Several new albums that I’d like to share with you:

• The Fiery Furnaces, Blueberry Boat. From what I can tell the songs on this album are an extended riff on the Who’s A Quick One While He’s Away, The Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society, psychedelic singer-songwriting, & the Carpenters. Brother-Sister duo sound nothing like the Hype Strypes. Haven’t heard the first album, hear it’s more bluesy.

• Devendra Banhart, Rejoicing in the Hands. A unique voice that requires getting used to, somewhere between Bert Jansch and Billie Holliday. Songs for folk folk.

• Animal Collective, Tung Songs. The most interesting avant-rock I’ve heard this year. Campfire sing-alongs, beach bum melodies, Julio-down-by-the-schoolyard ethnographies.

• Deerhoof, Milk Man. The latest in a long line of micro-masterpieces. Precision pop-a-wheelies.

• Bill Fay, From the Bottom of an Old Grandfather Clock. I heard this in a store in Manhattan and felt compelled to order this import-only record, made in the early 70s. British folk-psychedelia with the Beatles looking over his shoulder. Shouldn’t be good but is.

• Madvillain, Madvillainy. MF Doom and Madlib doin' it. As my friend Angelica says, “hip-hop for grownups.” S/FJ nails it at the New Yorker, Doom’s Day.

• Azita, Life on the Fly. An uncanny homage to Steely Dan from the former Scissor Girl. Listen to the track on her website and tell me she's not a Donald Fagen follower.