Good lord, listen to that first song. Just…man. What an introduction, huh? Josh Dooley and his band Map bring it hard with that monster riff, then the verses swing into Smiths-style jangle-pop. His style varies, sliding into smooth new wave while keeping the ever-present guitars, barely restrained from bursting forth and overrunning the song. Dooley has impeccable pop tastes, he knows when to push boundaries and when to keep his style locked down: consistently hazy, slow, and powerful. This album is a compilation spanning Map’s career and definitely has a number of their best tracks. Map’s released all of their albums on Velvet Blue Music and they’ve got some good stuff on iTunes.

Also, on a totally random note, a friend of mine (@dsy) took that cover shot!

This is some serious bliss out music. It will relentlessly soothe your Monday. Geotic (aka Baths aka Post-Foetus aka Will Wiesenfeld aka @bathsmusic) knows his way around beats: he knows when to hold them and when to drop them. He mostly holds on to them on this five-track ep, which blends quietly into one fourteen-minute-long mellow-fest.

I’ve been unsure about posting mixes like this on this blog. They’re in much more of a legal grey area, which is something I like to stay away from, mostly for my own sake. Also, I just posted a single from Viva Voce a week or so ago.

It’s Memorial Day, the traditional first day of Summer (the technical first day of Summer is three weeks from now), and how can you have a first day of summer without a rad mix of perfect jams? Kevin Robinson of Viva Voce has put together this impeccable mix of mostly-obscure 60s rock and folk interspersed with awesome/ridiculous radio spots for old hippie-exploitation films. It’s a great iPod playlist for your beach barbecue, and a solid way to start summer.

The image above is a screencap from legendary 60s surf film Endless Summer. Now streaming on Netflix instant!

This one’s a little bit of a cheat: the second track, the obvious standout, is not available for download at the link above. But this is the link I received from their site, which promises a “free download” of this entire album. This song is available on iTunes and Amazon MP3, because it was also released on another of their (non-free) albums. That’s probably why Last.fm doesn’t have it for download.

Theives Like Us make music that my good pal Fred would put on his “80s Cop Soundtrack” playlist—it’s heavily synthesized instrumental music, fading between driving motorik beats and ambient washes. It does a good job of receding in the background if you need it to, though it’s definitely motivating, whether you’re driving or working or just chillin’. This music makes you want to get up and do something. And, as a bonus for those of you who are just completely tired of vari-speed, “woozy” synthesizer music, Thieves Like Us keep it on the straight and level the whole time.

Anamanaguchi are not your average chiptune band. They’re loved by video game nerds, and have appeared at conventions such as PAX. They are also loved by comics nerds, being pals of Bryan Lee O’Malley and soundtracking the videogame based on his Scott Pilgrim comic books. They’re loved by music nerds for releasing incredible tracks like Airbrushed. This, however, is their first release, on the venerable 8 Bit Peoples chiptune label. It’s a little rough around the edges: the real guitar and drums are pushed way into the back of the mix. They’ve since learned how to properly bring out the rock without overshadowing the Nintendo. But the power of songs like Helix Nebula cannot be denied. These are the some of the rockingest songs featuring a Nintendo ever made.

This atmospheric entry comes from an early alias of one of my new favorite artists: Com Truise. It retains his love of the warble and devotion to the Boards of Canada sound, but lacks the synthesizer devotion of his Com Truise stuff (he released a new album, Galactic Melt, last week). It’s a scant fifteen minutes of lazy nighttime VHS soundtrack tape loops occasionally intruded upon by late-90s beats. It’s all very reminiscent of the trip-hop sound from the mid-90s—think of a more chill Portishead or Massive Attack.

It’s certainly not the dog days of summer yet. And, yeah, southern California is not exactly known for its high temperatures. But this EP is like a light breeze on a hot day—it floats by and makes the heat just a bit more bearable. Clearly very accurately named, it’s gauzy, bedroom pop with a timeless quality despite its modern production.

I wanted to be patriotic today, so what better than a pre-WWII 78rpm to digital transfer of the Cleveland Orchestra playing America’s favorite music to explode things alongside. This recording lacks the cannon fire that should be at the end, but it’s a pretty high-quality recording besides that. Plus, it’s old, which makes it more patriotic, probably. Happy Independence Day!

Montag’s music has always intrigued me. It’s very well put together and beautiful, drifting between ambience and pop affectations like hooks and choruses. It’s hardly ever insistent—confident enough to simply be great and wait for you to discover—politely refusing to jump out and grab you. This EP is a series of covers of songs from Antoine Bédard’s youthful love of indie music and cultural classics—the Breeders, Unrest, Low, PM Dawn, and a Bronski Bear/Eurythmics medley. They’re very pretty covers in that pre-Postal Service phase of mid-2000s laptop top, but the Breeders cover, No Aloha, is really the standout track for me. Perhaps it’s my affinity for “tropical” beats, but I can’t get enough of that song.