Songs You Need to Download Now!
Go to SPIN.com for samples and links to these tunes, vid clips, and more

1 Ted Leo “PARANOIA (NEVER ENOUGH)” Spurred by the violence against protesters and journalists at the Republican convention, Leo holds a public trial by guitar, spraying the room with punkish spite.

^{2 Jazmine Sullivan} “^{BUST YOUR WINDOWS}” ^{Already a wounded old-soul belter at 21, this Philly} firebrand (cosigned by Missy Elliott), gets revenge on an ex, complete with string section and crowbar.

3M _t3agistrates “MAKE THIS WORK” Surprise—the much-hyped U.K. indie-dance foursome have a legit rhythmic witch, a scraggly R&B yearn, and a falsetto frontman (keyboardist Paul Usher) who won’t embarrass you in the morning.

^{4 B.o.B.} “^{GENERATION LOS T}” ^{Still without an album (despite T.I.’s endorsement), hip-hop Renaissance man} Bobby Ray Simmons testifies that he’s still gonna play his guitar and rap about aliens “ ’cause that’s what we are.”

^{5 Hank IV} “^{FEEDING ME BACK}” ^{Led by ’80s hardcore shouter Bob McDonald (the brains behind Bum} Kon’s “Drunken Sex Sucks”), these Bay Area cranks spew garage-punk philosophy par excellence.

^{6 Charles Hamilton} “^{WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER}” ^{The creepy New Age hook is a Windows} computer turning on and the lyrics are essentially Web-page links. We’re through the looking glass, people.

^{7 Banjo or Freakout} “^ARCHANGEL” ^{A blanket of bee-swarm fuzz, shrouded drums, and echoey} vocals make Alessio Natalizia’s version of a Burial song almost unrecognizable—but totally gorgeous, regardless.

^{8 Mother Mother} “^{BURNING PILE}” ^{On this lullaby about an unfolding nightmare, the Canadian indie-} pop quintet coo lovely boy-girl harmonies, masking their dire lyrics while slyly exulting in the cleansing blaze.

9C _I9-Ray Walz & Kosha Dillaz “I LOVE JEWS” The unlikely combo of African American indie vet and sraeli American newbie results in a hilarious kosher wigflip of Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.” Challah!

10

Basement Jaxx, feat. Lightspeed Champion “MY TURN” Lightspeed’s wan warble gets a rhythmic boost, with strings and snatches of synth and female vocals, evoking an acoustic disco pastorale.

^{11 Franz Ferdinand} “^{LUCID DREAMS}” ^{Remember when a pre–Late Registration Kanye was nattering} on about Paul Thomson’s “grimy” drums? Well, on Franz’s raucous album preview, Thomson’s at his grimiest.

12

Baby Charles “I BET YOU LOOK GOOD ON THE DANCEFLOOR” U.K. group takes the Daptone/ Mark Ronson fiefdom to the woodshed on an effortlessly slinky, sultry, Afro-funked Arctic Monkeys cover.

13^1L _p3adyhawke “DUSK TILL DAWN” Boasting Flashdance synths, a flat Blondie affect, and an almost stoically layful disco-pop groove, New Zealand waif Pip Brown may be the year’s most convincing ’80s revivalist.

14

Maybe It’s Reno “BABY’S LOS T IN TRACKS” A reunion of indie-pop auteurs Unrest, with bassist Bridget Cross as singer-songwriter, produces a haunted, delicately churning meditation on a friend’s addiction.

15

The Hundred in the Hands “DRESSED IN DRESDEN” This Brooklyn duo (Boggs leader Jason Friedman and vocalist Eleanore Everdell) debut with a café-cool take on Bloc Party’s slash-and-boom.

Terry Lynn
“The System”
From lady MC Lynn’s fuck-
the-police lyrics to the track’s
frayed, forceful synth bass,
this song boils angrily, and
the Rickards Bros.–directed
video employs documentary
imagery that’s even more
confrontational. Workers at
a rural Jamaican slaughter-
house drag pigs through the
dust, whip them, and
brandish blood-soaked knives
with sadistic relish. A brutal
and no-doubt pale rendering
of the island’s daily violence.

Bowerbirds
“In Our Talons”
The indie-folk trio sings a
carefree dee-dee-dee refrain
while stop-motion animation
of natural tableaux rends
heartstrings. A crab twirls
defiantly in floodwaters, a
pair of praying mantises
timidly court in a burning
forest, and a shabby, crowlike
bird of paradise performs an
extraordinary dance to the
emptiness while words of
comfort (“You’re not alone”)
echo ominously through the
slowly crumpling ecosystems.

White Denim “Shake Shake Shake” Commissioned to promote a single from their U.K.-only LP Workout Holiday (the song is also on their U.S. album Exposion), this video dumps the Austin garage-punk trio in a South London junkyard, where their bluesy boogie soundtracks a pack of suitably convulsive dancers, a zaftig temptress, a juvenile blond menace, and a few less-than-amused yard workers wielding fire extinguishers.

Fujiya &
Miyagi
“Knickerbocker”
Vivid slide-show
images match staccato
lyrics in this visual remix
of Fujiya & Miyagi’s
rhythmic drone. As
the words pause, a
close-up of each
instrument glides into
view—and suddenly
the screen is a melee of
images, each flashing
in and out in perfect
synchronization with its
corresponding lyric, note,
or handclap.