Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
CD/LP (Astralwerks)

Late of the Pier is a young, Nottinghamshire, UK-based four-piece, who have been garnering favorable praise over the last year for their amorphous sound conventions that fall somewhere in between Klaxons and Gary Numan's first records without Tubeway Army. Their debut, produced by DJ Erol Alkan and released in August in the UK is just now getting released domestically, but there's not a doubt in my mind that America won't take notice. The burping, chirping synths, boisterous mid-song switch-ups, and emotive vocals have what it takes to turn the most rabid hooligans into the biggest art-sissies on the block. Be dazzled.

M83 - Dead Cites, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts / Before The Dawn Heals Us / Digital Shades Volume 1 / Saturdays=Youth
LP (Mute/EMI)

Say goodbye to the I-can't-believe-people-would-spend-this-much price you could have gotten on eBay less than three months ago for an original pressing of the Dead Cities... LP. M83's glorious breakthrough second album from 2003, along with 2005's Before The Dawn Heals Us is being reissued on vinyl, perhaps to capitalize on the influx of new fans gained from the success of last year's Saturdays=Youth (just now getting issued on LP). This is truly a good thing, as these records sound exceptional on a good turntable - all warm and fuzzy and epic. The most exciting pick of the bunch, though, is the vinyl issue of 2007's exceptional, ambient release, Digital Shades Volume 1, originally only a digital release before surfacing as a CD in 2008.

Sinden - FabricLive 43
CD (Fabric)

Though the London club Fabric plays host to Switch and Sinden's bi-monthly Get Familiar club night, which gets worked into the title of this mix, FabricLive43 is strictly a solo affair from Sinden, who cobbles together a bunch of disparate tracks from across the board, and comes out with a cohesive, versatile mix. As one reviewer of Resident Advisor notes, "every item on the hipster checklist is dutifully marked." From the clubby B-more rap attack of Juiceboxx and low-end flavoring of Skream's dubstep, to Radioclit and M83, Sinden has whipped together a set that's both bangin' and well thought out.

Patti Smith - Dream of Life (directed by Steven Sebring)
DVD (VVE)

Dream of Life is a long-overdue documentary on the unfuckwithable great punk poet pioneer, Patti Smith, narrated by the unfuckwithable great punk poet pioneer, Patti Smith. With her own words and voice pressed against the grainy black and white images that Sebring shot, along with pictures from the past, Dream of Life is filled with many stories and idealogies that will never be less than powerful and heartbreaking and arresting.