Bear In Heaven - "Wholehearted Mess"

Bear In Heaven - "Wholehearted Mess": "I tend to avoid 'bear'-titled bands, partially because there are so many of them and partially because I don't want anyone to accuse me of pandering. This was still my intention when I was led to Bear In Heaven's 1am show (Thursday, Mohawk inside)...but they won me over. Strangely calm and frantic at the same time, there's an epic quality to a lot of their tunes and more than a touch of strange. You can hear touches of 70s prog and synths, but it never feels dated."

Class Actress - "Let Me Take You Out"

Class Actress - "Let Me Take You Out": "Sadly, I missed checking this band out at SXSW, but I intended to! I got turned onto this song by KEXP just before SXSW and it totally hits my sweet spot of new wave synthpop with guitars, here female-fronted. It recalls some of the female vocal tracks from Stars and My Favorite, which is a good thing in my book."

The Whigs - "I Am For Real"

The Whigs - "I Am For Real": "I'm late, but I'm starting my 2010 SXSW Recap now. I saw these guys rip this track up live (Friday, Sony Day Party) and it's just as good on record (ok, a little better live, but they're GREAT live). They really do get better on every record."

Robbers On High Street - "Cool It Now"

Robbers On High Street - "Cool It Now": "ROHS provide a surprisingly suave version of New Edition's "Cool It Now" which may reinforce the more lush direction they've taken their music, but suits them and this track well here."

Surfer Blood - "Anchorage"

Surfer Blood - "Anchorage": "I don't know if this whole record has the '90s indie rock' vibe that I was told it did, but this song does seem to. That's probably why I've gravitated towards it the most. (And we're talking 'indie rock' from a musical perspective here, not lo-fi audio or anything like that.)"

The Innocence Mission - "Snow"

The Innocence Mission - "Snow": "Hauntingly, heartbreakingly, simply beautiful. It gives me chills."

INXS - "Listen Like Thieves"

INXS - "Listen Like Thieves": "I realized I haven't acknowledged my continued Aussie sojurn in a bit, so here's another of my fave tracks from my current surroundings. INXS is so much better than they're given credit for, this record (Listen Like Thieves) in particular."

Aimee Mann - "The Scientist (Live)"

Aimee Mann - "The Scientist (Live)": "Heaven knows I got sick of this song being overplayed when it came out, so it's not like I was clamoring for it to be reborn as a cover. Aimee's take didn't 'fix' this with a radical re-working or anything like that, but the beautiful harmony vocals she adds near the end of the song ("ooo...it's such a shame...") easily justify the whole cover on their own. Kudos."

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "A Teenager In Love"

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "A Teenager In Love": "The song is so sweet and twee that it's almost too much to handle - until you realize they're singing about a teenager in love with Christ and heroin. I think I was humming it back to myself before I realized what the lyrics were. Cheeky."

Eurythmics - "Revenge"

Eurythmics - "Revenge": "Not the synthpop of "Sweet Dreams" or the rock'n'soul of "Would I Lie To You", this early Eurythmics cut is a blend of the icy cool of their earlier works but with the organic instrumentation of their middle period. There's also a nice dry humor at work here too."