TENnitus presents ... The Thrasher mail bin of Free Groundbreaking Music.

Every day here at the mag (like, every day) the local mailman stops by to drop off loads of padded manila envelopes filled with the latest aural delights Excessively packaged, one 8.5"x11" envelope might contain a CD (no cover art, but a free jewel case!), a couple pieces of cardboard (to protect the jewel case!), a corny photo of the band on extra-thick paper stock (Drummer's in the back! Drummer's in the back!) and an overload of bio sheets (Jack White's brother's girlfriend's roommate stopped by the mastering studio!) and cliched music reviews (one PR toaster suggests that it's not what's in your band's promo pack, but how much it weighs). Guess who pays for all this? The bands! Postage, paper, everything. Think you got a fat advance? Wait 'til they calculate your promotion expenses. Yeah! DIY!

Anyhow so we get these packages, tear 'em open, promptly file all paper materials in the recycling, and toss them discs straight into the Thrasher mail bin of Free Groundbreaking Music. It's in this bin that our staff and staff's friends spend oodles of minutes scouring for the hidden gems, the rising cream, the nugget worthy of said bin's title. Here's what we dug out over the last month:

1. Okkervil River--Down the River of Golden Dreams--Jagjaguwar

2. The Bronx--White Drugs

3. David Dondero--The Transient--Future Farmer

4. Morcheeba--Part of the Process--Reprise

5. Ranking Joe w/Black Uhuru and Dennis Brown--Zion High--Blood and Fire

6. The Great Redneck Hope--'Splosion!--Thinker Thought

7. Ween--Quebec--Sanctuary

8. Jay Farrar--Terroir Blues--Act/Resist

9. Rachel's--Systems/Layers--Quarterstick

10. Superchunk--Cup of Sand--Merge