1. The Strokes - The new single finds them still sounding like The Strokes, but also nicely borrowing from The Cars' songwriting canon. A winning combination in my book.

2. Guadalcanal Diary - I have no idea what made me think I wanted to listen to this song. It is still an old favorite, though.

3. Joanie Loves Trotsky - Good rocking song from these guys... The name makes some people cringe, but I still think it's pretty funny. I don't know if it's an urban legend or not, but... i heard that when Joanie Loves Chachi first aired in Korea, the first episode was a huge hit. Apparently "chachi" is Korean slang for dick. Dunno if anybody out there cares to refute or prove for me...

4. Consonant - Strange pop song by Clint Conley from Mission Of Burma. I like it.

5. Erase Errata - I've never really liked Erase Errata. But this new song... maybe it's because it reminds me of Scrawl so much, but I really like it a lot.

6. Frog Eyes - I've finally gotten off my ass and grabbed some Frog Eyes mp3's. Yelpy and crazy and weird, they're still really poppy and engaging and fun. Anybody remember that band Stump? Of course not. But I do. Frog Eyes aren't as good as Stump... they don't have the lyric "Charlton Heston put his vest on", so how could they be better than that?

7. Lightweight Holiday - Kinda straight-ahead pop punk / emo stuff from these guys from Ohio, but... they're pretty good at it, for sure.

8. Pretty Girls Make Graves - The new single from the new album on Matador. Haven't heard the whole thing, but... I'm sure it's pretty good. Somewhere along the line in the Beggars / Matador merger i got bumped off their mailing list. That sucks.

9. Spiritualized - Really disappointed with this. It sounds to me like Spiritualized trying really hard to sound like Spiritualized.

10. The Juan Maclean - A good catchy fun song. The DFA do it again. With that said, I'd still rather listen to Mandrill or BT Express or even Morris Day than this, but... you know... These 20 year olds wouldn't know that I watched "Purple Rain" at my 12th birthday party.

11. The New Mess - From Sweden, but they sound like DC circa-1992. It's rare to hear me say something like this: I might have to buy this record. Epic song that's so well produced it's kinda scary.

12. British Sea Power - This, however, sounds to me like British Sea Power trying really hard to sound like something on the flipside of "Doolittle." And, well... they succeed. But that doesn't mean i necessarily like it.