The Secret Machines | Rolling Stone Original
It’s rare for the Secret Machines to do anything on a small scale, but these proggish rock avatars packed up their prodigious gear and headed to meet the Real peeps at the Green Screen studios to unleash four exclusive live tracks to an unsuspecting world. I was "Alone, Jealous and Stoned," my jaw dropped as they rocked with relentless perfection. These live tracks are all from their sonically prophetic and musically florid Ten Silver Drops, but then, maybe you should. - Jaan & TK

Brightblack Morning Light (self-titled)
My Matador friend has been telling me I'd like this album for a while. Perhaps that's why I never gave it a listen? I don't really have an excuse for just now getting around to digging this record, because my man was right on. What threw it over the top was JamBase making it the hot new band of the month for June. The JamBasers write, "The way they tell it, the Brightblack Morning Light is a sacred time of day 'where spirits are allowed access' and 'the truth of the universe is faded into a veil of blue sky.' Prepare yourself for a sound reminscent of children conceived on that field in Woodstock back in '69. But now it's 2006 and this duo takes tripped out to a new dimension." Heady! On their self-titled Matador debut, they ooze slow-burning songs that simmer sleepy guitar effects (a la early Spiritualized) with lazy freak folk (think Vetiver on Oxycontin) as heavy-lidded male/female vocal harmonies slow dance around hushed horns and an old Wurlitzer jazz piano. My favorite, the slow oozer "Star Blanket River Child". - TK/ES/JB

Sergio Mendes | In Person At El Matador
This live performance captures Sergio Mendes at his best. Mendes, who previously concentrated on his lean, propulsive American piano style, had just put his stellar band Brazil 66 together, but he had yet to add elements of pop to their sophisticated Brazilian sound. Fans of Herb Alpert-style easy listening should look elsewhere. This is a superb bossa nova record, live from San Francisco! - ND
TEDitor's Note: This record is keeping me calm and mellow today, I've listened to it three times straight already! One track to groove to on repeat: "Caminho de Casa."

Ben Folds | "Underground #2"
"...And now it's been ten years, I'm still wonderin who to be..."
Proclaiming that "we can be happy underground," Ben Folds clicks his heels (and his piano keys) and brings us this jubilant new single that mocks pierced and pissed-off punks with an anarchic tinkling of piano jazz pop. This release includes a live version of "Underground" (just add heckler) with "Jackson Cannery" from the Ben Folds Five debut album, now more than a decade old. - Michele K-Tel

Widespread Panic | Earth to America
Twenty-some years and nine studio albums into a semi-legendary career, Widespread Panic are still finding new ground to break. Earth To America is a signature powerhouse blend of bourbon-soaked boogie, deep country blues and space-shot improvisation. From the string-section grandeur of "Second Skin" to the horn-led disco rock of "Goodpeople" to the barrelhouse piano swing of "Ribs and Whiskey," WSP use studio tricks to maximum effect. Burdened by the demeaning "jam band" moniker, they might never get their due as one of the great American rock 'n' roll acts of this generation. - J. Zwickel

Oakley Hall | Gypsum Strings
This little gem of an album by Oakley Hall came out on Jagjaguwar last week. I got tipped off to it by Garrett on his post on the new Rhapsody staff blog. G says their songs are like "country-ish collective space rollers awash in fiddles, organs, guitars and vocal harmonies." I've been such a lame blogger lately that I've sunk to stealing blog posts from Rhapsody staff members. I guess it's not stealing if I turn music fans like you onto new music. From the picture he posted, they are what Fleetwood Mac would be if they were born 15 years earlier. It's part hippie sitar noodle groove, and half Neil Young-inspired indie rock with striking vocal efforts. In spite of it's underlying folkishness, the album is really quite good, I didn't want to turn it off at any point. I especially enjoyed the wailing guitars on "Lazy Susan." - TK

Sonic Youth | Rather Ripped
Rhapsody Exclusive Pre-Release Stream!
Sonic Youth celebrate their 25th year together with this blast of sweet noise. It's rather more melodic than "ripped", but with enough guitar chaos to keep it sounding Sonic. The real surprise is from Kim Gordon: her vocals have never sounded so downright lilting and serene. Nothing is missing here except for "fifth member" Jim O'Rourke, and the need to prove themselves as returning masters of the avant-garde. - Michele K-Tel

The Brian Jonestown Massacre | Tepid Peppermint Wonderland
I’m not usually a big retrospective/box set fan cuz I like the totality and sometimes conceptual whole of individual albums, but since I just discovered them recently, via the documentary DIG, this album became my introduction to BJM. The movie makes it clear that Anton Newcombe is a mad genius, and a prolific one, at that. Listening to this music, I feel like I have found the ultimate joining of 60’s psychadelia with modern indie garage rock. Every song is a lustrous little adventure...with plenty of depth and mental instability to go around. - Henry M.