I admit I like Queens of the Stone Age. They're the only current rawk group who seem at all like the real thing to me.

Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Blues Du Jour. Charming Japanese faux-naive poppy strangeness, a record I've listened to quite a bit over the past year or so and never seem to tire of. 37 songs on 2 sides of vinyl, most of them around a  minute long, and all of them full of playfulness and invention.

-- Ian