You know those records that are so good you send them to every friend you have, just so there's another person to get excited with? Cue Merchandise, the Tampa duo responsible for "I Locked The Door" and whose current status underground has no chance of lasting. (Strange Songs) In The Dark, the seven-song LP, is the band's latest effort in a catalogue that includes two tapes and a self-titled CD-R with a slightly different yet equally rewarding polish (read: live drums). (Strange Songs) sees Merchandise mastering its formula; a true display of pop finery and a shoegaze and Drag City-informed restoration of faith that great music is still to be made.

Brooklyn duo CREEP are set to release their debut single, Days, on Tuesday, January 25 2010 through Young Turks. Featuring guest vocals by The xx’s Romy Madley-Croft, “Days” is a ghostly blend of Romy’s ethereal voice and CREEP’s sinister beats, blending tones of goth, shoegaze and R&B to create darkly prophetic and orchestral soundscapes.

When we posted the original version of this track recently, we remarked on how Lykke Li seems to get further and further away from the lovestruck little girl of "Little Bit" with every song she makes. Whether consciously or not, Beck seems to have arrived at a similar conclusion, "Get Some" getting ever tougher with ribald percussive thrusts and vocal cries put to the fore like saucy schoolgirl playground chants. Her new album Wounded Rhymes arrives February 28.