Oh, hello Moon Duo. Nice to meet you. San Francisco's Sanae Yamada and Erik Johnson (of Wooden Shjips) are introducing themselves with a near seven-minute lo-fi-space-y and uber haunting jam. Listening to "Stumbling 22nd St" is like walking in to a Quentin Tarrantino movie during one of his classic stomach wrenching scenes. Sit tight for the release of Escape (Feb. 16, 2010).

Holy butts, Or, the Whale. In a True Blood moment the main character of said band's new video for "Rusty Gold" reveals his birthday suit and shape-shifts into a chocolate lab. Not sure what the message is here, but the video seems to be a perfect fit for the song's backwoods feel.

Rusty Gold from michael jeter on Vimeo.

Congrats to Oakland's Wallpaper. MTV News' James Montgomery picked their remix of "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" (by Das Racist) as one of the top songs of 2009. And, Wallpaper's LA-based record label - Eenie Meenie - is celebrating 10 years of music industry bliss.  The label is selling an anniversay tee and compilation which features many local bands including Scissors For Lefty, Oranger, From Bubblegum to Sky, and Wallpaper. Here's a free track from Oranger off the compilation "Brother Brother".