#1 by Trevor Larkin A local discovery. I was hooked from the very first song. Don’t let the cover art scare you off; there’s some magic ingredient here that raises this stuff way above typical singer-songwriter fare. Standout track: “Seattle Winter Day.” SO good.

Our Own Ghost City by Helen Earth Band. (Helen Earth. Get it?) Tight math-rock stuff from San Diego. Also, nice to hear prog songs that clock in at pop song lengths; no full-album-side pieces here. The single “(We All) Talk With Knives” is killer.

Love It to Life by Jesse Malin & St. Marks Social. This one frustrates me ’cause I’m a big Jesse Malin fan but this just hasn’t grown on me yet. I miss the wider range of his first two records, before he started channeling Cheap Trick.

Dance Rush Project on MySpace Music. Rush music reinterpreted as club mixes. No, really. Swords.

Previously: Use Your Words: a free instrumental EP

Next: Double EP release: Look Back On This And Laugh + The Last Thing You Need