Two albums out now that you should be listening to are Black Mountain's In the Future and Elf Power's In a Cave. Black Mouintain's latest came out in January on Jagjaguwar, and is a solid psychadelic follow up to their 2005 selftitled debut, if you liked the first one you'll love In the Future too. Black Mountain again manages to walk that line where they rock almost to the point of heavy metal on some tracks then bring it down almost to a folk song on others. The album has a constant driving under current that sounds perfect in the car or in the background at a strangers party. Another psychedelic gem is Elf Power's In a Cave, out this month from Rycodisk. This album explores many a spooky interior and sinks a few good hooks into you while its at it. Elf Power is one of the Elephant 6 survivors and they are still churning out tracks that remind us of that pedigree. Pick up these albums and enjoy.

I'm a little late with this review because this album got lost in the holiday shuffle for me as it was released on the 29th of January. The Shackeltons self-titled release on Loveless records was on my desk for a while before I finaly gave it a listen but I haven't stopped listening since. It reminds me alot of No Means No and other old Grunge-era Seattle bands whose names have long been lost to me. Not the soft and cute northwest indie bands but the hard-driving, punk influenced bands that made music with the intensity of drunken sex. The Shackeltons have put together a fine album here, wielding their guitars like blunt instruments on songs like The Breaks, and bringing it down for songs like Yellow Cadillac and Emergency, reminding me a bit of the Modern Lovers. I found myself singing along pretty quickly and the first time I heard The Ship I was nodding my head. If you find your music rotation is in need of something that rocks a little harder this spring- pick up this album.

www.myspace.com/theshackeltons

www.lovelessrecords.com