Devendra Banhart

The quirky Venezuelan/American will release his newest studio album on October 27th and the first single Baby is now online. His popularity has been growing steadily over the course of his five LP's, and I see the trajectory continuing in an upward direction with What Will We Be, his first on a major label (Warner/Reprise).

Hear the new song on Myspace.

Twilight: New Moon

I have no reason to recommend this film, but take one look at the song list for the soundtrack and tell me you don't at least want to get a burned copy from your little sister.

01 Death Cab for Cutie: "Meet Me on the Equinox"
02 Band of Skulls: "Friends"
03 Thom Yorke: "Hearing Damage"
04 Lykke Li: "Possibility"
05 The Killers: "A White Demon Love Song"
06 Anya Marina: "Satellite Heart"
07 Muse: "I Belong to You (New Moon Remix)"
08 Bon Iver and St. Vincent: "Rosyln"
09 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: "Done All Wrong"
10 Hurricane Bells: "Monsters"
11 Sea Wolf: "The Violet Hour"
12 OK Go: "Shooting the Moon"
13 Grizzly Bear: "Slow Life"
14 Editors: "No Sound But the Wind"
15 Alexandre Desplat: "New Moon (The Meadow)"

The Death Cab song has a link to the video on mtv.com.

The xx

This London group blend R&B and indie pop to end up with a dreamy, sexy debut album that really should be heard by a lot of people. I wasn't sold the first time a streamed a track, but after a couple of listens it's growing on me like a rash. I suggest finding time to give the entire record a spin. Goes well with wine.

xx by The xx

The Big Pink

Compared to last year (Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Bon Iver, etc), uber-hyped debut albums seem to be coming in slower in 2009. Look for this band to start making up for that. They'll appeal to MGMT fans, sounding like a glammy '00's My Bloody Valentine on the first single Velvet. And they've definitely got the hooks... listen to Dominos once and you're sure to be hearing the chorus in your head all week. I'm excited to hear the whole album, which comes out September 22nd.

Delorean

It's been cooling down around these parts of late, but the Summer jams just keep on coming. Barcelona's Delorean (not to be confused with these guys, please!) have put out a perfectly sun-drenched tune called Seasun as part of the new Aryton Senna EP (it's namesake is a Formula one driver, if you were wondering). When I hear it I picture myself back at Space in Ibiza dancing in the sand on a hot August morning.

Their Myspace page has this and other fine cuts streaming for your enjoyment. I tried to buy the EP the old fashioned way (at something called a record store!) but it's looking like a pretty hard to find item. Am I gonna have to download?!

Volcano Choir

You may or should be a Bon Iver fan. This is a project that pre-dates For Emma, Forever Ago and will hopefully garner a decent fraction of the attention served to aforementioned album/artist. Pretend it's already Autumn and click here to listen.

jj

This mysterious Swedish group craft blissful indie pop perfect for late summer days. Pitchfork has a few of their tracks available for streaming and if you go to their label's website, sincerelyyours.se, you can download the mp3 of the track From Africa to Málaga for free. You might want to mix up a daiquiri and pull up a sun lounge for optimum enjoyment.