BarbedDouble Click CountrysideLoaf
Unlike labelmates Black Devil Disco Club, Barbed kicks out dark, experimental free jazz. Lush pads melt into skittery drums and horns that make you want to jive and then crawl under a rock. Double Click Countryside is creepy, pretty, and danceable all at once. Nice.

The NationalBoxerBeggars
There’s no surprise that Peter Katis (Interpol) produced Boxer, because this long-player summons the spirit of really dark Interpol B-sides. That said, it’s still an awesome record. These five New Yorkers pump out melancholy jams that will make a few Midwestern 20-somethings have the bedroom retrospective thinking session of a lifetime.

Attractive and Popular Money Equals MagicGold Standard Labs
Comparable to GSL labelhead Sonny Kay’s past endeavors (Angel Hair, The VSS), Attractive and Popular makes post-punk of the spazziest and synthiest variety. These newcomers please the punks with their potent California vibes.

Dub TrioCool Out and CoexistROIR
Dub Trio are one of those bands that we can’t help but love. Any dudes who mash up noise-rock, dub, and punk (and do it well) are OK in our book. Cool Out and Coexist was recorded live at Brooklyn’s Union Pool and this shit is heavy, deep, and ready for bass deployment.

MochipetGirls Love BreakcoreDaly City
Breakcore is a pretty easy genre to map out, but Mochipet has completely broken the mold. With contributions from Otto Von Shirach, Twink, and Aaron Spectre, Girls Love Breakcore may make any dreadlocked hardcore enthusiast who is stuck in the ’90s ready to move into the future.

MapsWe Can CreateMute
Any frequenter of our top ten knows that most new Mute releases get our full backing, and Maps is no exception. James Chapman knows the way we like our space rock–atmospheric and consumed with swelling guitars. The folks in Spacemen 3 will surely have to get back together after they hear this bad boy.

American CatastropheExcerpts From the Broken Bone ChoirOxblood
While we don’t usually cover gothic Americana we’re making an exception for American Catastrophe. Part Sol Invictus, part 16 Horsepower, this Kansas City quartet has mastered dark-folk songwriting–plus the album comes sealed with red wax and a black feather. Spooky.

TurziAKemado
Turzi’s new record is so fresh, it’s hella fresh. Like Alan Vega jamming with Motorhead, Turzi spits freak-prog fire. With Lots of whispered vocals, trippy synth stabs, and driving drums, A will make a damn fine soundtrack for a homicidal maniac’s rampage, or some dude on the way to rage central.

MaseratiInventions For the New SeasonTemporary Residence
It’s been four years since Maserati’s released anything, and we couldn’t be more pumped on its new instrumental crop. If Sonic Youth were making an amazingly-produced Kraut-rock album, they’d turn to this quartet for advice. Listen to this loud and get blown to bits.

Dog DayNight GroupTomlab
Tomlab puts out some pretty weird releases (Hey willpower, Khan), but Dog Day makes pop the way its meant to be made–driving, straightforward, and memorable. Fans of any contemporary Sub Pop band will shit themselves. This, we promise.

Jamaica, Queens, New York reggae imprint VP is preparing for one of its most active summer album release schedules in recent years. The label has recently seen success with ’07 recordings from Richie Spice (In the Streets to Africa), Lady Saw (Walk Out), and the King JammySelector’s Choice series.

The label’s summer cornucopia kicks off with ladies’ man and rising lovers-rock singer Da’Ville’s (pictured below) debut for VP, On My Mind, available May 22. Currently the album’s namesake single (featuring Sean Paul) has been in the top five of London’s and Japan’s charts. Da’Ville’s silky voice, gentle harmonies, poppy arrangements–imagine a Jamaican Ne-Yo–should assure his long-term presence in Jamaican music.

Rasta singer Ras Shiloh’s Coming Home, produced by reggae legend Bobby ‘Digital’ Dixon, is slated for June 19. The album features the singles “Give a Little Love” and a remake of Aswad’s rootsy-lovers track “Need Your Love.” Coming Home features guest collaborations with Morgan Heritage, Natural Black, and Bascom X, and listeners can expect smooth, conscious singing in the vein of Garnett Silk.

Compilations will round out the summer and allow listeners to catch up with the best of the dozens of new singles released daily in Jamaica. Reggae Gold 2007 (out June 19) contains hits like Pressure’s “Love and Affection,” Shaggy’s “More Woman,” “Bring It” by Elephant Man, and Sean Paul’s “Watch Them Roll”.

The summer doesn’t slow down, with big, big deejay albums from Mavado (Gangsta For Life), Assassin (Gully Sit’n), and Shaggy (Intoxication), planned for July and August. VP has also tentatively announced new releases from Elephant Man (June/July), I Wayne (August), Morgan Heritage (Sept.), and T.O.K. (Sept).

Portland-based weird-rocker YACHT takes his art (and name) pretty seriously. Also one-half of K Records’ electro-pop duo The Blow, Jona Bechtolt’s work under his solo moniker is about as punk as you can get without actually being punk.

Headlining his first tour ever, Bechtolt is no doubt staying true to that course. In fact, his record release party will unfold in two parts. Part 1: get on an actual yacht with a bunch of bros and party. Part 2: get dropped off at Oregon’s Museum of Science and Industry and tear the roof off the place with performances by E*Rock, DJ Beyonda, and Adrian Orange with the Child Slave Rebellion, before Bechtolt himself takes the stage accompanied by a live band.

The implicit Part 3 is the rest of the tour–on a slightly less dramatic scale. But after listening to his newest offering, I Believe In You. Your Magic is Real, drama is a completely relative term.

Tourdates
05/05 Portland, OR: 2 Part CD Release Party
05/15 Salt Lake City, UT: Kilby Court

Blame it on Brangelina’s presence at Banksy’s Barely Legal exhibition last September, Neck Face’s foray into the gallery scene, or even Claw Money’s overpriced fashion line, but street art–at least a large portion of it–is no longer the stuff of train yards at midnight and other dark places of the urban netherworld.

The latest proof of this? Scottish Heritage, charged with preserving its nation’s historical landmarks, supportsThe Graffiti Art Project, a multi-day event in which Brazilian street-art masters Os Gemos, Nina, and Nunca join forces with local talent to cover the south side of Kelburn Castle with, yup, graffiti. Said artists will work on the collective project for 30 days, marrying historic preservation with an art form once run by street gangs. Even if it’s weird, you have to give ’em props for the most creative interpretation of mainstream graffiti to date. Shame about the castle though.

The Graffiti Art Project begins May 12, 2007 at Kelburn Castle, Glasgow, Scotland.
Register with the project to receive the latest updates.

Though Motown has been lauded as defining one of the most innovative and energetic eras in American musical history, there are still people courageous enough to refute such genius and try reinterpreting the hits. On Motown Remixed Vol. 2, 11 different producers chop up and reinterpret classics from Diana Ross, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and The Jackson 5 (pictured below), to name a few.

These aren’t mere producers, though. Vol. 2 focuses specifically on Latin producers, namely SPK (Ruff Ryders, Jennifer Lopez), George Noriega, Jodi Marr (Ricky Martin), and Randy Cantor (Ricky Martin). In other words, this is no Nortec Collective spin-off–these guys have been behind commercial Latin hits for a minute, not to mention some Grammy awards.

Even with such industry credibility, can anyone really remix The Temptations’ “Poppa Was A Rollin’ Stone?” Or better yet, Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine?” It may be sacrilege in some circles, but if anyone needs an über-produced Latin remix of “Square Biz” by Teena Marie for one of those moments, Motown Remixed is the best (and probably the only) place to turn.

Motown Remixed is out May 22, 2007 on Universal Music. 

Tracklisting
1. J Walker & The All Stars “Shotgun (Los Amigos Invisibles Mix)”
2. Martha & The Vandellas “(Love is Like A) Heat Wave (David Elizondo Mix)”
3. The Temptations “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone (David Elizondo Mix)”
4. Jackson 5 “I Want You Back (SPK Mix)”
5. Diana Ross “The Boss (Chosen Few Mix)”
6. Jackson 5 “Dancing Machine (Miami Mix)
7. The Temptations “I Can’t Get Next to You (Randy Cantor Mix)”
8. Marvin Gaye “I heard It Through the Grapevine (Fun Machine Mix)”
9. Teena Marie “Square Biz (Sonidero Nacional Remix)”
10. Dennis Edwards feat. Seidah Garrett “Don’t Look Any Further (DJ U.F. Low Mix)”
11. Smokey Robinson “Aqui Con Tido (Being With you) (Eric Bodi Rivera Mix)”