The Dum Dum Girls have a new EP - that would be "End of Daze" and it's on mighty, mighty Sub Pop. Kristin Gundred is Dee Dee, the Dum Dum dame of note, and she effortlessly cruises through these five songs, more or less channeling Mazzy Star and the Ronettes. The first one is best, "Mine Tonight," which comes off as a Phil Spector outtake from back in the day.

The Dum Dum Girls have a new EP - that would be "End of Daze" and it's on mighty, mighty Sub Pop. Kristin Gundred is Dee Dee, the Dum Dum dame of note, and she effortlessly cruises through these five songs, more or less channeling Mazzy Star and the Ronettes. The first one is best, "Mine Tonight," which comes off as a Phil Spector outtake from back in the day.

Niki and the Dove have a new one - that would be "Instinct" and it's on Sub Pop Records out of Seattle. Niki is actually Malin Dahlstrom and the Dove are a couple of dudes making this a Swedish electronic trio. I tried hard to like them as I was driving to the post office because I love Sub Pop but I ended up trading them out for Malinda Lee's "Food News Hour" on KNX because they were unlistenable, a fact that probably will not make their resume. It's whiny girlie vocals with that "we-have-to-talk" urgency but the songs are crummy and now I know more than I need to about failed custard recipes.

Thee Satisfaction's latest is on mighty, mighty Sub Pop and it's called "Awe Natural," which is a pretty darn clever title from these two ladies who met at U-Dub in Seattle. Maybe Mick couldn't get no - oh, course he could; he was lying - but these two seem to be having fun doing sort of a spoken word, rap thing over a propulsive jazz background. Not right for me but maybe for you.

Thee Satisfaction's latest is on mighty, mighty Sub Pop and it's called "Awe Natural," which is a pretty darn clever title from these two ladies who met at U-Dub in Seattle. Maybe Mick couldn't get no - oh, course he could; he was lying - but these two seem to be having fun doing sort of a spoken word, rap thing over a propulsive jazz background. Not right for me but maybe for you.

OK, dog lovers - Husky has a new one, "Forever So" and it's on Sub Pop. And - wow - who knew? Husky is not a furry canine but rather the best thing to come out of Ethiopia since Haile Selassie and let's not forget, the first people or back before time or anybody was late. Husky plays baroque folk rock with earnest (and pretty cool) vocals by Gawenda, who sings in better English than we speak. The opener, "Tidal Wave" will make you a fan with its slo mo hooks that will live in your head - and unfortunately the Asian tsunami was a sad example of the shock doctrine as the fishermen lost their beachfront property where they had been kicking it (and fishing) for centuries, allowing carpetbagger developers to steal their land in order to build hotels so tourism can devour another local quality of life. Slow and solid with swell vocals should make these guys indie heroes.

OK, dog lovers - Husky has a new one, "Forever So" and it's on Sub Pop. And - wow - who knew? Husky is not a furry canine but rather the best thing to come out of Ethiopia since Haile Selassie and let's not forget, the first people or back before time or anybody was late. Husky plays baroque folk rock with earnest (and pretty cool) vocals by Gawenda, who sings in better English than we speak. The opener, "Tidal Wave" will make you a fan with its slo mo hooks that will live in your head - and unfortunately the Asian tsunami was a sad example of the shock doctrine as the fishermen lost their beachfront property where they had been kicking it (and fishing) for centuries, allowing carpetbagger developers to steal their land in order to build hotels so tourism can devour another local quality of life. Slow and solid with swell vocals should make these guys indie heroes.

The latest by Jaill with two l's is "Traps" and it's another Sub Pop release. You can't hide anyone in a trio as they just noodle along in a folkie/Americana sort of way. Extrapolating from the band name motif, "Everyone's A Bitch" could be the theme song for that next prison prom that is coming up - let's see - never. The vocals are just tolerable on these raggedy garage rock feedback noodlers. I could see these guys playing in a garage somewhere with their girlfriends all jittery with everyone else standing with their arms folded.

The latest by Jaill with two l's is "Traps" and it's another Sub Pop release. You can't hide anyone in a trio as they just noodle along in a folkie/Americana sort of way. Extrapolating from the band name motif, "Everyone's A Bitch" could be the theme song for that next prison prom that is coming up - let's see - never. The vocals are just tolerable on these raggedy garage rock feedback noodlers. I could see these guys playing in a garage somewhere with their girlfriends all jittery with everyone else standing with their arms folded.

The new one by Beachwood Sparks is "Tarnished Gold" and it's on Sub Pop. It's laid back and well rested folk rock - it's been a decade since their last album - maybe they're too well rested. If these guys were any mellower they would achieve silence. The singing is just fine, but the songs? Not so much - it's all sound alike acoustic music - basically, it's harmonies without direction.

The latest from Beach House is "Bloom" and it's on Sub Pop. Actually, I have a better one word title - "Bummer" or maybe "Boring." This a collection of slow, bad songs that all sound the same. Maybe only South Sea islanders and Jeremy Wade can catch a fish without a hook - a song without a hook is just, well, boring background muzak.

First up is the latest from my new favorite band, King Tuff - the album is self-titled and it's on mighty, mighty Sub Pop. Who is this guy? Who knows? The band bio is about as vague as Mitt Romney discussing anything, yet he's got that raucous and raunchy '60s garage band rock sound figured out. He's channeling the Castaways, the Seeds and the Count Five, so when more people realize that the '60 are back, he'll be like a god, or at least, a King. I like "Stranger"' and all those fuzzed out guitars - just another great Sub Pop band, a label that seriously knows what's what.

Shearwater's eighth album and their SubPop debut is "Animal Joy" and to those of us that love our pets and Animal Planet and PETA; well, this could be the soundtrack. Jonathan Meiburg has that falsetto working - sort of like Brian Wilson did 50 years ago - and the first tune, "Animal Life" is a baroque classic and as a cat person, gotta love those cheetahs looking cool on the back cover. While the first song sets a high bar which the others fail to match, you'll probably still buy in to Meiburg's evident passion for his night job. Fans of the Shins should dig this one - once again, more music from the wrong century but perfect for "The Canterbury Tales," or back when Chaucer was feeling studly in 1381.

The new one by the unpronounceable Spoek Mathambo is "Father Creeper" and it's on SubPop. All the way from Johannesburg in South Africa - it electro-rap. Well, it doesn't suck but neither is it something I want to hear more than once, despite the fact that this dude has some talent with rhymes, it's too weird even for me.

Got another one just out on Sub Pop - that would "Illusions" by the artist Poor Moon. This one is a five-song EP of mellow, tuneless hummables that go nowhere and not even close to anywhere. This one is boring with no good songs to tell you about.

The new/old from Feedtime is "The Aberrant Years" and it's on Sub Pop. This is an old school punk band from Down Under and this collection comes from a bunch of albums released between '82 and '89. Most of this is screamy and inconsequential but maybe you had to have been there. They blow up "Play With Fire" so that now it's all growl-y and sounds like the frontman is one of the expendable targets in "Zombieland." And when it comes to "Hear Me Calling," go back to the Ten Years After original off their aptly-titled classic, "Stonedhenge."

The latest from Memoryhouse is "The Years" and it's on the celebrated, cerebral and really bhitch, kick-ass indie label, Sub Pop, out of Seattle. It's a six song EP of sad girl mope rock courtesy of Denise Nouvion on a bunch of same-sounding songs - each about as memorable as lunch last week with whatsername. One of the few Sub Pop releases I cannot dig - imagine Mazzy with no star power.