July 25, 2012 – This fall Swedish roots-rock ramblers the Amazing will release Gentle Stream, a powerful, outrageously melodic set of Laurel Canyon-indebted material that marks the Stockholm sextet's full-length debut in the U.S.. (Their 2009 self-titled debut and 2010's Wait for a Light EP are also highly recommended.) Its titular stunner, streaming exclusively below, is a winding, windswept number with shades of psychedelia not unlike those that colored guitarist Reine Fiske and drummer Johan Holmegard's previous work in neo-psych pioneers Dungen. Gentle Stream is scheduled to arrive October 23 on Partisan.

July 24, 2012 – Ceremony have spent 2012 releasing their SPIN Essential'd Matador debut, Zoo, opening for a reunited Refused, providing insight for our recent essay on hardcore's recent assault on the indie rock middle, and allowing us to capture them in moments of deep contemplation. The list is getting longer by the day. This morning, the A/V Club posted footage of the Bay Area outfit's contribution to the former's excellent "Uncovered" series, a jittery, jackhammering cover of Violent Femmes' 1983 "nerd anthem" "Kiss Off," a song frontman Ross Farrar said he's loved since he was a kid. Watch and compare to their recent Ramones cover.

July 24, 2012 – For nearly a decade, Baltimore's Dan Keech, who writes and performs as Height, has been crafting rock-informed, left-field rap records amid the frenzy of that city's constantly mutating art-rock scene. And on August 14, Keech returns with Rock and Roll, a rap-informed, left-field rock record that means to do away completely with the divide between the two. Below, hear the Grease-like swing of album highlight "Hard Work." Height with/and Friends will be out on the road and sharing members with Wham City bro Dan Deacon for much of this coming fall.

July 24, 2012 – San Franciscan shoegaze revisionists Weekend recently took on the curious task of remixing "So I Can Grow," the A-Side of post-Mika Miko gloom troopers Cold Showers' recently released Decay single, out last month via Art Fag. (You may have also caught the B-side, a down-and-out take on the Cars "Double Life.") It's a nightmarish, nerve-shredding re-imagining that ups the tempo, stretches echos for days, and, using all possible means, conjures the sort of squall one might anticipate but never sidestep.

July 24, 2012 – Young Governor is the solo moniker of ultra-prolific Fucked Up guitarist Ben Cook and A Love Too Strong is the title of his forthcoming 12" EP due July 31 on Southpaw Records. Following a string of 11 singles and two previous EPs, it's an outing that sounds and feels like a way station between Tom Petty, the Replacements, and the increasingly pop-oriented six-string assault of his band, recorded with a host of Toronto musicians he's lovingly named the Scuzz. (The central lick of "Heal Over Time" for example could easily be found amid the nine dozen layers of guitar on last year's David Comes To Life). Hear it in its entirety exclusively here:

July 23, 2012 – It's our understanding that during Dirty Projectors frontman Dave Longstreth's time writing and recording in a remote upstate New York cabin, he penned somewhere in the neighborhood of a 100 new songs — enough material to provide he and label home Domino Records with bonus release treats for years. One such song is "Buckle Up," a frayed, sub-two minute growler that's now available for purchase as the A-Side to a tour-only (the DPs are currently out on the road in support of their SPIN Essential-worthy full-length Swing Lo Magellan) 7" single of the same name. (Via Stereogum) Hear it and hold it below:.

July 20, 2012 – Wilco pianist/keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen and his longtime collaborator/drummer Greg O'Keeffe are currently prepping the release of Bunny Hate Wolf, an album of synth-driven odysseys that were originally recorded with more "conventional instrumentation" in Brooklyn in the spring of 2010. Feeling frustrated and fenced in by what he was hearing, Jorgensen decided to re-record and re-imagine those songs using analog synths and software. The result can be heard in the fizzy first single "ARMZ," due on 7" vinyl via Odessa Records on October 30. It's streaming exclusively here:

July 18, 2012 – This spring, SPIN caught iPad cover star Santi "Santigold" White at an interesting moment: the minute she realized thieves had stripped her black Escalade of some chrome right outside her home in Bed Stuy, a grittier portion of north central Brooklyn. Ostensibly, it's a place far, far away from the dinner table the Philly-bred, Brooklyn-bound pop dynamo chose as the central setting for her recent and self-directed clip for "The Keepers," a barbed and haunting highlight from this year's SPIN Essential'd master stroke Master of My Make-Believe. Below, check out a lively snippet of behind-the-scenes footage captured during filming, replete with interviews with White and her fellow actors, including young Wyeth Frenay, who points out that not only was most of the radioactive food laid out on said dinner table "questionable," but "the chicken had boobs" as well. Enjoy:

July 17, 2012 – It's no secret current SPIN cover costar Bethany Cosentino is a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, a fact she easily confirmed by providing us with a jouncy take on "Rhiannon." She covered the classic as part of the forthcoming Mac tribute compilation, Tell Me That You Want Me, due August 14 (Hear Music/Concord). Cosentino's approach was a departure from the original as well as a break from the carefully sanded pop for which she's now known — one could hear only traces of Stevie Nicks or Best Coast in the mix. This is not at all the case in Tame Impala's rendition of "That's All For Everyone," a fever dream from 1979's Tusk that's been made even more feverish for the comp. Here, the Aussie psych-rock outfit swap acoustic guitar for melting synths and send Lindsey Buckingham's tune through a battery of effects. Echoes abound but it's a cover that's faithful in both directions.

July 16, 2012 – Tomorrow, nascent New York rapper Angel Haze will uncage her Reservation EP, a scathing, heart-braising release whose title makes reference to her Native American heritage. Hear how successfully she realizes the potential she demonstrated on last year's Alter Ego tape: Stream the EP — which also features contributions from Nicole Wray and Kool A.D. of Das Racist — in its fiery entirety here: