Woodpigeon
For Paolo (Boompa)
Calgary’s Mark Hamilton does string- burnished folk-pop better than anyone. Well, maybe not better than Sufjan Stevens, but that’s a mighty tall order.

Frankie Rose
Know Me (Slumberland)
"Know Me" sounds sort of like the Cure, if the Cure was a lo-fi band with a female singer (namely ex–Vivian Girl Frankie Rose). So, not like the Cure at all, really, but still warm and jangly and dream-state-inducing.

La Sera
Please Be My Third Eye (Hardly Art)
Speaking of Vivian Girls, current one Katy Goodman (she’s the redhead) has a side project called La Sera, which delivers this fuzzy shot of peppy garage pop. Cairo Knife Fight "The Origin of Slaves" (Loretta Recordings) Hard-charging New Zealand duo gives riff addicts something to tide them over while they wait for Queens of the Stone Age to come out of retirement.

Prince Rama
Summer of Love (Paw Tracks)
Part Hindu devotional chant and part acid-washed midnight-carnival nightmare, this sounds like the sort of thing the residents of the Spahn Ranch listened to while getting psyched up for their nocturnal creepy crawls.

Bear in Heaven
The Reflection of You (Dead Oceans)
Thank you, Bear in Heaven, for continuing to make synthesizer-based pop that doesn’t remind us of the 1980s—because, let’s face it, that decade totally sucked. Gag me with a spoon!

Young Magic
Night in the Ocean (Carpark)
The contrast between the almost rapped verses, the shoegazing canyons of fuzz- ripped noise, and the multipart vocal harmonies should be jarring, but against all odds, it works.

Black Marble
Pretender (Hardly Art)
Ever wish Cold Cave was a little more monotone and impenetrable, so you could really get your mope on to some sad-all-over synth gloom? Black Marble has your prescription.

Attack Attack!
The Wretched (Rise)
About a half-minute in, singer Caleb Shomo screams "There’s somebody else inside my head". At that point, you either do the sensible thing and flee, or hang on and wait for the dance-metal shit-fire to end.

Skip the Foreplay
This City (We’re Taking Over) (Epitaph)
Well, here’s something you don’t hear every day: a jam that manages to combine Euro dance pop, Brooklyn hip-hop, Swedish death metal, and good old-fashioned U.S. screamo without, amazingly, completely blowing.

Die Antwoord
I Fink U Freeky (Zef)
Against a backdrop of space-war synths and techno-strafed percussion, the white- trash pride of South Africa roars back to action. Now jump motherfucker, jump motherfucker, jump.