Fleet Foxes
Ragged Wood (Sub Pop)
Like a more rustic Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes uses reverb-saturated vocal harmonies and a rootsy guitar twang to evoke the sweet exhilaration of running through a forest at twilight.

Indian Jewelry
Walking on the Water (We Are Free)
Psychocandied acid-pop so impossibly stoned it makes the Jesus and Mary Chain seem like the Carpenters, and the Velvet Underground sound sunnier than springtime in Paris.

Primal Scream
Can’t Go Back (B-Unique)
With fuzzed-out bass and searing synth lines, Bobby Gillespie and company deliver an appealingly balls-out rocker.

Julian Casablancas, Santogold, and N.E.R.D.
My Drive Thru (Converse)
As part of a Converse promo campaign, this unlikely trio has crafted a summertime single that’s catchy enough, in an instantly disposable sort of way—even if it goes on about a minute too long.

Kathleen Turner Overdrive
Ex-Vegas or Pussy Thieves (Underground Operations)
Screamo-spiked skronk-metal that imagines Henry Rollins in a UFC cage match with Phil Anselmo while Greg Ginn does battle with Dimebag Darrell on the anything-goes undercard.

Nas
Be a Nigger Too (Def Jam)
Look past Nasir Jones’s controversy-courting use of a certain taboo pejorative and you’ll find a surprisingly evenhanded analysis of racial politics circa 2008.

My Brightest Diamond
Apples (Asthmatic Kitty)
Consider this a test of your tolerance for artful quirkiness. If you have a high threshold, you’ll love how Shara Worden’s odd-bird cooing floats over this track’s blend of kalimba, strings, and a jazzily skittering beat.

Canteen Knockout
Bill Cody (Weewerk)
Against a backdrop of whisky-burnished pedal steel and back-porch guitars, Canteen Knockout spins a slow-jam tribute to Buffalo Bill Cody. Listen closely and you can almost smell the Old West.

The Rapture
No Sex for Ben (Universal)
If you can overlook the nonsense lyrics (delivered by Luke Jenner in a Walk This Way singsong rap), the beatboxing-and-cowbell groove of this Timbaland production will kick your ass to the dance floor.

Sloan
Believe in Me (Murderecords)
As great as the ’60s-spiked guitar riffage is, it’s the porno-soundtrack organ trills that reconfirm Sloan’s status as one of the most awe-inspiring forces in the history of Canuck power-pop.

Katy Perry
I Kissed a Girl (Capitol)
Coming on like a strobe-lit, one-woman electroclash revival, Katy Perry gets loaded, decides to go for it with a player from her own team, and discovers she loves the taste of Cherry ChapStick. The result is sexier than Angelina Jolie.