Noise from the Front

Celebrate the dawn of a new era with this dispatch case of important messages from locals heroes and special emissaries from all over this land. This week's brightest stars are the 11-person Beirut (actually from Brooklyn) and veteran powerpoppers Cheap Trick, but don't let their collective glamour throw you off the trail of other luminarie . . . Sultry Regina Spektor's incantory transmissions are sure to charm the ennui right out of your dop kit; if not, then expect to be pistol-whipped by pop-punks Hot One. Intrepid souls in search of proof of conspiracy in our midst will be utterly bewitched by the music of White Magic and Edison Woods, while those who wish for something more sinister can chant along to Human Eye's gleeful anthemic, "Kill Pop Culture." Lovers of bittersweet pop should follow the Ballet as they do their dainty grande jette. Everyone else, out in the streets for Robert Randolph's funky dance-party, which just might get members of a certain political party's collective derrieres shaking.

PLAYLIST

Beirut
"Elephant Gun," from LON GISLAND ep (4AD, 2006)
[Tuesday, November 21 listing]

White Magic
"The Gypsys Came After," from THROUGH THE SUN DOOR (Drag City, 2004)
[Beta music feature]

The Cinematics
"Break," from BREAK ep (TVT, 2006)
[Wednesday November 15 listing]

Cheap Trick
"Come On, Come On," from AT BUDOKAN (Sony, 1979)
[Thursday, November 16 listing]

Regina Spektor
"That Time," from BEGIN TO HOPE (Sire 2006)
[Monday, November 20 listing]

The Ballet
"In My Head," from MATACHINE! (self-released)
[Saturday, November 18 listing]

Edison Woods
from NEST OF MACHINES (Habit of Creation, 2006)
[Thursday, November 16 listing]

Hot One
"Pistol Whip Me," from HOT ONE (Modern Imperial, 2006)
[Wood music feature]

Human Eye
"Kill Pop Culture," from HUMAN EYE (In the Red, 2005)
[Sunday, November 19 listing]

Robert Randolph & the Family Band
"Ain't Nothing Wrong with That," from COLORBLIND (Warner, 2006)
[Friday, November 17 listing]