(Villagers plays on Sunday, 4:15 pm on the Neumos Stage at the Capitol Hill Block Party.)

The first album from Ireland's latest export Villagers has been lavished with tribute from the New York Times and NPR, giving much early Stateside attention for these lads from Dublin. At the 2010 Capitol Hill Block Party we will get a chance to experience music from what the Washington Post called "one of the year's best debuts." Becoming The Jackal features 11 songs filled with shrewd lyrics about "longing on trial" in all manner of ways, sung with very gentle melodies from frontman Conor J. O'Brien, and set to spare acoustic-based compositions occasionally massaged by strings and keys. For an area of the United States where Hey Marseilles and The Decemberists always receive fervent welcome and Jonathan Richman could probably set up residency, Villagers should thrill them on Sunday at Neumos.

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I’ve been a fan of Brooklyn experimental rockers Dirty Projectors for years now, before they caught hold in the indie music community with their most recent (and definitely most accessible) album, Bitte Orca. I first saw them at a tiny club in Texas, and I think they scared the bejeesus out of everyone with their weirdness, but I was absolutely enthralled.

Bitte Orca took their strange angular approach to lo-fi and mixed it up with SUPER catchy melodic hooks and a disjointed dance-feel, which really propelled them into the indie spotlight. Dirty Projectors' brand of wiry rock punctuated with puzzling shifts in song structure is complete addictive, gorgeous and promises to pack a good punch.

This is a don't-miss show at Neumos, this Wednesday, November 4th. Little Wings opens.

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Two Sunsets is a single disc release from a Glasgow band, The Pastels, and a Tokyo band, Tenniscoats. It was recorded when Tenniscoats had some studio time booked in the former's city, and they collaborated "just to see what would happen, and maybe find out what it is they have in common," their label Domino proclaims.

Many people will be attracted to this release due to the irresistible treatment of The Jesus & Mary Chain's About You, the b-side to the pre-release single "Vivid Youth." Both are excellent examples of a twelve song full length that treasures melody as much as lassitude, its modality of warmth generously consistent.

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At times elated and joyous, and other times ghostly and longing, Merriweather Post Pavilion is the most accessible, most polished and arguably the most impeccably cohesive work of Animal Collective's career to date.

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Clinic is going to be at Neumo's this Friday, May 16th (with Shearwater) and Three Imaginary Girls is excited to have two pairs of tickets to giveaway to a couple of lucky imaginary readers.

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There is something appealing about an album that sounds like it was recorded completely off the cuff.

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Many people will just write off the band as another lamprey on the carcass of long-dead artists, but These New Puritans show they might come out on top — or might not come out at all.

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Hark, the record angels sing! Download "Good Lies"

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Some know Clinic as the band who strictly don hospital scrubs on stage, but I love them for their discordant guitar harmonies, thick relentless bass lines, and vocals that seethe with urgency. The end result is a beautiful mixture that is exotic, striking and dark.

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Not only is The Freed Man like a time machine, taking the listener back to the beginnings of the indie music movement, but it also stands alone as a brilliant link to the music of Sebadoh.

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