As their former bands slowly crumbled around them, Anar Badalov (ex-Metal Hearts) and Mona Elliott (ex-Victory at Sea) found solace in one another. The fruit of their relationship is Travels, a new project where programmed beats steer distortion-disguised homemade pop numbers. What Badalov calls a "more intimate" project, Travels will self-release

Storming out of the gates with wartime tom-drum rolls, The Matches initiate a musical call-to-arms for their contemporaries on this exclusive track. "Their City" is the first blazing anthem on the alt rock/pop punk collection Punk the Clock Volume Three: Property of a Gentleman and The Matches' couldn't sound more fired up to lead the charge. With

Who? Those who think the Pipettes should pipe down might try Sweden's subtler rebuttal, Those Dancing Days. Without the dress code and Phil Spector-ification but with plenty of pep, Those Dancing Days "just wanna disco" over springy bass courtesy of their own Mimmi Evrell and Lisa Pyk's shimmering Hammond organ sounds used with

From Cardiff with love comes the latest ditty from the merry pop folkie Euros Childs. On "Ali Day" he channels oodles of sunshine and skipping into two tight minutes for a swift burst of twee goodness. Centered around the full-bodied piano low-end featured on Sufjan Stevens' indie-classic Illinois, "Day" also plays on the same

Death on the high sea sounds like a pretty grim premise, but don'ttake Midwestern twee popsters Saturday Looks Good To Me too seriously.Starkly contrasting its title, "(Even If You Die on the) Ocean" is agleeful, lighthearted take on death and water -- more Gilligan's Island than Titanic.Suppose instead of always pestering the grumpy Skipper, the mischievousGilligan spen

Always a first-class showman as the voice of synth-pop stalwarts Depeche Mode, Dave Gahan utilizes the independence of solo albums to progress from figurehead to songsmith. With his uncharacteristically vivid baritone, Gahan steers his tunes to shadowy corners of electronica often with a grisly spirit. Here, "Kingdom," the first