First up, the Jean-Benoit Dunckel half of the awesomeness that is Air has released a self-titled solo album (iTunes, Amazon) under the name Darkel, we heard "My Own Sun". Next was London's decided Swedish sounding Plastic Operator with "Folder" from an EP by the same name (eMusic, iTunes). Then from Sweden/France Envelopes did "I Don't Like It" from their debut album Demon (iTunes, Amazon). Next Austin's Voxtrot did "Trouble" from their new (see, they keep putting out EPs and as a result, I keep putting them on my show) Your Biggest Fan (eMusic, iTunes, Amazon) EP. And finally we heard a slower song from Darkel called "How Brave You Are" from the same debut album (iTunes, Amazon) as "My Own Sun". This week's show features a clip from Realtime with Bill Maher on HBO about the lack of a REAL liberal voice in American political leadership. ALSO: Check out the great blog Candied Pop! ALSO 2: My new favorite way to buy music is with my killer DRM-Free monthly subscription to eMusic! I pay ~$16/month and can download 90 well-encoded MP3s! So, check out eMusic now! (I discovered after recording the audio where I say I'm not being paid that there actually IS a way for me to get paid! So sign up with one of my eMusic links (like that one), get your free tracks, and whether or not you continue your subscription I get 6 big dollars!)

(SPECIAL EXTRA-LONG GUEST-HOSTED EPISODE WITH LANE!) First up the Moscow-born, NYC-residing Regina Spektor did "Fidelity" from her recent album Begin To Hope (iTunes, Amazon). Next Brazil's essential Os Mutantes with "A Minha Menina" ("My Girl") which can be found on their The Best of Os Mutantes (iTunes, Amazon). Then South Africa's fantastic Miriam Makeba did "The Click Song" from her album Africa (iTunes, Amazon). Next the classic bluesman Leadbelly did "Goodnight Irene" from The Best of Leadbelly (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic). Then Austin's Daniel Johnston did "True Love Will Find You In the End" from his album 1990 (iTunes, Amazon). Next the impressively fecund Screaming Jay Hawkins did "Whistling Past the Graveyard" from Somethin' Funny Goin On (iTunes, Amazon). Then Nashville's Lambchop did "Is a Woman" from their 2002 album by the same name (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic). Next we heard from San Francisco's Joanna Newsom. First a short clip of "Emily" from her new album Ys (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic), then the entirety of "Sadie" from older album The Milk-Eyed Mender (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic). Then Harry Nilsson did "The Clearing In the Woods (Narration)" from The Point (iTunes, Amazon). Then TSiMH favorite who is also a Lane favorite, Of Montreal did "Scenes From My Funeral" from Horse & Elephant Eatery (No Elephants Allowed): The Singles & Songles Album (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic). Then we heard two short tracks from Half-Handed Cloud. First "Can't Even Breathe On My Own Two Feet" from their album Learning About Your Scale (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic), then "I Got a Letter" from their What's the Remedy? EP (iTunes, eMusic). And finally Cat Power did a cover of The Honeydrippers' "Sea of Love" from her album The Covers Record (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic). This episode features a clip from the audio book of Ulysses (iTunes, Audible, Amazon) by James Joyce.

First up, in recognition of the Democratic sweep in last week's U.S. elections we heard Willie Nelson's fantastic "Blue Skies" from his 1978 classic album Stardust (iTunes, Amazon). Next we heard new material from Melbourne, Australia's amazingly great, ska/rock/pop/rap/latin/etc. band The Cat Empire doing "Hello" from their recently released self-titled EP (iTunes, Amazon). Then a fascinating "reworking" of a the classic Beatles tune "Strawberry Fields Forever" from the forthcoming, totally great, album Love (Amazon) which is a soundtrack of sorts for the new Cirque du Soleil-meets-The Beatles show in Las Vegas. Next, with Joe Lieberman holding on to his seat in Connecticut I thought it was a good time to play what will probably be my mom's least favorite song she's ever heard on my show... but I love it. It was a local NYC band called Jesus H. Christ & The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse doing "Connecticut's for Fucking" from their self-titled debut album (iTunes). And finally another quality track from The Cat Empire, we heard "Lullaby" from the same EP as before (iTunes, Amazon). This week's show features clips from PBS's NOW hosted by David Brancaccio (subscribe); HBO's Realtime with Bill Maher (subscribe); and Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (watch).

(SPECIAL GUEST-HOSTED, EXTRA, EXTRA, EXTRA LONG KELLI'S MUSICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY EPISODE!) First up, she played "Into the Groove," off of Madonna's Immaculate Collection (iTunes). Next was Nirvana's "School" from their first album, Bleach (iTunes). Then Sonic Youth did "Swimsuit Issue" from Dirty (iTunes).Then Bikini Kill's "New Radio" which can be found on a 45 or on their Singles collection (iTunes). Then she played the UK's Huggy Bear with "Dissthetic Penetration" off of their album, Taking the Rough with the Smooch (Amazon). Next up was Beck's "Cyanide Breathe Mint" off of his album, One Foot in the Grave (Amazon). Then she played DC's Minor Threat with their song, "Small Man, Big Mouth", which is available on their eponymous release (iTunes). Next up was "Gold Sounds," the fantastic song by Pavement from their album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (iTunes). Then Morphine's "All Your Way" from their album Yes (iTunes). Next she had Brooklyn's musical ambassadors of love They Might Be Giants with their hit, "Ana Ng" from Lincoln (iTunes). The next track was brought to you from Elliot Smith, dubbed "The Biggest Lie," off of his eponymous record (iTunes). Then she listened to two tracks from the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs trilogy of discs (iTunes) — "Absolutely Cuckoo" and "The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure", respectively. The Neutral Milk Hotel then brought us "Ghost" from their album, The Aeroplane Over the Sea (iTunes). Then, from their album Loveless (iTunes), she played My Bloody Valentine's "When You Sleep." Next Blonde Redhead did "In Particular" from their album, Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons (iTunes). Then she played Beulah with "Silver Lining" from their album The Coast is Never Clear (iTunes). The next song comes to us from Belle and Sebastian from their album, The Boy with the Arab Strap (iTunes) and is titled "Sleep the Clock Around." Next up was the title track from the album Last Match (iTunes) by the Aislers Set. She then played the title track from the album Milk Man (iTunes) by Deerhoof. Next, Scotland's Camera Obscura did "Suspended From Class" from their album, Underachievers Please Try Harder (iTunes). The last track on this loooooonnnnggggg episode (thanks Daniel) was Low's "Laser Beam" off of the fantastically-titled What We Lost in the Fire (iTunes).

(SPECIAL HALLOWEEN EPISODE!) First up, a new song from a new band, The Postmarks did a cover of Ministry's heavy metal classic "Every Day is Halloween" which is available for download on their MySpace page for free. But you'll also want to check out their Remixes (iTunes) EP that has a couple of songs which will be on their debut album due out in January and (if the few songs they've released to date is any evidence) is sure to be grand. Next Melbourne, Australia's Julian Nation did "Halloween River Cruise" from his Jens-Lekman-esque debut We Are All Writers (Book Club Records' store). Then ex-Pogue Shane MacGowan and his Popes did "Haunted" from The Snake (iTunes, Amazon). Next Long Island's Blue Oyster Cult did their classic "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" from Agents of Fortune (iTunes, Amazon) or their greatest hits records (iTunes, Amazon). Then close personal friend of TSiMH Adam Roddick did his new song, fittingly for halloween called "Late October 2006" which can be downloaded from his MySpace page. And finally, Oklahoma's own Evangelicals put out a fantastic halloween song this year called "The Halloween Song" which, too, can be downloaded from their MySpace page. There have been 2 other Special Halloween Episodes of TSiMH, you can find them here and here.

First up, brand new, awesome, music from Portland's The Decemberists, we heard "Sons and Daughters" from their new album The Crane Wife (iTunes, Amazon). Next was the UK's new indie rock sunshine kids The Fratellis, doing "Flathead" from their debut album Costello Music (iTunes UK, Amazon US Pre-order). Then Beck did his most-likely-top-40-but-I-don't-care song "Think I'm in Love" from his new record The Information (iTunes, Amazon). Followed by Los Angeles' indie rock band The Solids, who have yet to release an album, but have plenty of, ahem, solid tracks for free on their site, including starwars cover "Ewok Celebration". And finally, Brooklyn's low-fi indie band Elephant Parade did "Goodbye" from their debut Bedroom Recordings EP (order from their site).This week's show features a clip from Realtime with Bill Maher on HBO about right-wing "think tanks" who are ALWAYS wrong (it can be seen here).

(SPECIAL GUEST-HOSTED EPISODE WITH LING!) On this week's show, my friend Ling brings his fascinating tastes in "antique pop" to my fine TSiMH listeners! First he played Ameircan singer Ruth Etting doing "Button Up Your Overcoat" from the collection Two Cents a Dance (Amazon). Next Helen Kane (aka Betty Boop) did "That's My Weakness Now" recorded in 1928 and found on the collection Boop-Boop-A-Doop: 27 Original Mono Recordings 1928-1951 (Amazon). Next Germany's Lizzi Waldmüller did "Du Hast Glück bei den Frau'n, Bel Ami" (roughly translated meaning: "You Have Luck with the Ladies, Bel Ami" which can be found on Was Eine Frau Bei Nacht Verspricht (iTunes, Amazon.de). Then Chinese-born, Japanese-voiced Li Xiang Lan (aka Yamaguchi Yoshiko) did "Ye Lai Xiang". Next Austrio-Hungarian-born Marta Eggerth did "Was Kümmert Mich die Ganze Welt" (translated meaning "What is the Whole World to Me?") from the collection Saemtliche veroeffentlichte Schallplatten 1931-1933 (Amazon.de). Next another German, Eva Busch did "Gruß und Kuß" (translated meaning "Regard and Kiss") from a collection called Zauberlied (Amazon.de). Then Zhou Xuan did "Ye Shanghai" (meaning "Shanghai Nights") recorded in 1946 and can be found on Romantic Chinese Hits of the 1930s and 1940s (iTunes). And finally Rina Ketty did her 1938 song "J'attendrai" from Les Etoiles de la Chanson (iTunes, Amazon.de).