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It's easy to remember Madonna's vivacious side, but she was desperate, too, a theme that the best of this indie tribute captures neatly. Apollo Heights' Bowie-ish "Dress You Up" broods, and Jonathan Wilson's rootsy "La Isla Bonita" positively gasps. "Material Girl," by Mountain Party (featuring Devendra Banhart), feels spacey and standoffish, giving the song a renewed meaning.

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Since their days in Sleep, Al Cisneros and Chris Haikus have been making monastery metal, a druggy, often quiet combo of Black Sabbath and Low. Pilgrimage throbs and grinds with hypnotic, almost dubby bass.

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Chris Carrabba's early songs were lovelorn, wussy morsels -- crisp, tautly melodic, and deeply felt. He was concise, and he was heartbroken, and then he was famous, opening for U2 and making Spider-Man, you know, relatable.

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More Atmosphere than Atmosphere themselves, upstate New York's Gym Class Heroes have finally untangled the emo-rap paradigm, understanding that it's the target demographic first, then the method, not vice versa. Travis McCoy is an intuitive, if not inventive, MC, and the band knows all the nuances of post-frat rock.

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Twenty of the best seconds in pop last year belonged to Hawthorne Heights. On the hook from "Ohio Is for Lovers," the Dayton, Ohio quintet's breakthrough single, a Sabbath riff kicks in like a jump-starting engine; frontman JT Woodruff whines, "I can't make it on my own"; and guitarist Casey Calvert echos him back in gruff, barking counterpoint. Soft to hard and back.

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By: Jon Caramanica