Lambchop: "Gone Tomorrow"

I could post just about any track off Lambchop's new album Mr. M and not go wrong (although it does taper off in quality a bit toward the end), but "Gone Tomorrow" is probably the best and - hey - it actually has a wrestling-themed video. Mr. M eschews a lot of the kitschy lounge sound that Lambchop have become known for, but there is plenty of Wilco-esque Americana jazziness in the late instrumental breakdown.

FUPM (Bobby Creekwater & Stat Quo): "Blast Off"

Fuk U Pay Me. Takes longer to spell out FUPM as it does to just say what it stands for, but I guess we're still making concessions to radio and shit.

Bobby Creekwater and Stat Quo are both former affiliates of Eminem, but listening to their entirely different rap sensibilities it's not hard to figure out why they weren't a good fit on Shady Records. That's a compliment, by the way.

Grimes: "Oblivion"

Claire Boucher has raised Lana Del Ray-sized hackles among some in the internet community with her dance-y, admittedly slight take on the dream pop sound... but hell, they don't call it dream "pop" for nothing. I'm not sure the genre demands a Cocteau Twins level of arty gravitas from every practitioner out of the gate. Listening to "Oblivion", I don't see a single thing that's any more egregiously vapid than the unapologetic trifle that is the Bear in Heaven track I just posted, do you? Are attractive, wispy waifs of the female persuasion under a greater obligation to bring substance to their roles in pop culture in a way that sweaty, goofy looking rock bros are not?

Bear in Heaven: "The Reflection of You"

Bear in Heaven may be best known to neophytes as the band that "leaked" their upcoming album I Love You, It's Cool to the web, only slowed down to sheer unlistenability by a 400,000% margin. They have more going for them than novelty marketing, though; "The Reflection of You" is a heavily new wave-tinged, upbeat pop song with old school synths, but it's really the jazzy analog drumming that sells this track. Warning: the video is NSFE(pileptics).

I'm from Barcelona: "Battleships"

Sweden's poppin' with the deceptively christened I'm from Barcelona, a sideways pop ensemble that rolls 29 members deep (eat your heart out, Polyphonic Spree). Forever Today is their fourth album and came out last year, but the video for latest single "Battleships" was just uploaded to their Youtube channel today.

Wise Blood: "Loud Mouths"

Bizarre videos with non sequitur plots are all the rage these days. Pittsburgh act Wise Blood gets in on some of that action with funereal imagery and an off-kilter tune to go with it. The closest comparison I can make is to the falsetto Jack White sometimes uses, but otherwise the instrumentation is not all White Stripes-like; maybe this could be an outtake from the Jack White / Danger Mouse sessions... or it could just be its own thing.

Loud Mouths - Wise Blood from Young Replicant on Vimeo.

Moonface: "Teary Eyes and Bloody Lips"

Moonface is only one of many projects Spencer Krug is or has been associated with - Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Frog Eyes, etc. - but this one is entirely his baby.

Nice synth-tinged post-punk flirting with New Romantic here... slightly Flock of Seagulls, partly Psychedelic Furs; there's even a Stevie Nicks reference that would have been timely when "Stand Back" was still a top 40 single, which sounds about like the era "Teary Eyes and Bloody Lips" seeks to invoke.

Heartbreaking Bravery is out April 17 on Jagjaguwar.

[UPDATE 4/10/12: added official video]:

Antwon: "Helicopter"

Love the juxtaposition of 80's movie soundtrack synths with 70's analog percussion and modernist rapping, topped off of course with visuals courtesy of the ultimate in 60's cool, Steve McQueen.

I was thinking this was the first I'd heard from Antwon but after looking at the track listing for his mixtape Fantasy Beds several of the song titles sound familiar...of course they're the ones named after celebrities - "Lindsay Lohan", "Bret Michaels/Sean Michaels", "Darby Crash" - so that may just be branding fucking with my subconscious. Anyway, give it a peep.

A. Chal: "Come Back"

I slept on his track "Roses on Your Silhouette" a month or so ago... don't want to make the same mistake twice. Alejandro Chal has been quietly (and largely anonymously) building up a following of late with his hybrid of blissed out yet melancholy after hours jams and restrained, tasteful incorporation of dubstep / UK bass beats. "Roses" and the just-released "Come Back" constitute the sum of his solo compositions releasedso far - aside from an influence-naming mix on his Soundcloud page and a handful of remixes - but his Ballroom Riots LP has been promised to be emerging in short order.

Nite Jewel: "One Second of Love"

The music is pure anthemic 80's synth pop, but the video takes a turn for the sinister... sort of a cross between a black mass and a debutante party.

Nite Jewel is the nom de plume of Ramona Gonzalez. The project started as a bedroom hobby before finding Myspace fame, upon which Ben Stiller and Noah Baumbach tapped her song "Suburbia" for the soundtrack to their 2010 mumblecore film Greenberg. From there it's been all shits and giggles for Gonzalez, a steady stream of EPs and internet singles increasing her profile since those modest beginnings in 2008.

Here in 2012 she's finally prepared to release her official debut LP, One Second of Love. The title track has been floating around in audio form for a few months now but there's finally some (freaky) visuals to accompany it.

One Second of Love by Nite Jewel from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.