August 27, 2012 – SPIN favorites — and Anthony Bourdain pals — Sleigh Bells have released a video for their Prom-worthy new single "End of the Line." Co-directed by producer-guitarist Derek Miller and Gregory Kohn, the clip features more of the band's now-trademark creepy Americana imagery. Miller and singer Alexis Krauss ride bikes through eerily empty suburban streets, intercut with shots of the latter in a white nightgown looking forlorn against a black backdrop, on a bed, and wandering in the desert at twilight. It's all set to the song's machine-gunned Def Leppard power-balled vibe. Sleigh Bells will appear on Bourdain's No Reservations - The Final Tour on September 3. The show will air at 9.00 p.m. EST/PST on Travel Channel. Starting August 28, the band will hit the road alongside DJ-wizard AraabMuzik.

February 24, 2012 – Hollis Brown make music that sounds just as alive today as it would've in 1966 and will 40 years from now. The guitars and rhythms on "Spoonful," from the band's Nothing & The Famous No One EP, fizz and pop like fatback on a greasy skillet. The song is a cover of Willie Dixon's blues standard — made famous by both Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, and Cream — and the band (with an assist here from Deer Tick's John McCauley) acquit themselves beautifully even in the face of such sturdy competition. Nothing is out as a digital-only release April 3.

February 22, 2012 – Bruce Springsteen has said that his new album Wrecking Ball, out March 6, is "as direct a record as I've ever made." But with touches of hip-hop and electronic music, the economic-meltdown-minded album is shaping up to be one of the Boss' edgier, more experimental releases. Even though Springsteen is an iconic meat-and-potatoes rock'n'roller, his back catalog is studded with songs that skew more alt than trad in attitude. Here are the best of those — call it a Bosswave primer: 1. "IF I WAS THE PRIEST" Not found on any official Springsteen album, "If I Was the Priest" was recorded in 1972, the year before Springsteen's debut, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. appeared. The song is as lyrically surreal and religiously conflicted as Springsteen ever was, or would be.

February 9, 2012 – Let your freak flag fly, office drones! The video for "Three Car Garage," a bittersweet guitar-pop single from Massachusetts duo You Won't is a slightly surreal mini-portrait of 9 to 5ers letting loose. Beginning with home movie footage of kids going wild, segueing into work day drudgery (with a stop at the restroom), and then climaxing with some back-to-nature revelry, the whole clip has a very Michel Gondry feel. You Won't's full-length debut, Skeptic Goodbye, is out on February 14 on Old Flame Records.

February 9, 2012 – On "Les Plus Beaux," from E Volo Love, cosmopolitan-pop quartet Francois & the Atlas Mountains execute a nice little cultural tip of the cap. It's common to hear West African musicians sing en Francais, sending vocal melodies skittering over their trademark shimmering guitar lines. Here, though, Francois, a native of France, sings a winsome, irresistible melody in his mother tongue while the Atlas Mountain work up a gorgeously lolling Malian-influenced groove. The band's album is out February 14 on Domino. DOWNLOAD

February 8, 2012 – In April, electro-house and dubsteb wunderkind Porter Robinson will be making his rock festival debut at Coachella, but the 19-year-old producer-DJ didn't initially understand the impressiveness of that achievement. "My iTunes is literally 99 percent dance music," says Robinson, speaking on the phone from his family home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. "So I, embarrassingly, wasn't really initially aware of the festival." But, he adds, with a laugh, "People have given me a sense for the scope of Coachella. It's massive, right?" Yes, it is. But given how quickly Robinson's career has taken off, he can be forgiven for losing sight of these things. Now signed to Skrillex's OWSLA records, Robinson played his first ever show in October 2010. His "Say My Name" hit No. 1 on Beatport that same year.

February 7, 2012 – In 2010, South African rave-rappers Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er skyrocketed from viral phenomenon to major-label oddity. Only one of those things remains true after the duo traversed the peculiar path to their second album, TEN$ION (Zef), due this month. As you might expect, they've got some hard-earned advice to share. Ninja: The response to Die Antwoord was a total mind-fuck. It was like being on an acid trip. I'd been rapping for 20 years and all of a sudden there was overload. It made no sense. You can make your confusion work for you. You have to drive into it. When you see that people are paying attention, then you have to push that motherfucker into the red. Yo-Landi: People are flying you places in business class. Everyone wants to take pictures of you and find out information about you. It's a freak-out. But the more you push boundaries, the more you get ahead.

February 7, 2012 – L.A. guy-girl dream-pop duo Magic Wands have been building buzz for a couple years now on the strength of a some strong singles and a nicely hazy, melodic EP, 2009's Magic Love & Dreams. "Space" is the first single from the band's debut full-length, Aloha Moon, and it's a sexy and propulsive stunner. Dexy and Chris Valentine (no relation, we think) build an atmospheric and cutting guitar soundscape that beautifully foreground's the former's compellingly stoic vocal. It's just a really cool song, suggestive of the darker side of '80s pop and brighter side of falling in love. The album is out April 24 on Bright Antenna.

February 6, 2012 – "Sunsick," the new track from Brooklyn's Fort Lean, is anthemic in all the right ways. The rousing rocker is full of pounding, echoed guitars, backing falsetto woo wooos, drum work that doesn't stint on either the kick or crash, and a melody crooned with passion and bite by frontman Keenan Mitchell. It's a good start-your-week-off-right track. The 7" single, from which this song comes, is out on February 28 via Neon Gold/Black Bell, and you can watch their video for "Beach Holiday" on SPIN, too! DOWNLOAD

February 6, 2012 – 1. Madonna's Halftime Show Whether you loved it or hated it, Madge's extravaganza — complete with M.I.A.'s flip-off — was pure entertainment spectacle. 2. Kelly Clarkson Singing the National Anthem She nailed it. Beautiful. 3. The Darkness Believe in a Thing Called Samsung With a new album finally on the way, the Darkness surely consider this Samsung commercial, which featured a unitard-clad Justin Hawkins blasting out "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" as a high-profile step in a long-awaited comeback. 4. Echo & the Bunnymen, Vampires, and Audi This ad was awesomely weird. Set to Echo & the Bunnymen's goth-rock classic "The Killing Moon," this spot seems to suggest that Audi is now making headlights a selling point — because they're so bright they can kill partying vampires! 5.