Quiet is the new balck and other sure-fire advice for the victims among us.

Sam Beam (aka Iron and Wine)--the good Southern gent who bestowed upon folks a group of banjy-picked and geetar-strummed ballads about the devil and the Jesus and the last dead snake in the creekbed--showed up at the Bottom of the Hill last month to pull some solo renditions off his Sub Pop debut The Creek Drank the Cradle. All haunting and sincere and such, Sam whispered to a packed house ratifying the decree that "quiet is indeed the new I --d." Rosie Thomas also played quietly and harmonized with Sam and also has a record on SP called When We Were Small, and she's also a comedian. Like in real life. And she's damned funny... Fog: Piano and broken beats and git slides and tape cuts. Forget cuts, actually sounds like the tape unreeled itself to the floor, then the melody maker god came and rewound. Ether Teeth is on Ninja Tune... Daddy Freddy (The Bug vs The Rootsman/DJ Rupture): DJs and wordspeakers, probably on drugs. Daddy Freddy lays some dancehall chants over a heavy, razor-sharp Bug electro cut with ve rsions to spare. Rupture follows with more dirty dirty electrosonics beats for days and some poetic musings. On Tigerbeat6, outta Oakland... Righteous Boy Remember the Cardigans? This is Magnus Sveningsson, bass player and songwriter of 2 said band. Solo effort, lounge music for bachelors shilling at the bachelor pad with the bachelorette. Future Farmer rocket tractor record company is putting out for this in the USA Living Science Foundation: Think very unsober Fugazi with some blitzspeed for good measure. Space cadets with volume to spare-- they will, between the four of them, kill the LA Spook Rock and rehash. Songs on a GSL camp forthcoming.