1. Broken Social Scene - I still don't love this band, but... this song... it lodges in my head like something off that last Nada Surf record.

2. Evergreen - Finally re-issued... a "long-lost" classic of mid-90's indie rock.

3. Creedance Clearwater Revival - Les Savy Fav covered this as their encore at their shows last month. Amazing. Totally amazing. (and only the third cover that LSF have ever done).

4. Cut Copy - Kris Chen sent me this. Quite nice and pretty.

5. Death From Above - I've missed this band every time they've played NYC. Embarrassing to admit... I really want to see them AND one of these guys is dating one of my best friend's sister. Doh!

6. Eamon - I don't care if people call it a novely hit... I fucking love it.

7. Razorlight - Every now and then I "find" a new mp3 on my computer, downloaded while SSF employee Carlos is working on this computer. Sometimes I give a listen, just for the hell of it. This is one of those things. I have no idea who or what this is, but... I kinda like it.

8. Chin Up Chin Up - One of the members of Chin Up Chin Up died recently... a horrible, violent, and senseless death, and it saddened all of Chicago and anybody that knew them. So sad.

9. Haywood - It's been a while since I've done one of these emails... I really don't remember what prompted me to dig this out, but... this beautiful song is one of my favorites to ever be released by The Self-Starter Foundation. Just truly beautiful.

10. Modest Mouse - The new Modest Mouse, sounding something like a cross between The Waterboys and Miracle Legion and, well... Modest Mouse. Song structure & backing chorus sounds like something off of "A Pagan Place", and Isaac sounds strangely like Mark Mulcahy at the end of the song, like something off of Drenched.

11. Fox And Wolf - This is another of those "found" carlos files... so strangely and hypnotically catchy.

12. Tussle - And another...

13. The Knife - And another... this song is so retro it kills me. It's just perfect, really. Kate Bush meets electroclash?

14. Mahjongg - Hot shit dance / rock fusion band from Chicago... This is the standout track from the EP they just released.

15. Poster Children - Great new single from Poster Children. They'll never recreate the greatness and intensity of "Daisy Chain Reaction" or "Tool Of The Man"... nor even "Flower Plower" or "Junior Citizen" for that matter... But a damn fine single, nonetheless.

16. Oneida - Oneida have a new album out. It seems like there's always a new Oneida record every 9 months... oh, wait. There IS always a new Oneida record every nine months.

17. Metal Urbain - Rough Trade's first ever release was by France's Metal Urbain. All of the Metal Urbain stuff has been assembled and re-issued finally.

18. On!Air!Library! - NYC's 2004 response to the Cocteau Twins.

19. The Arcade Fire - Another new Canadian pop band. Seems pretty decent.

20. The Honorary Title - It's been a while since I did one of these lists... what I usually do is drop a copy of any files that have caught my attention into a temp directory and then when it's time to do a mailing, I dig through that temp file. I guess I was listening to this track around Valentine's Day and slid it in there.

21. The Sound - One of the great underrated / unknown bands of the early 80's... ah, hell... Just read the bio up on AllMusic.com... that writer did a much better job than I'll ever be able to do. For fans of Echo & The Bunnymen, Big Country, Cactus World News (not really so much the last one... but that's just one of those "almost" bands that I always liked... them and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry).

22. Kanye West - Seems like forever since this record came out... Time's been flying.

23. Pond - I drove 2556 miles from Dallas to Seattle last weekend... The first day and a half of driving I listened to the 9-cd Stax Volume 1 box set in order in its entirety... Then I started switching it up a bit. Towards the end of the trip I started listening to only artists from the state I was driving in. Idaho = Built To Spill, Oregon = Team Dresch, The Thermals, etc., Washington = Modest Mouse, Nirvana. Well... Oregon also had Pond... "Rock Collection" is one of my favorite songs ever... "The Practice Of Joy Before Death" is one of my favorite albums ever. Great driving music.