Adam: X frontman John Doe released a solo album through Yep Roc Records this past March titled Forever Hasn't Happened Yet. In the album's press he comments "This is not punk rock, but it uses all the same ingredients: sex, drugs, death, loss, longing and alienation." Among the collection of roots oriented tracks is a duet with alt-country darling / New Pornographers' member Neko Case titled "Hwy 5." The song, which was co-written by John's longtime X collaborator Exene Cervenka, can be downloaded below:
John Doe with Neko Case - Hwy 5 (Media Player / MP3 *)
* note you might need to add the ".mp3" extension to the file after download.
Aubin: While the mainstream popularity of a previously ignored subgenre of music often leads to a deluge of inferior, copycat acts, it also has the indirect benefit of bringing attention to truly deserving bands. In this case, the subgenre is the brand of dance punk popularized by Gang of Four and the band in question is South London's Bloc Party. While they certainly take much influence from the aforementioned Gang of Four, the band also handily adds riveting percussion and a satisfying, visceral guitar attack. Their Vice records debut, Silent Alarm is refreshing and punchy with the earnestness of a band that doesn't know or care whether this kind of music is popular right now.