It’s rare that a place like MZ that hears literally hundreds of new songs by hundreds of new artists every month, encounters something this good, that it hadn’t known about before. But it’s really that good. Humbodlt Lagoon, for those of you too fickle, ADD or otherwise, to listen, is pulsing, breathing, stream of consciousness, mind-bending, intellectual, visceral and totally rocks.

Tags: Artist of the Month, best new indie artist, Chi-Town, chicago, Deftones, Fugazi, His Name Is Alive, Humboldt Lagoon, Jesus Lizard, LA music blog, Mercury Rev, Obama, Pavement, Phleg Camp, Shudder To Think, Soundgarden, Sparklehorse, Tool, Tricky

With fire in her belly, Lykke Li toured the bulk of her album with refined delivery and interpretation. Gone were the reverb-sauced vocals, and her backing trio of cute indie rock boys, tighter now than newly minted Velcro, provided choir-like vocals and an onslaught of pulsating, dance-insistent beats with minimal electronic manipulation.

Tags: African Anteater Ritual, Amoeba Records, backdrop, Can't Buy Me Love, current release, dance dance dance, Ed Macfarlane, El Rey Theatre, electronic manipulation, Franz Ferdinand, Friendly Fires, goosebumps, Ian Curtis, indie rock, LCD Soundsystem, live review, Los Angeles, lykke, Lykke Li, Mick Jagger, musiczeitgeist.com, New Order, Obama, onslaught, Patrick Dempsey, songstress, Swedish pop, Vampire Weekend, Wendy Rene, Youth Novels