Bishop Allen

This band is pretty much what indie rock should be. Their first LP, "Charm School", is really great. I saw them at the Entry shortly after they released "The Broken String", which is just pretty much perfect. And on March 10, their new album "Grrr..." comes out, which is maybe even better. 

They're not a big-name band, but they believe in what they're doing, and they do it very, very well.  They've got kind of a higlight reel at http://www.bishopallen.com/ .

The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound

Unapologetic old-style rock 'n roll. It's like it's 1994 on a Sunday afternoon in the summer and you're driving around and your radio starts to pick up a station from the future, but it all makes perfect sense and you just keep on driving west.

Imperial Leisure - The Art of Saying Nothing

Brit ska/hiphop/rock. Why can't more bands have horn sections?

Oxford Collapse

Like Pavement, but a little more in control.  I'm not quite sure what it is, but I've listened to little else than their latest album "Bits" in the last few days.  Thing is, if this band is playing, you'll like it. Maybe you won't know why. That's why they're great.

P.O.S. - Never Better

I don't quite know what to say about this album -- it's pretty much everything that's right with hip-hop today.  The cd packaging is ridiculously complicated, and you can design your own cover art at the below link (as well as listen to the whole cd.) I recommend the tracks "Savion Glover", "Purexed", and "Low Light Low Life".

http://www.rhymesayers.com/neverbetter/

Andrew Jackson Jihad - People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World

There's a newly-described music subgenre called "Anti-folk". This is that.  Banjo and old-tyme feel, with punk-rock stylings.

Pavement

Here's the deal about Pavement: I first listened to them after the waitress in a wine bar in St. Louis loaned me a Matador compilation cd from the bar sound system after she learned that I knew something about Leonard Cohen (thanks Mom.)

So, until today, I've known one song.  And that song always made me think, "Do these guys just need to practice more? Or tune more? Or do they just sound like this?"

They just sound like this. If you get over that part immediately, you will be quicker to realize that Pavement is doing something awesome. It took me a couple years. But the chorus off the first track off their "Brighten the Corners" album is "Hey, listen to me! I'm on the stereo!"

I've never had a signature band. But maybe this is it.

Marnie Stern - This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and I

OCTOBER 22 IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY. THIS ALBUM IS PERFECT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3oxU9-zeiA

LISTEN TO THAT. THEN LISTEN TO "STEELY", WHICH IS MORE WISTFUL, WHILE STILL SHOUTING. THIS IS THE ALBUM YOU LISTEN TO WHILE HAPPILY BREAKING LAND SPEED RECORDS.

The Monks - Black Monk Time

So, a while back, I and a death-metal guy were lecturing a heavy-metal guy on the origins of punk-rock.  We both started describing the movement as starting from the '60s group The Monks.  A few nights ago, I found myself talking to someone who knew the lead singer, who now lives in Minnesota.   
Allmusic.com says, "To prove that they meant business, the Monks shaved the top of their heads and performed their songs -- crude diatribes about the Vietnam war, dehumanized society, and love/hate affairs with girls -- in actual monks' clothing."

If you wonder what punk music might be like in the 60s, this is it.  It's really pretty great.

Barcelona

Near the beginning of the movie "Vanilla Sky," Tom Cruise's character is offered a few choices for driving-around music.  Barcelona is first. 

"Gonna be a teenage one-hit washed-up messed-up
megalomaniac. Yeah."

"Have you forgotten the bomb?
Everyone around me looks so happy now
Who am I to bring this party down?"

I found out about them 2 years after they disbanded.  Synth-heavy nerd-rock. 

I think this band was responsible for this thought: "If these people have a rock band, then people like me can certainly go to rock shows." There's no telling how many times I've gotten my hand stamped in the last year, and I fully intend on becoming one of those weird old dudes at shows with no obvious connections to the band, but who fully appear to be having the time of their life.

Recommended songs: "Indian Names"; "Have You Forgotten the Bomb?"; "Teenage Pop Star"