• 1. St. Vincent could easily get placed into the same bargain bin as indie femme fatales like Feist or Bat for Lashes, but Annie Clark is way more subversive than that, plus the girl can rock out as much as the guys – see “Actor Out of Work.”

  2. We’re on an female indie superstar kick this week, so it’s only fitting that Neko Case, she of New Pornographers and awesome solo career, get a mention for “Your Control,” a near-perfect meshing of vocals with Crooked Fingers’ Eric Bachmann. *

  3. This cover gives us goosebumps. A b-side off of Iron & Wine’s killer new rarity collection “Around the Well,” Sam Beam’s cover of “Waitin’ for a Superman” somehow matches and exceeds the hushed desperation of the Flaming Lips’ original.

  4. Ben Gibbard and Feist may as well be the king and queen of indie rock to mainstream audiences, and this cover of Vashti Bunyan’s “Train Song” from the “Dark Was the Night” compilation doesn’t become either of theirs. They share in the beauty. *

  5. The Appleseed Cast, a long-running post-rock band, likes to build slowly then go huge. It takes nearly six minutes for vocals to show up on the epic “As the Little Things Go,” and we wouldn’t have it any other way. *

  * – Thanks much to friend of the site Davey Jones for these picks.

Posted by Ernie Smith • Permalink