First up, California's prolific lo-fi indie rockers The Mountain Goats did "This Year" from their recent album The Sunset Tree (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). Then Canada's also lo-fi, also indie rockers The Unicorns did "I was Born (a Unicorn)" from their 2003 album Who Will Cut Your Hair When I'm Gone? (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). Then Scotland's now-defunct The Vaselines did "Son of a Gun" from their 1994 collection The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History (Amazon, Other Music). And finally we heard The Real Tuesday Weld with "The Ugly and the Beautiful" from his 2004 album I, Lucifer (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music).This week's episode features a clip from Democracy Now!, where they played a clip of FoxNews' Britt Hume following the tragic attacks on the London public transit system. Here's the RSS Feed to paste into iTunes to download every episode automatically!

(SPECIAL JULY 4th EPISODE!) First up, the late, great Elliott Smith did the fitting song "Independence Day" from his XO album (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). Then another everybody-knows-it-and-better-own-it song good for listening to on July 4th, the Violent Femmes with "American Music" from their 1991 album Why do Birds Sing? (iTunes, Amazon). Next was Sounds in My Head favorites' The Essex Green out of the love and wonder that is Brooklyn, with a song asking you to pray for people in southern states. Not a bad idea, Lord knows they need it down there. The song was "Southern Sates" from their 2001 album The Long Goodbye (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). And finally Denton, Texas' own Little Jack Melody & his Young Turks did "America" (from West Side Story) released on their album World of Fireworks (Amazon, Band's Store). You can also watch a video I made for this song. This weeks episode features a special David Cross interlude perfect for all the flaggots, from his 2002 album Shut Up You Fucking Baby! (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music).

First up, a new song by New York City's Laura Cantrell called "Bees" from her (also new, obviously) album Humming by the Flowered Vine (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music) Her song "14th Street" is available for free. Next was Chicago's Ok Go with their brand new cover of The Cure's "The Love Cats" from their Do What You Want EP (iTunes, Amazon). No it's not AS good as the original, but hey not all covers are, listen to Coverville sometime if you don't believe me. Afters that the 1960's pop sensation Jimmy Justice (who was admittedly less than a "sensation" in the US, but big-time in the UK) did a version of one of my favorite standards "I'm Beginning to See the Light" from a collection called Ain't That Funny (The Pye Anthology) (iTunes, Amazon). Then, because I was inspired by their awesome-even-without-Neko Case show at Celebrate Brooklyn over the weekend, we heard the title track from the upcoming (August 9th) New Pornographers album Twin Cinema (Download from Matador's site, pre-order from Amazon). And finally since a little bit of Laura Cantrell is always better when followed with a little more Laura Cantrell — and because i just re-watched Oliver Stone's epic JFK — we heard Laura Cantrell's cover of the old Homer Henderson song "Lee Harvey Was a Friend of Mine" from her original Hello Recording Club release from 1994 (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). The episode features clips from both Bill Hicks and the June 24th episode of On the Media from NPR. UPDATE: This week's show (as of Wednesday June 29th) has been optimized for the new iTunes v4.9! Now it has jump-to chapter markers and lots of art and links!

(SPECIAL EXTRA-LONG, STUFF-YOU-CAN'T-BUY EPISODE!) First up, a barely released version of The Reverend Horton Heat's great song "Party Mad" from a 1990 local music collection called Tales from the Edge Vol. 1. This CD was released by one of the very first "alternative" format radio stations in the country, the original EDGE which was later bought by Clear Channel and chained all over the country. Still in it's infancy in 1990, 94.5 The Edge was truly "The Cutting Edge of Rock" (read an article featuring the creator of both the station of the Tales from the Edge series). A notably worse, but still decent version of "Party Mad" was released a full 14 years later on their 2004 album Revival (iTunes). Next was the bootleg version of Coldplay's "Trouble" which made it's way into the rotation of many radio stations in 2000 much to the chagrin of the band. Radio station's largely acquiesced to the wishes of the band, and the song was never heard from again, nor was it's remixer. After that The Concretes did "Teen Love" from their first, not-so-released (in the U.S. anyway), and now out-of-print album Boy, You Better Run Now. Then another anonymous mashup from the seedy underbelly of the internet, Björk vs. The Supremes with "Isobel (The Supremes Mix)" or sometimes referred to as "The Old School Mix", this song has obviously never been released. After that, Bob Peck did "Sweet 16" from the RE/Search collection's Incredibly Strange Music Vol. 1 (which is perhaps the most purchasable thing in this episode). Then Sounds in My Head favorite They Might Be Giants did "Your Racist Friend (The Sampladelic Remix)" from the 12" Don't Let's Start single from 1990. The un-remixed verion can be found on their landmark album Flood (iTunes). Then Davíd Garza (from his early days as Twang Twang Shocka Boom) did "Always Give Your Love Away" from the cassette-only, 1990 Me So Twangy. And finally R.E.M. did "Shiny Happy People (The Pop Mix)" from a radio promo from 1991. No, it's not an email hoax, NPR and PBS really are in jeopardy! If you haven't, PLEASE go sign the petition to let congress know that you don't want public broadcasting destroyed just because the Bush administration cut taxes for billionaires and thus destroyed the federal budget.

First up, The Jackson Five have been remixed along with a good many of their motown pals on Motown Remixed (iTunes, Amazon) which takes the Verve Remixed series to the next logical level. We heard the song "I Want You Back" the Z-Trip Remix. Next Queen-meets-Devo-esque Sparks did "Suburban Homeboy" from their 2002 album Lil' Beethoven (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). Next was Dalla... er, make that LA's Sara Radle (she recently relocated from Texas to California) did "Dig Those Sounds" from her most recent EP People You've Been Before (order from her label Jeez Louise Records). I have featured her previous band Lucy Loves Schroeder on The Sounds in My Head before (listen to the August 9th, 2004 show, it's also all in the archive). Sara Radle also has a new album coming out this fall so be on the listen-out for that. And finally, Virginia's Sparklehorse did "Gold Day" from 2001 album It's a Wonderful Life (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music).

First up, Berkley, California's Brendan Benson did "Cold Hands (Warm Heart)" from his new album The Alternative to Love (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). Then the least folky song off Josh Rouse's new album Nashville (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music) is probably "Winter in the Hamptons", which I also happen to like best. Next was a New Orelans' rock outfit named for an R.E.M. song that sounds more like Radiohead than R.E.M. called World Leader Pretend with "Punches" from their Rubble-Rousing Misspent Bouts EP (iTunes, Amazon) but it is also on the upcoming album, also called Punches (Amazon). And finally Finland's best musical export since The Leningrad Cowboys -- tho nothing like them at all -- Husky Rescue did "Summertime Cowboy" from their hit-or-miss-but-worth-looking-into debut album Country Falls (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music).

(SPECIAL EXTRA-LONG, ONE YEAR ANNIVERSIARY EPISODE!) First up, Doug Martsch (of Built to Spill) and Calvin Johnson's (of Beat Happening) side project band The Halo Benders resulted in the greatness that we heard, called "Your Asterisk" from their 1998 album The Rebels Not In (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). Then Belle & Sebastian did "Desperation Made a Fool of Me" from the Step into My Office, Baby single (Amazon, Other Music). Then Sounds in My Head favorite The Concretes did "Seems Fine Shuffle" from their Warm Night EP (Amazon). New Zealand's The Brunettes were next with their song "Boyracer" from the 2003 EP by the same name (buy from their website). (They are playing a show TONIGHT at the Mercury Lounge in NYC for $8.) Next was Australia's Cut Copy did "Going Nowhere" which is (by far) my favorite song from their debut album called Bright Like Neon Love (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). Then Canada's The Hidden Cameras did "I Believe in the Good Life" from their latest album called Mississauga Goddam (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). Next was Brighten's The Go! Team with "Junior Kickstart" from their fantasticabulous debut album Thunder, Lightning, Strike (iTunes, Amazon). And finally we heard Liverpool's Clinic with one of my favorite of their songs called "For the Wars" from their 2002 album Walking with Thee (iTunes, Amazon, Other Music). This episode features a string of clips from one of my favorite people, Bill Moyers, speaking at the Free Press' 2005 National Conference for Media Reform in St. Louis, May 20th. You can listen to the whole thing here, and see it here.