Idolator

I'm listening to this Swedish metal band Witchcraft a lot lately (coming to NYC 9/17!) as well as 'The Glow, pt. 2' and that 'She & Him' record, because I am depressed.

Anyone not weighed down by the million tiny indignities of existence might enjoy my friends The Besties, indie rock fun times! [www.myspace.com]

Hell, I just went back for some Ray Cash today.

+ Watch video

I can't go local. Not with Metallica letting fans sample 6 songs off the new record.

[metallica.com]

If I had to go local, I can't get enough of the new CD "Sharkbolt" by Envelope. Especially 'I Got My Motivations.'

X.O.'s "The Takeover, Part II" mixtape. Home-grown D.C. hip-hop.

[www.popcesspool.net]

Locally, I've been blasting Megasoid's "Tank Thong Mixtape", which is a number of remixes and a couple original tracks mixed into a brutal hour long bass assault. If you have a good pair of speakers or headphones, I highly highly recommend this. This whole "lazer bass" thing or whatever SFJ called it is pretty great.

Another mixtape, which is local to me but has been criminally underrated in both the rap community and the music community at large is Playboy Tre's "Goodbye America". It reminds me a LOT of what perhaps a lo-fi, Southern "College Dropout" sounds like: a perfect blend of soul, humor, loose concepts, and urgency in both lyrics and delivery that make this a winner. The mixtape is 31 tracks long, almost all original material, and there's only one real dud of a song. It's compelling and insightful, and hell, the skits are funny.

@walkmasterflex: isn't local to me*

This is sorta local (Mallman lives here) and totally awesome. Ruby Isle's debut full-length "Night Shot." It's getting compared to the Postal Service, although it's less glum (and more blatantly '80s).

I only wish they had included "Into the Black" on the album (and skipped the Tay Zonday collaboration).

Not local -- IAMX. It's the main guy from the Sneaker Pimps. Really fucked up and over-the-top. It vaguely reminds me of "Mechanical Animals"-era Manson.

I've spent the last couple of weeks overthinking the state of Tennessee hip-hop, mostly basking in the glory of the new Young Buck/All Star mixtape "Star bucks, shaking my head in disbelief to the first Three 6 Mafia record and using the keyword "Cashville" to search youtube.

As for Music City rock tunes, I've been digging the new Ghostfinger album "The Feeler" which goes pretty far into the psychedlic yacht rock vein, and Shoot The Mountain who inhabit that strange spot in southern rock between Skynyrd, Big Star and Pylon.

Outside of our little rhinestone encrusted bubble, I'm really digging the latest Quantic album "An Announcement to Answer", Numero's "Don't Stop: Recording tap" comp and Screeching Weasel's masterpeice "My Brain Hurts".

I also would like to mention that I'm a total dipshit for not realizing who "Chris N" was sooner...we write for the same paper, sometimes...sorta. He's a real writer, I'm just a punk with a keyboard...

Gawddamn, I can't wait to get out of this fucking cubicle. C'mon five o'clock

[www.dctobc.com]

i co-sign pop!

you guys need that X.O. in your life.

@DavidWatts: I wish Witchcraft would fatten up their sound a bit. Sometimes they sound retro for the sake of sounding retro, but then again, sometimes they sound like Volume 4.

I'm listening to a lot of Floor lately, due to my love of Torche. Both have the "bomb string" sound going for them, but Torche pops up the vocals to a surprisingly cool effect.

Gaslight Anthem

I was rocking Going Steady earlier. I will stand by the idea that Japan has produced more good pop-punk than any country in the world.

+ Watch video

on the bay area tip:
east bay grease ([www.myspace.com]) swampy garage rockers.

the mantles ([www.myspace.com]) jangly garage rockers.

matt baldwin (www.americandust.net) psychedelic inst. guitar jams (acoustic and electric).

on the old vinyl hunting tip:
lambert and nuttycombe - at home. gentle folk in a hippie american nick drake kind of vibe.

chris smither - don't it drag on. ace folk-blues on the same label (poppy) as a certain mr. van zandt.

john simon - john simon's album. producer of the band, leonard cohen and more steps out on his own in '70 to cut one of the best lightly psychedelic pop albums of the era.

steel pulse - handsworth revolution. forget what the '80s and '90s meant to this uk reggae band, their debut is simply killer militant reggae jams. no lovers rock or pop crossover here, deep, deep shit.

Heard this on BBC 6Music this weekend and have been obsessed ever since: "Death" by White Lies. [www.myspace.com]

Extremely local -- Kelley who put the compilation together rode over to my house on her Schwinn 3 Speed -- and yet national -- "Jugs Across America" which is a compilation of contemporary Jug Band music from around the US, including contribution from Jim Kweskin -- the elder statesman of Jug Band Music.

[www.myspace.com]

Weather Is Happening -- a Wichita band -- still do my head in. Thrashy, over the top, maybe even screamo, but majestic, spacious, and brilliant, not at all like all those interchangeable hair bands you read about in Alternative Press.

[www.myspace.com]

2652 -- Dutch dude who has made some straight up techno records that were brilliant, but his album Aerial is crazy good dubstep. All those indie kids who bought Burial when Pitchfork was pimping him should check this out.

[www.smallfish.co.uk]

a little bit of molly mcginn, from greensboro, nc -- butterflies and whiskey

if you like Black Metal, but think dudes in facepaint should be confined to zero degree weather at Bears' games you should check out Mick Barr from Orthrelm's Black Metal band - Krallice. [www.myspace.com]

You know you want to watch a crazy-ass conceptual Dutch rap video:

+ Watch video

Check out Minitel Rose's "Magic Powder", which I discovered during my holidays in France - it quickly became my single of the summer!

+ Watch video

The 3-disc 40th anniversary edition of Pink Floyd's "Piper at the Gates of Dawn". Syd's "The Madcap Laughs" and "Barrett".

"Richard Coeur de Lion: Troubadors et trouvères", performed by Alla Francesca.

Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love"

A Putumayo collection of Malian music.

A Georges Brassens collection.

What have I been listening to?

Los Campesinos! who are an indie pop band from Wales. They put out a great album earlier this year called "Hold On Now, Youngster..." and are already putting out another one called "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" in October.

Two local (L.A.) bands that I have been listening to lately:

Obi Best - a group headed up by Alex Lilly, who also sings backup for The Bird And The Bee. There are some sonic similarities with that band, but Obi Best has a more organic, less synthetic sound. Their song "Nothing Can Come Between Us" has been on heavy repeat on my MP3 player.

[www.myspace.com]

Rademacher - this band is actually based in Frenso, CA but regularly makes the trip to L.A. to play shows (many in strange venues). I've been listening to their debut album Stunts for a while now and I never seem to get tired of it.

[www.myspace.com]

[www.myspace.com]
Mammút - "Svefnsykt" I heard this at a party last night in Reykjavík. I never much cared for this band in the past and I don't like the other stuff that much but this song "Svefnsykt" sounded pretty damn good...doomy pop-rock with plenty of references to Icelandic music history. We might be getting a decent rock band here.

Oh, and Chaircrusher - "Weather is Happening" isn't half-bad. Good suggestion.

I'm obsessed with the Field Music spinoffs right now. The Week That Was EP is 27 kinds of brilliant (especially 'The Airport Line'). The School of Language album is fantastic as well.

I'm still giving too much love to The Mystery Jets. Lead singer with Spina Bifida, dad in band, obsessed with Phil Collins and Duran Duran - these guys are the best story of the year.

Sex Ghost! (Yup, with exclamation point.)

Ridiculous electro-dance duo from Michigan. I highly recommend the song "Wolf Knife," which is based on a true story about how the female half of the duo bought the male half of the duo a knife with a picture of a wolf on the handle for Easter one year.