melophobe — Please tell me that this is only a slight exaggeration on what I will be seeing when I visit Portland in March. Polygamist free-range farms? Hide and Seek Leagues? Embroidery made from human hair? Honestly though, one of my favorite aspects of the fi... more info

Stereogum — “The dream of the ’90s is alive in Portland,” the place where young people go to retire. Or so goes the opening musical sequence of Portlandia, the new sketch comedy of Fred Armisen and Sleater-Kinney, aka ThunderAnt. After they put away the fl... more info

NME - Radar — From the folks that bring you Radar’s weekly Glossary, here’s a handy guide to all the buzz-worthy jargon for the coming 12 months A is for Andrew Mason Imagine the talent you could buy with $6billion. At 30 years old, Mason, the former Steve Al... more info

Guardian Music — It's been another bumper year for our tireless New Band writer. Join him as he runs through his playlist of 2010's best tracksAs with any 12-month period since time immemorial, 2010 was hailed by some as a weak year for music, while others claimed it... more info

Guardian Music — Fans of Toro Y Moi and Washed Out should soak up the sheer synth loveliness of this LA musician's debut albumHometown: Chatsworth, California.The lineup: Will Wiesenfeld (vocals, music).The background: We've had albums-of-the-year lists and ones-that... more info

Guardian Music — Over the past couple of years, blog bands used have faded polaroids to create their own aesthetic. Now major label acts such as the Vaccines and Kings of Leon are copying their styleIf you visited any music blog this year, you won't have failed to no... more info

Guardian Music — Facing the Sun, the lead single from this Danish band's debut album, is one of the most glorious things we've heard all yearHometown: Copenhagen, Århus and Jutland in Denmark.The lineup: Mathias Sørensen (drums,vocals), Morten Winther Nielsen (guit... more info

Brooklyn Vegan — photos by Tim Griffin Deakin "This solo project from Animal Collective's Deakin (or Deacon, or Josh Dibb) was just as psychedelic, but in more of a dub vein, with spacey, ambient guitar over echoing reverberating distorted drum-pad beats. A pair... more info

Guardian Music — Full of heavenly hooks and catchy choruses, this sounds like chart music from a far-off time or parallel universeHometown: London.The lineup: Sam Mehran (voice, music).The background: There is much to pique one's interest about Outer Limits Recording... more info

Nialler9 — For this month's artwork, I gave Stephen Graham aka Left Overs a list of possible song titles. One of which was Chromeo's 'Hot Mess' which inspired this beautiful work of art: " Lindsay Lohan as a survivor of a Beverly Hills future apocalyptic catacl... more info