From the way Sarah Assbring describes things, her hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, isn’t exactly a sun worshipper’s paradise for most of the year. What makes the endless months of doom and gloom worth it, however, is the arrival of spring.

In their decade-plus of rocking out, the Dirtbombs have become ever more sophisticated in their quest for the unsophisticated. So it’s no surprise that the garage-rock act’s journey would take it to that bastion of the elite, the Cannes Film Festival. Or that, once there, the quintet would go over like George W. Bush belting out “La Marseillaise” at the Arc de Triomphe.

Congolese songwriter Mapumba is one of the strongest new voices out of Africa, an artist who knows what he wants and won’t accept compromises. When he couldn’t find a producer who shared his musical vision, he decided to make his debut album on his own. This entailed not only financing the project but studying sound engineering and building a home studio—then playing every instrument on the 12 original compositions.

Josh Grier may have grown up on the west coast of the U.S., but he’s lived in Minneapolis long enough to know that the idea of Manitoba as an ideal vacation destination is kind of ridiculous.

Chances are American Steel fans didn’t believe it when the group announced it was playing a show last year. After all, the Oakland punk act had been defunct for half a decade, and most of its members had moved on to the decidedly poppier project Communique. There was also the fact that the show was scheduled for April Fools’ Day. Fortunately for punk fans, the show was no joke.

Conventionally speaking, artists resort to recording albums of other people’s songs when they’ve run out of fresh ideas. But that’s not the case for Andy Cabic of San Francisco–based folk-noir alchemists Vetiver, whose just-released third disc, Thing of the Past, is nothing but covers.

Edmonton rapper Cadence Weapon’s Afterparty Babies has perhaps the best album cover of the year so far. It’s an unadorned shot of the MC and 40 of his 20-something peers posing, class-photo-style, in an Edmonton bar called the Black Dog. In 50 years, anyone who still owns the record will refer to it to recall what young adults actually looked like in 2008—basically, overgrown teenagers.

When the Straight reaches singer, guitarist, and indie-rock icon Stephen Malkmus, he and his band the Jicks are transiting the endless sprawl of Phoenix, Arizona, en route to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. “You don’t just pass through Phoenix,” he notes wearily. “You, like, inhabit it for 30 miles.”

Once all the tales of titty twisting, tongue probing, and creeps with roving hands are over, the Trucks conclude their eponymous debut album with a simple—and seemingly sincere—request. Evidently exasperated enough to turn to a famous fat man for help, singer-guitarist Kristin Allen-Zito finishes the record with “Dear Santa, please don’t bring me another boyfriend for Christmas/The last one sucked.”

He wasn’t around to experience it firsthand, but Rich Terfry figures 1957 was one of the most exciting years of the last century. It’s hard to argue with the guy who records and performs under the name Buck 65.

The blues-rock world lost one of its most unique stylists with the passing of Toronto guitar wizard Jeff Healey in March. Before he moved on to that big jam in the sky, the 41-year-old accomplished great things, including discovering a young guitarist from Peterborough named Jimmy Bowskill. Bowskill was just 11 years old when Healey heard him busking on the sidewalk outside a Toronto watering hole.

Looking back, guitarist Phil Sgrosso sees last year’s An Ocean Between Us as the record where As I Lay Dying made major changes in the way it does business. Shaking things up is something the San Diego–based metalcore unit has gotten used to over its eight-year run. During that time, members have come and gone; Sgrosso enlisted in the middle of the decade, joining fellow new recruits Nick Hipa (guitar) and since-departed bassist Clint Norris.

On its just-released Meet You There, Britain’s Oysterband decries sweatshop labour in “Here Comes the Flood”, sides with the forces of justice in “Where the World Divides”, and pounds out a potent rhythm of solidarity in the work-song-influenced “Someone Somewhere”.

Right from the moment he picks up his cellphone in a crowded Reykjavík Airport, the mono-named man known as Mugison is an interviewer’s dream. Even though he has every reason to be distracted—along with his dad and his three-year-old son, he’s picking up a package—he gives each question his undivided attention. He’s easily excited, and not just when he talks about landing the opening slot on Queens of the Stone Age’s upcoming North American tour.

You’ve conquered the world at least once, with an indelible summer hit called “Young Folks” that sat on the pursed and whistling lips of nearly every human being on the planet. What next? If you’re Peter Morén, lead whistler and vocalist with Peter Bjorn and John, you hoist an acoustic guitar and retreat to the bedroom for the confessional solo album.