Summer 2006 1 Regina Spektor - Fidelity  Though typically described as an "anti-folk" artist, Russian-born Regina Spektor borrows from pop, soul, jazz, and classical traditions on her debut for Sire Records. Spector shows off her clever arrangement ideas on Begin to Hope and she has the restraint to use them sparingly. Her unique voice fronts sweet arrangements of strings and elementary beats in the sparse "Fidelity."
artist link 2 Tilly & The Wall - Rainbows In The Dark When Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and business partner Nate Krenkel heard that Saddle Creek passed on signing Tilly & The Wall, they snapped them up into their newly formed Team Love label. The album marries sunny melodies and bright lyrics, and highlights the unorthodox rhythms of dancer Jamie Williams, who amplifies her tap shoes instead of a drum kit.
artist link 3 Islands - Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone The Montreal-based band Islands is constantly rotating its roster of musicians. The diversity of musicians ( Return to the Sea features guest appearances from members of the Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade) and broad instrumentation drives Islands' unique genre-hopping sound.
artist link 4 Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Honey Child What Can I Do? Tiny-voiced Isobel Campbell hails from Glaswegian band Belle & Sebastian, while Mark Lanegan is a sometimes-solo artist from the band Screaming Trees. Together, they make a surprisingly cohesive duet record, most of which Campbell wrote. The breezy "Honey Child" carries her purr and his growl over an epic arch of strings.
artist link 5 Gotan Project (featuring Koxmoz) - Mi Confesion Parisian duo Gotan Project continue their experiments modernizing tango and other Argentinean folk music on their second album Lunatico. "Mi Confesion" features Argentinean hip hop artist Koxmoz rhyming in Spanish over their sensual dance beats.
artist link 6 Maritime - Young Alumni Maritime's midtempo rock rises from the ashes of Dismemberment Plan and Promise Ring, two disparate groups whose losses have since become Maritime's gain. Davey von Bohlen's cool-as-a-cucumber voice drifts over jangly guitars on "Young Alumni," alternately evoking calm and urgency.
artist link 7 Dawn Landes - Bodyguard Honey-voiced Dawn Landes dots her folk-pop with banjo and rock guitars, never allowing a simple song to go untouched by a myriad of musical influences. She cut her teeth gigging at various colleges in the New York area and, as an assistant recording engineer, Landes has the ear to meld seemingly incongruent elements into cohesive tracks.
artist link 8 Tapes 'n Tapes - Insistor After performing around a dozen shows at this year's SXSW music festival and earning buzz from armloads of music blogs, Minneapolis trio Tapes 'n Tapes signed to XL Records early this year. Their barebones recordings, capturing the breathless energy of tracks like "Insistor," further their frantic and enthusiastic rock n' roll.
artist link 9 Mexican Institute of Sound - Dub-A el Tiempo Es Muy Largo Camilo Lara, the one-man-mastermind behind the Mexican Institute Of Sound, indulges in hot and heavy bass beats, sampler house and tinges of rumba, mambo and other Latin styles. Lara reveals his soft spot for dub on "Dub-A el Tiempo."
artist link 10 Psapp - Hi There's something giddy in the music from London pair Psapp (pronounced "sap"). Glitchy synths and beats carry singer Galia Durant's voice into an imaginary world where video game music meets lounge tunes. Add an odd obsession with cats and the occasional cash-register noise and you have Psapp's unique and memorably sweet formula.
artist link 11 Pop Levi - Blue Honey Pop Levi used to make money flaunting his luscious locks as a hair model. Prior to that, he hocked creamy ice cream from a van. Today, it's the throwback ('70s rock and glam) songwriting that pays the bills. His debut full-length will appear next year on Ninja Tune Records.
artist link 12 Tom Zé - Beatles A Granel Even at 60, Tom Zé continues to innovate within the framework of Brazilian folk and jazz. True to his experimental reputation, Zé's latest album for Luaka Bop is a self-described "operreta" that addresses social injustice - racial, sexual, and economic.
artist link 13 The Weepies - Riga Girls Solo artists Deb Talan (from Boston) and Steve Tannen (from New York) obsessed over each other's music long before meeting each other. At Tannen's CD-release party, they bonded and decided to form the folk-pop group The Weepies. Their musical crush reveals itself throughout the sweet and mellow Say I Am You.
artist link 14 Coldcut - Colours The Soul Twenty years ago, DJ duo Coldcut began leaving their mark on house, club, and hip-hop music with a number of popular remixes and dance tracks. By mixing and matching breakbeats with dub, ambient electronica, and acid underpinnings they earned the cred and cash to start two groundbreaking labels: Ninja Tune and Ntone. Sound Mirrors is a return to form, with glossy production, numerous guests (Jon Spencer, Roots Manuva, Saul Williams), and a playful, laid-back feel.
artist link 15 Juana Molina - Desordenado While they may not sound like much on first listen, Juana Molina's quiet compositions hide a lot beneath the surface. Son, her fourth album, is also her most mellow, though it still shows off a knack for incorporating small dissonances into otherwise simple arrangements. The Argentina-native Molina combines bare acoustic instrumentation with subtle layers of electronics, her voice often disguised as just another synth or drum beat.
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