Despite the bummer altercation at Fiona Apple and Blake Mills’s Portland tour stop, the actual performance sounds like it was the kind of stunner we’ve come to expect from these two. (Apple’s Columbus concert featuring Mills on guitar was my runaway choice for concert of the year last year.) Among the night’s delights was the airing of new material. We already heard “I Want You To Love Me“; now a second fresh number has emerged, a duet with Mills called “Tipple.” The folksy mid-tempo ballad feeds off a steady strum and the smoldering vocal tradeoff between Apple and Mills. It reminds me of, like, a Nickel Creek or Whiskeytown, both of which are intended as compliments. Hear it for yourself below.

Apple’s The Idler Wheel… was our No. 1 album of 2012.