Blind Roosevelt Graves. It's so nice to hear a song about Jesus that doesn't make me break out in hives. "Woke Up This Morning (with my mind on Jesus)" can be found via the excellent Pre-War Blues.

Dropbass. Somebody combined "Work It Out" with Tomoyasu Hotei's song "Battles Without Honor or Humanity," which is apparently actually called just something like "Theme from 'Another Battle'". This mashup should not work. And it does. And that fills me with dread for all mankind. Found via The Pop View.

Metric. Lots of songs to enjoy by this group--never heard of them before. Myself, I'm partial to "Calculation Theme," which is pretty much everything I want to write about in my next straight fiction novel. Scary when that happens. "I'm sick, you're tired, let's dance." Wonderful. Found via out the other... The band's official website. Buy Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? from Amazon.

And let's talk about two bands at once here. Part of my problem with Godspeed! You Black Emperor is the fact that, to me, their songs feel like they last as long as the Wagner Ring Cycle, and there will be only bits of each individual song that I like. And because I'm a lazy bastard, I just can't bring myself to cut out the really cool part from 28 Days Later that was taken from their song "East Hastings," for example.

Instead, I've found that some people are taking that same concept and condensing the sprawling rawk epics down to six minutes. Or less. Which is much easier to listen to. I'm speaking here of ...As The Poets Affirm and Murder by Death. Poets seem to adhere to the mostly non-vocal composition bit sounding like Godspeed! Lite (not a bad thing!), whereas Murder by Death is kind of like Godspeed! crossed with Firewater. Both are eminently re-listenable and both make incredibly efficient use of strings. And I am a sucker and a half for good strings. If you need to snag a single track for both as a sample, check out "A Voice Recited the News on the Radio" from the Poets and "Those Who Stayed" by Murder by Death.

As the Poets Affirm discovered thanks to Mocking Music. Buy The Jaws That Bite, The Claws That Catch from Zunior.

Murder by Death found via I Guess I'm Floating. Find MBD's music on their MySpace page. Buy Like the Exorcist but More Breakdancing from Amazon.

And an honorable mention for the great write-up of Tom Waits on Tuwa's Shanty.