Townes Van Zandt - Delta Momma Blues

The only country album you need to own.

David Sandström - The Dominant Need of the Needy Soul Is to Be Needed + Om Det Inte Händer Nåt Innan Imorgon Så Kommer Jag + Pigs Lose

You might remember David Sandström as the drummer from Refused. You know, the hardcore band that has only gained popularity since they broke up and have basically attained a legendary status. It's members have gone off and done other projects. The singer was doing The (International) Noise Conspiracy for a while. Which was good, but not as good as Refused. Then there was the band Text which had the other three members of Refused and the album Text released sounded absolutely nothing like Refused which could be disappointing if you were looking for The Shape of Punk to Come PT. II. So when I finally tracked down these David Sandström albums I was a little worried. Would it sound anything like Refused? Would it still be good? And the answer is no to the former and yes to the latter. Pigs Lose is more of a throwback to straight up rock and roll while still being good. He's got a good voice for a drummer. Who knew? And the Om Det... album is incredible. It's full of piano and strings and xylophone and delicate guitars (and I swear I heard an oboe in there) and distorted bass over hard hitting rock/n/roll drum beats. All while singing entirely in Swedish. My friend from high school would call it "powerful." The point is that this dude is awesome and you should give him all your money.

Songs: Ohia - Ghost Tropic

Here's another guy that seems to have released close to a million albums with all of them being perfect. This one is less rock and roll with very subtle percussion, but it's great if you're in a chilled out mood. Jason Molina is so good I hate him.

Frank Black and the Catholics - s/t

Frank Black has released over 20 albums under many different names (Pixies, Black Francis, Grand Duchy, etc.) Since 1988 he's released an album virtually every year. I'm still catching up. This was the first album under the Frank Black and the Catholics banner and it's awesome. I don't understand how someone can be as prolific as this man and stay as consistently good. It's ridiculous, a complete anomaly. Add this one to your Frank Black collection.

Weezer - Pinkerton

Weezer should have started and stopped with this album.

Warpaint - Exquisite Corpse EP

This is all I've been listening to for the past week. And knowing that you would think I would have something to say about this, but I got nothing. It's pretty girls making pretty music that's drowned in reverb until it becomes dream-like. The singer's voice resembles Bjork occasionally but not in an obnoxious way. Actually, forget I mentioned Bjork. These girls are a million times better. Check it out yrself!