evergreen days if I only knew the answer (my secret garden): it was such an odd, odd thing. one night I swear alasdair clientele was rambling on about this swedish pop group (in a really vile pub he made us go to) which is on the same label as fibi frap and then all of a sudden a couple days pass and this CD just appears in our mail slot. it's really cool and low-key and low-profile and I am sure glad to have a copy because apparently there are only about 50 of these released—and I say it's time to repress this sucker! gail

jens lekman as rocky dennis maple leaves (secretly canadian): this ep is the one that made us fall for suave swedie jens lekman (hey, he stayed at our house!). this one is a great bargain and just packed with hits: the controversial "black cab" and the holiday-sounding "maple leaves" are sure to win you over if you haven't already been bit by da bug (unless you're stephin merritt). gail

the pines true love waits vol. 1 (foxyboy): if you had a dream in which you and your fiancé were crossing the ocean on a cunard cruise ship wearing tennis whites by day and black glamour by night, I would like to think that the pines would be the ship's house band and this would surely be the set list. (preston sturges would direct!). gail

the pines true love waits vol. 2 (matinee): perfect. more, now, please!!! lisa

the clientele ariadne ep (acuarela): they're using their eps to have a bit of a stretch. this one has two of those limpid piano instrumentals, one surprisingly lively eight-minute organ drone, one full-band instrumental and "impossible" which is a fine example of the clientele's pop core. all inspired by giorgio di chirico, apparently, though for myself I'd be happier with the glorious gertrude hermes woodcuts on the beautiful sleeve. tim

radio dept pulling our weight (labrador): follow-up e.p. (can we still use this to describe cds?) to last year's lesser matters allows these swedes to continue to plug the shoegazer aesthetic. now signed to xl apparently (and more power to them!), these songs are in some ways stronger than the previous output and show some production refinement that was lacking on earlier releases. who would thought people besides us old indie-nerds would be into this band? I find the radio dept strangely nostalgic and very enjoyable...must root around in the back of the cabinet to find that old slowdive record... hmm, no that's not it, where did I... oh well. they play a bitchin' live show to boot, last year at the spitz knocked my socks off. hats off to you, gentlemen. josh

belle and sebastian books (rough trade): super-weird to see b&s simultaneously mocking their self-caricature, and trying to get away from it, and indulging it. good that "your cover's blown" is as much a new direction as their "final day," and is also fabulous. although saying "look we can just as well do something totally different how about that huh?" might actually be an affirmation of their default style (cf. "your secrets," which is autopilot belle) as something they consciously chose. still, this opens up lots of possibilities for where they can go next: hope they take advantage. also, the video game that comes with this moves way too slowly. clarissa

pipas bitter club (matinee): instead of banging out more pointless record reviews, I should be final-cut-pro-ing my pipas vids for "mental" and "jean cocteau"—the two top hits here on this hit-packed ep named for a chocolate bar of course. "mental" is a thinking person's dance track while "jean cocteau" is the song you put on a mixtape for the person you are dumping. we also get a crunchy remix of "south" by brooklyn's pandatone. rad. gail

jens lekman you are the light (secretly canadian): oozing charm and razzle dazzle and getting away with cutesy lyrical murder because he's a kooky swede, jens lekman burst onto our scene with his derivative jonathan richman/stephin merritt/etc. cocktail and sometimes we don't even care what he's singing about (because his voice is so sexy). title track could be christian rock. could it all be a religious manifesto? what's up the with the knight on the cover? how chivalrous is he anyhow? inquiring minds want to know. gail

pipettes demos (on the internet): no records so far, just four demos that you may need to do a little digging to find mp3s of, but seven minutes of the most total happiness I've had in this cruddy intemperate year. a bit dolly mixture-influenced, as I'm not the first person to note, in the sense of smartness+tune+pep+speed+whimsy+girliness+the main singer's vocal tone. this is why it sucks that the 7-inch vinyl epoch collapsed, because ten years ago I would be holding their perfect first record in my hand right now. clarissa

decemberists the tain (acuarela): our favorite chantey-rock crew performs a single-track, five-movement, nineteen-minute summation of the tain, a poem widely regarded as the centerpiece of ulster mythology. much, much, much, much less geeky than it sounds, but still you'd be better off starting with last year's her majesty the decemberists, which gives up the shipwreck and acrobat tales in less proggy doses. daniel

rentboy do the turtle (consumer productions): this is what a good rock band is all about—creepy people and their injokes. every time I put on a record by rentboy, I love to ponder whether they actually know what their name means, and how much better it would be if they had a good name for their band like... christ, anything, really, "preservative 267", "alma gare", "table salt", I don't care, it's just that rentboy is the worst name for a band ever, and yet they are in the top 5% of really good bands. maybe they're being sponsored by some hobart brothel of the same name. they are a three-piece whose names you've already guessed: dan, patrick, ben. imagine the first cure album crossed with the strokes, then record some songs in that style and make a million dollars. with some of your money, place an order for this great ep, and buy one for a friend. you can afford it. david

smokey & miho tempo de amor: songs by baden powell (afro sambas): 5 brazilian songs performed—nay, replicated—in the style of the breezy and effortless originals. it makes one want to (a) put on a genuine bossa nova album and (b) mourn that cibo matto are no more. liner note gripe—if you're the only horn player on the album, do you really need an additional credit for "horn arrangements"? daniel