new Spaces series. As the video's description promises, the band performs at Humans Win! studios "while simultaneously figuring out their marketing campaign."

VAYNS

Speaking of new collaborations, this week we were introduced to VAYNS, a project that combines the talents of pop/R&B artist MunQs and rapper Botzy. Their debut EP, VAYNS, is due out January 14.

Erik Koskinen

With a new record on the way in February, ace guitarist and songwriter Erik Koskinen sent over a new track, "Boomtown," which features backing support from local all-stars JT Bates, Paul Bergen, Frankie Lee, and Mike Lewis.

Bigtree Bonsai

In other forthcoming-album news, the alt-country/folkie band Bigtree Bonsai have just announced that their debut LP, Awoken, will be released in conjunction with a show at the Cedar Cultural Center on December 13. Sample their first single, "Rollin Down the Road," in this new video shot by Jordan Bibb.

Sounds of Blackness

To round out the Friday Five today, I wanted to highlight a video from our latest Artist of the Month, legendary Minnesotan gospel/R&B troupe Sounds of Blackness. They'll be performing their 35th annual rendition of The Night Before Christmas—A Musical Fantasy this Monday at the Guthrie, and you can read up on their 40-plus-year history here.