Shimmery Spector-tinged bedroom pop. The NYC couple follow last year's sweet, buzzy 7" with a surprisingly substantive album. Girlish vocals skirt the edge of saccharine and xylophones do tinkle, but thoughtful lyrics, solid bass lines and echoing crescendos give the songs backbone: this is pop that delivers. Album out 6/7.

The yelping + jangling emitted by Florida 4some Holiday Shores recalls '70's Talking Heads.

Swedish popsters with a long '00s resume; lead singer is AKA Taken By Trees.

With their slackerfied-Blondie sounds, California trio Best Coast have a lot of potential as an up and coming band to get big on their first time around.

Author of numerous musical paeans to boston, Jonathan Richman's lyrics are sweet, sad, funny, and readily comprehensible; his melodies are witty and pretty; his live show is intimate. here's a video of Richman performing crowd favorite "I Was Dancing At A Lesbian Bar" on Conan.