Doug Martsch formed Built To Spill in 1992. Since then, the band has released album after heralded album of guitar-driven power-pop that has birthed an inescapable earworm of the highest caliber, whispering the secrets of metaphysical surreality amongst waves of overdrive. 2006's You In Reverse was another notch in the belt of Built To Spill albums, arriving as the most collaborative record in the band's 17 year history. Each musical thought is surprising and complete. No message blared forth, and yet, it's understood.

Formed by ex-members of Austin, TX-based bands Scratch Acid and Cargo Cult, The Jesus Lizard came together in Chicago in 1987. In six years, the band recorded some of the most menacing, gut-wrenching, and darkly humorous guitar-driven ruckus that was ever put to tape for Touch and Go Records. Live, the band had no equal: David Wm. Sims, Duane Denison, and Mac McNeilly provided the taut canvas for David Yow's unhinged brush strokes. Now for the first time in over 11 years, it's time to experience the danger and visceral energy that only The Jesus Lizard can provide, live in Chicago, for one night only.

Throughout their 15-year history, Tortoise has been one of the most singularly dynamic bands in modern music. With each record, the five distinctly visionary musicians who comprise Tortoise, John McEntire, John Herndon, Jeff Parker, Doug McCombs and Dan Bitney, together, have not only redefined their own sound, but helped nudge music itself in unique and exciting new directions. Over the past fifteen years, they have produced some of the most innovative and influential albums in all of music - from the deep and understated rhythms and tones on its 1996 landmark, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, to the bombastic rock of 2001's Standards to the lush, orchestrated instrumentation of It's All Around You, Tortoise have always been ahead of their time, building and rebuilding upon intricate melodies and densely elaborate rhythms with their own remarkable touch.

Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew, the trio comprising Hoboken, New Jersey's Yo La Tengo, sound like no other band. If there's one constant about Yo La Tengo, it's that this famously restless band continues to broaden its horizons. From their 1986 debut, Ride the Tiger to their latest, 2006's I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, Yo La Tengo has constantly illustrated its ability to maintain spontaneity while considering every aspect of their music. Whispered ballads to punkish verve, intricate arrangements to the heady allure of happenstance, Yo La Tengo - as their name suggests - have it all.

In an age of microwave hits and shameless gimmicks, Troy Donald Jameson (aka Pharoahe Monch) remains one of hip-hop’s few complete artists. The MC, Producer and singer known as Pharoahe Monch first connected with fans in the mid 1990s as a member of Organized Konfusion with Prince Poetry. An amicable split with Poetry after their third record saw Pharoahe release his first solo record, Internal Affairs, on indie label Rawkus Records in 1999, with the song "Simon Says" becoming a monster hit and being sampled in the film "Godzilla." After a lengthy label dispute, Monch released his followup in 2007, the critically acclaimed Desire, on Street Records Corporation, home to Wu-Tang clan and David Banner. Fans eagerly await Pharoahe's third solo effort, W.A.R. (Let My People Go) slated to come out this year.

The National are a band of New Yorkers transplanted from Cincinnati, Ohio: Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Bryan Devendorf, and Scott Devendorf. What each member of the band does own their own is not that important compared to the significance of what they do together. After the critically acclaimed Alligator, The National followed with what would be their most successful and lushly recorded album to date, Boxer. Themes of love and war, money and daily doldrums, dreams that ruin lives, and the music that saves them permeate the lyrics, which in turn, link with the music in a way that is distinctively "American Gothic". The National’s music is not easy to describe, but it’s very easy to listen to. It’s an antidote for uneasy times.

Since forming in early 2007, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart have become one of the most talked about pop bands in years. Their distinctive brand of noisy pop is a tidy distillation of all the great noise-pop precedents - early My Bloody Valentine, House of Love, Pale Saints, Rocketship - but with that incredible exuberance and energy that the Pains bring to every song. With the release of their self-titled debut on Slumberland, The Pains attained a new level of critical acclaim, with Pitchfork dubbing them with the prestigious title of "Best New Music." Packed with brilliantly-executed pop gems that blend the rush of youthful enthusiasm with crafty arrangements, well-honed tunes, and buckets of guitar racket, The Pains debut record makes it clear that they are, plain and simple, a great young band with an exciting future ahead of them.

Grizzly Bear is singer/songwriter Ed Droste, drummer Christopher Bear, woodwinds player/bassist Chris Tayler and singer/songwriter/guitarist Daniel Rossen. Its been a slow, steady, and stunning ride since the release of 2006's Yellow House, and given the album’s otherworldly charm and staying power, it’s hard to believe three years have gone by since that album's release. That might seem like a long time, but given Grizzly Bear’s hectic touring schedule, including stints with Radiohead, TV On The Radio and Feist – as well as several performances during a five-night tribute to Paul Simon at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a co-headlining show with the L.A. Philharmonic, and the release of "Friend", a 10-song EP of re-recorded and re-worked songs, collaborations and covers – all this seems reasonable. They're new album, Veckatimest, has an unbelievable clarity of sound and vision -- vocals are sharper and more complex, arrangements are tight and lyrics more affecting. Veckatimest is their most collaboratively compositional album to date and celebrates the strengths of each band member.

Even within the eclectic world of alternative rock, few bands are so brave, so frequently brilliant, and so deliciously eccentric as the Flaming Lips. From their beginnings as Oklahoma weirdos to their pop culture breakthrough in the mid-'90s to their status as one of the most respected groups of the 2000s, the Lips have ridden one of the more surreal and haphazard career trajectories in pop music. An acid-bubblegum band with as much affinity for sweet melodies as blistering noise assaults, their off-kilter sound, uncommon emotional depth, and bizarre history (packed with tales of self-immolating fans and the like) firmly established them as true originals.

In the short amount of time since their existence, the Vivian Girls, Cassie Ramone (guitar, vocals), Kickball Katy (bass, vocals, drums) and Frankie Rose (drums, vocals, bass), have worked their charm and magic and made their presence fully known. With their irresistible mix of 60's girl-group sounds, punk, post-punk and shoegaze, the 'Girls have mastered blurring the lines of genres and coming up with something aggressive yet beautiful; simple, gutsy music with a lot of class and melody. Since they inception, the 'Girls have released the killer, can't miss debut single, "Wild Eyes," and an exceptionally cohesive self-titled debut LP. With a single on up-and-coming indie Woodsist, and another on new home, In The Red, plus a slew of tour dates and a follow-up LP, the Vivian Girls show no signs of stopping the assault on your heartstrings.

The Walkmen was formed in 2000 following the demise of two D.C. area bands, Jonathan Fire*Eater and The Recoys. Members of both bands joined forces and relocated to New York City, setting up Marcata Studios in Harlem. There they recorded their first album, Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone, released in 2002 on Startime and garnering critical acclaim and comparisons to The Strokes. Since then, they've steadily evolved as a band, writing more urgent and focused records, leading to licensing deals and an appearance on FOX's The OC. The music that inspired their newest record, You and Me (Gigantic Records), follows in a tradition of song writing that goes back to early rock 'n' roll: the intimacy and energy of Elvis Presley's and Buddy Holly's early recordings, and the massive voice and orchestration of Roy Orbison. You and Me is a solid and complex showcase of inspired songwriting. Romantic and celebratory, this is the sound of The Walkmen returning to classic form.

Matt and Kim met while taking classes at Pratt Institute in New York. They started playing music together approximately four years ago and when they began, they had no idea how to play their respective instruments -- a fact that makes the band's success story almost as unique as their distinctive brand of synth-and-drums dance punk. After being forced to play their first show by a friend months after picking up their instruments, keyboardist/vocalist Matt Johnson and drummer/vocalist Kim Schifino played their first show as Matthew and Kimberly in October of 2004— and after slightly altering their name they spent the next year playing every chance they could get in their home base of Brooklyn. Along the way they also released an EP called "To/From" and a self-titled album in 2006. Their new album, Grand, takes the band’s musicianship and songwriting to the next level and also serves as a glowing representation of how far Matt and Kim have come since their debut. It is quite literally the sound of the collective discovering their voice. Their live shows, which look more like dance parties than traditional concerts and blur the line between musician and listener, have become legendary.

The Dutchess and the Duke is Kimberly Morrison and Jesse Lortz. The first time they got around to playing music together was in 2002. Morrison was recruited by front man Lortz into the deconstructionist R n' B group The Flying Dutchmen to play organ as "The Dutchess," an (unsuccessful) attempt to add an air of class to an otherwise classless group. After several singles and an album, the band broke up after a month long European tour. The one-time recording of the Sultanas found Morrison and Lortz working together again on a dance-floor girl beat group, a la the Ronettes meets 60's fuzz. From the ashes of their collective youth and these collaborations, the duo of Morrison and Lortz reunited and embarked on a journey to bring forth a poetic experiment that blurs the lines between American folk and pop music of yesteryear and today.

Born out of the love of hip hop’s ethos to consistently push the boundaries forward by extrapolating what was unique about the past and what is radically refreshing about the future, Radioclit’s Etienne Tron and Johan Karlberg have teamed up with Malawian songsmith Esau Mwamwaya to form The Very Best, an epic global partnership with the sole aim to rewrite western pop rules in a language which is not English. The threesome collectively released their debut mixtape at the end of 2008, with a full album debut due this year. The mixtape celebrates the exuberance of new talent on show today, with Esau’s unique collabrations with M.I.A. and Santogold on the track "Get It Up," and fresh takes on M.I.A.’s "Paper Planes," Hans Zimmers "True Romance OST" & Michael Jackson’s "Will You Be There," which all feature Esau’s beautiful African Harmonies sung in his native language of Chichewa. The unique collaboration also feature a who's who of new upcoming and fresh talent including Architecture in Helsinki, the Ruby Suns, DJ Mujava, DJ Cleo, Akon, Vampire Weekend. The Very Best is a great partnership allowing a pop platform for traditional African Harmonies and Hymns.

Rumors about Fucked Up circulate like wildfire among their obsessive fans, but we do know Fucked Up formed in Toronto in 2002. Their first 7" was entitled No Pasarán after an anti-fascist slogan from the Spanish Civil War. It was also ferociously melodic and inventive, influenced by the likes of Minor Threat and NOFX, and set the scene for a string of 25 singles over the next four years. Their latest, 2008's The Chemistry of Common Life, is an expansive epic about the mysteries of birth, death, and the origin of life. Though Fucked Up remain punks at heart - if quixotically diverse ones - they have created a great, weird, heavy record that stubbornly sticks in your brain and your heart.

When not watching Cops or drinking 40s in the park, Nathan Daniel William blogs on classic rap and records waves and waves of effortlessly great slack, crust, beach and punk compressed onto 4 track cassette in his San Diego bedroom. Thanks to the eager bloggers, many may have already heard Wavves. To those who have not, Wavves exemplify every pastiche of what anyone in their mid 20’s has been through musically and somehow, some that they have not. How a tune written by a 22 year old can evoke this boyish reverie and reverence of thoughtful nostalgia is beyond us, but listen between the grooves and you'll hear it too. Wavves is the sound of today’s American youth! It’s a new day rising and as the Wavves get higher, they gotta converge.

M83, essentially the brainchild of Anthony Gonzales who resides in the seaside town of Antibes, Frances, uses music to transport its audience well beyond their immediate environment. Their sound is deliberately colossal like the galaxy the band is named for. Using the kinds of cheap synthesisers that propelled dance music alongside the guitars that they grew up with as fans of Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, M83 fuse different technologies in dramatic fashions, whilst never losing sight of the human warmth that engages us emotionally.

Atlanta rockcandy garageniks The Black Lips are back. After turning the music world on its ear with last year’s triumphantly bratty breakthrough, Good Bad Not Evil, the quartet is back with its third Vice release, 200 Million Thousand. Formed in 2000, the band's live shows have reached a legendary status, in some cases including vomiting, urination, nudity, band members kissing, Power Wheels races, fireworks, a chicken, and flaming guitars. One can ill afford to miss their opportunity to rile, disgust, or inspire 40,000 festival goers in one fell swoop.

Disappears features members of Chicago's The Pony's, 90 Day Men and Boas. Started as a recording project between Brian Case (The Pony's/90 Day Men) and Graeme Gibson (Boas), Disappears quickly evolved into a functioning band with the addition of Jonathan Van Herik (Boas) and Damon Carruesco. Drawing on a combined reverence for reverb, heavy tremolo, distortion, delay and repetition, Disappears play minimal "Space Punk." They are a true do it yourself effort. 

Japandroids (JPNDRDS) is a two piece band from Vancouver, BC. It started in 2006 as a creative outlet for the post-teenage angst of Brian King and David Prowse. Japandroids are 1 guitar, 1 set of drums, and 2 vocalizers. They call it garage rock. They don't care what you call it, as long as it's not minimal. Japandroids are maximal - a two piece band trying to sound like a five piece band. Post-Nothing is the forthcoming release by Vancouver's dream team, and is sure to build on the buzz of 2008'S Lullaby Death Jams and 2007's All Lies. These latest gems run the gauntlet of rock n roll sub-genres, with the boys ripping off too many different bands to sound like any other duo making music right now. 

At the very first Mew gig, an agent for a book publishing company caught them and was so impressed he convinced his company to completely change their business plan and release the debut Mew album, A Triumph For Man (1997). If the sprawling, soaring bliss-rock of their breakthrough third album Frengers (2003) projected a sense of glacial fairy tale wonderment, then their fourth record, Mew and the Glass Handed Kites (2005), is an even greater leap into the unknown. Redefining the concept of an "album" - and, indeed, of a "concept album" - ...and the Glass Handed Kites is an eccentric 60 minute rock mind-melt, flinging musical ideas, distorted nightmare images and heartbreak choruses at the listener with what at first seems to be a random ferocity. A cat walks through a forest, playing a fiddle. A swarm of glutinous, fleshy sea aliens with nipples for eyes come gobbling out of the deep. Some become animations projected onto a backdrop, others become the heroes of Mew's songs. All the while, thge immense Danish space pop innovators pick their way through their complex and turbulent soundscapes from skeletal guitar arpeggio to universe-quaking crescendo. 

Montreal trio Plants and Animals are a rock band who know how to play their intruments and relish in analog recording. If their first entirely instrumental recording in 2003 was an experiment in sound, then 2008's Parc Avenue (Secret City Records), their second release, is an experiment in songwriting, seeing an evolution from the band's open ended folk jams to carefully orchestrated rock 'n roll. The result was a nomination for Canada's prestigious Polaris Prize, two JUNO Award nods, and praise from everyone from NPR to Danger Mouse. 

After 14+ months of touring Yeasayer have finally kicked up their feet in a wooded area of upstate to New York to write and record LP #2. Biographies can be boring so let us take this time to thank everyone who bought Yeasayer records, came to shows, and helped spread the music from mouth to ear, hand to hand, and dare I say peer to peer (that is not a get out jail free card!!!). The band looks forward to completing it's second jam in the spring with a hopeful release for later 2009. My ears are already tingling with the roughs rolling around the cabin. Yeasayer are very eager to return to the stage to display their new sounds and set up at the summer blast that is the Pitchfork Festival. 

Women is four young men out of Calgary, Canada -- Patrick Flegel, Matthew Flegel, Michael Wallace and Christopher Reimer. Sometimes light and spacious, at other times eerie and dense with an ominous weight, Women touches upon Velvet Underground, Swell Maps or This Heat while not really having any obvious precursors. Their noisy and claustrophobic songs smash through junkyard trash brawls while others lift and soar across the landscape of 50's-informed pop. 

Blitzen Trapper is a group of native Northwesterners, most of whom grew up in Salem, Oregon. They have lived and played together in Portland since 2000. Critics and fans have compared their music to just about everything; there have been calls to coin a new genre. After self-releasing Wild Mountain Nation in June of 2007, the group ventured beyond the West Coast for the first time to tour extensively in Europe and North America. 2008 saw the release of Furr, their first outing for Sub Pop. Written in the gaps of the group’s frenetic touring schedule and recorded mostly in a hoary old telegraph building close by the Willamette River, the new record refines and expands on the far-ranging yet distinctive songcraft that lies at the heart of Blitzen Trapper’s unique appeal. 

Beirut is the work of Zach Condon, who employs ukuleles, horns, keyboards as a world map backdrop for his crooning vocals. The band's newest release, March of the Zapotec, combines two EPs -- the first was recorded with a 19 piece village band in Teotitlan del Valle, outside of Oaxaca, Mexico, while the second is a set of home recordings. Together, they they are a further testament towards the inventiveness and intimacy Zach Condon creates as Beirut. Whether he’s being inspired by Balkan folk, a French chanteuse, Mexican troubadour music, ‘80s synth pop, or ‘90s house, the common thread in Beirut's music remains Zach Condon's ability to personalize the sound. 

Lindstrøm's career took off after a string of critically acclaimed 12" singles that alone started a movement the press named "space disco." He is well known for his remixes and has remixed LCD Soundsystem, Roxy Music, and Franz Ferdinand, among others. In 2005, he and Norwegian DJ and friend Prins Thomas created Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas, a duo album which was released on Eskimo Records to wide acclaim, and in 2006, It's A Feedelity Affair was released on Smalltown Supersound. Lindstrøm's debut solo album, Where You Go I Go Too, comprised of three long tracks, was released in 2008 on Smalltown Supersound as well. This year will see the release of Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas' second duo album, and a collaborative release with vocalist Solale. 

Randomly put together in a class experiment, the four members of Baltimore's Ponytail have stumbled onto what may be one of the top albums of 2008. The foundation of dueling guitars and punishing drumming invented by Dustin Wong, Jeremy Hyman and Ken Seeno are topped by small-in-stature, huge-in-bravado Molly Siegal, who's yelps, mannerisms, and enthusiasm are incomparible. They're 2008 full-length on We Are Free, Ice Cream Spiritual, is full contact aerobics. Its a hedonistic whirlwind for your ears and body, the exorcism your stiff loins have been waiting for. 

Jason Harvey, Kip McCabe and Jay Ryan have played together as Dianogah (pronounced Dye-ah-NO-gah) since January 1995. Previous music experience found Jay in the Chicago skronk-pop band Hubcap; Jason, in the long-lived Grover from Champaign, IL; and Kip performed in various groups, most notably as the touring drummer for The For Carnation. Dianogah's core instrumentation is as a trio of two bass guitarists and one drummer. In their thirteen years as a band, Dianogah has toured with Silkworm, Man or Astro Man?, Blonde Redhead, Shellac, June of 44 and Don Caballero, and shared the stage with Sebadoh, Hum, The For Carnation, Ui, Rachels, the Shipping News and Seam, as well as playing the Shellac-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival in 2002. They've recorded two full-length albums for Southern, and returned to the studio with engineer John McEntire (Tortoise, the Sea and Cake) for their first full-length offering in 6 years. qhnnnl features guest appearances by friends Andrew Bird, Stephanie Morris (The Pawners' Society, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir), Billy Smith (Hubcap) and Mark Greenberg (the Coctails, Archer Prewitt, Yo La Tengo). When not in the studio, on the road or surviving the harsh Chicago winters, the band lead full and rewarding lives, sleeping well at night and eating fine foods in modest portions. 

DJ/rupture is the psuedonym for Jace Clayton, who has performed in over 30 countries, released records on Soul Jazz & Tigerbeat6, DJ’ed in a band with Norah Jones, done two John Peel Sessions, and was turntable soloist with the 80-member Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. He sounds like a border-crossing bass visionary and his dynamic live sets simultaneously invoke partyrock and suggest complex political undertones. Rupture has just released an album with guitarist Andy Moor (The Ex), called Patches. This Fall, the Agriculture Records in NYC will release a follow-up to Uproot, called Solar Life Raft. 

Glasgow, Scotland quartet Frightened Rabbit have been steadily building a passionate fanbase with their poignant, anthemic folk-rock and their tremendous live shows. They spent much of 2007 stepping into public view, with widespread U.S. touring and the long-awaited domestic reissue of their debut album, Sing The Greys, via FatCat Records. They also spent a few weeks holed up in Bridgeport, Connecticut with producer Peter Katis (Interpol, Spoon, The National), recording their astonishing sophomore effort, The Midnight Organ Fight. Comprising brothers Scott (vocals, guitar) and Grant Hutchison (drums, vocals), and Billy Kennedy (guitar, keys), Frightened Rabbit started taking shape in 2003, when Scott began playing solo shows under the name, with his brother Grant joining in 2004, and Billy completing the line-up in 2006. Live, their accomplished performances at times recall the ragged, muscular energy of post-punk/ indie-rock power trios such as early Sebadoh, Hüsker Dü or Sleater-Kinney, but Frightened Rabbit’s oeuvre harbors a more universal agenda. 

Formed in Los Angeles in 2002, The Mae Shi are their own independent self-help group. Currently, there are six members of the Mae Shi: Brad Breeck, Jeff Byron, Tim Byron, Bill Gray, Jon Gray and Jacob Cooper. You are likely to only see four of them on stage at any given time, but the rest are lurking in the shadows. As their lives and goals change, so do their roles. This is, in essense, band as surrogate family, like a musical "Stand By Me." After releasing three records from 2004-2006, the acclaimed HLLLYH in 2008 (along with a slew of self-released CD-Rs and tapes), and playing an unprecedented 18 shows at 2008's SXSW, the band is bringing it all back home for an EP in 2009 featuring all six members. 

Owen Pallett has written music his entire life, including scoring a videogame at the age of twelve, three short films by the age of sixteen, and two operas by the age of twenty-one. After hitting a new level of success with The Arcade Fire in 2004, people in the music scene sat up and started paying attention to this classically trained violinist, arranger, and songwriter. Releasing his debut record, Has a Good Home, in 2005, and his critically acclaimed followup, He Poos Clouds, in 2007, Owen has since been touring constantly and writing string and orchestra arrangements for many releases, including Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, Great Lake Swimmers's Ongiara, Dan Goldman's Your Truest Nature, Fucked Up's Hidden World, Immaculate Machine's Fables and Grizzly Bear's Yellow House. 

Michael Columbia isn't a person but an experimental rock band consisting of three people: Dave McDonnell, Dylan Ryan, and Chris Kalis. The band resides at the Shape Shoppe in Chicago and has shared members with groups such as Icy Demons, Need New Body, Bablicon, Olivia Tremor Control, and Chandeliers. The band fashions a unique blend of psychedelic synths, layered vocals, and innovative drumming that combines electronics, rhythm, and melody into mind-melting, yet accessible tunes. Their high-energy live show takes the audience under the influence of sonic intoxication. 

Bowerbirds are guitarist and principle songwriter Phil Moore, accomplished painter Beth Tacular on accordion and percussion, and pianist, violinist, and percussionist Mark Paulson. All three members share intertwined vocal harmonies, and paired with the acoustic instrumentation, have conjured a mystical, gorgeous debut. Moore and Tacular currently reside in an AirStream trailer on the outskirts of Raleigh, NC, on a quiet plot of land that is completely off the grid. This sort of organic, rural, simple way of life is reflected in their music. The songs could be written underneath a moonlit sky, joyously sung around a campfire, and performed without the use of any electric amplification. Their new album, Hymns for a Dark Horse, was originaly released by Burly Time Records in July of 2008, and is now being issued in an expanded form on Dead Oceans. 

Cymbals Eat Guitars are a band both lucky and self-ordained. The Staten Island quartet physically called the country’s most popular record shops and ask them to carry the initial pressings of their debut record, Why There Are Mountains.. Lucky for them, the record sold itself, generating interest as far away as the UK’s influential Rough Trade shop and the NME, who wrote, "Why There Are Mountains may be one of the best 'indie' (the album is self-released, so, y'know, actually 'indie') albums of the year." Why There Are Mountains is a real album, a ‘grower’ that dishes out simple pleasures with every spin. Aside from the obvious recurring elements of Singer Joseph D’Agostino’s restless yelp and sinuous riffs, drummer Matthew Miller’s Wire-y rhythms paired with bassist Neil Berenholz’s melodic bass style, and keyboardist Daniel Baer’s orchestral layers of keyboard, there are shades of shoegaze, Motown, Technicolor-tinged pop, and an earnest affinity for the music that made the 90s feel like 10 years of summer. 

The Thermals are, Kathy Foster, Hutch Harris and new drummer, Westin Glass, a three-piece alternative/indie/punk band from Portland Oregon. Since the summer of 2002, The Thermals have been cranking out three-minute, no-fi sonic gems with a neo-grunge attitude. Their newest record, Now We Can See, on Kill Rock Stars, a new label for the band, is filled with some of their smartest lyrics and sweetest melodies. And thanks to producer John Congleton (Explosions in the Sky, Polyphonic Spree) who has brought massive amounts of sound and bombastic style, its another great leap in fidelity. 

Since 2004, Chicago's Killer Whales have been rocking joints and bringing down houses with a raw and electrifying sound, deriving influences from all music makers whose spirits have ever been ablaze in an alchemical fire of volcanic intensity. Well known for their visceral and cathartic live performances, Killer Whales often illicit a childlike abandonment, as well as revelatory remembrance of the common celebratory heritage of natural wild-ass humanness. Best friends since childhood, Killer Whales utilize their powerful energy to create a funky and tribal poly-rhythmic blend of bass-heavy grooves, junk percussion, and snake fight guitar-ripping, all the while accompanied by the happy sound of falsetto vocal calls. 

Having released stunning solo album 'Born Like This' through Lex Records earlier this year, metal masked maverick DOOM (previously MF Doom) continues to reign supreme as hip-hop's ultimate super villian. The near mythical rapper and producer, who's loyal army of fans include Thom Yorke and Kanye West, is simply one of the most captivating, exciting and original artists at large today. DOOM’s previous solo adventures and escapades include output as alternative alter egos ‘King Geedorah’– a three-headed monster from outer-space – ‘Viktor Vaughan’ – a DOOM spin-off who exists in a technologically advanced parallel dimension – as well as collaborative albums with Madlib (as ‘Madvillian’), Danger Mouse (‘DangerDOOM’), and a cameo on Gorillaz Demon Days opus.

The Antlers thrive on change. They have, in a way, been defined by their evolution from Peter Silberman’s folkier solo recordings to a fully-realized band. After only a short period of time, but a comparatively large number of releases, their newest, Hospice, is practically unrecognizable from its predecessors. In addition to Silberman's distinct falsetto, Michael Lerner provides the hypnotic drumming on Hospice, while Darby Cicci’s bowed banjo and trumpet playing have broadened to include an ethereal wall of keyboards and synthesizers. Hospice is an unusual record that flows with the pace and structure of a novel. The songs are drenched in a post-rock haze, all while still retaining the shape and momentum of a pop song.