Van Hunt plays the Temple Bar tonight, Feb. 19 and March 6 | Photo via his MySpace page In an e-mail early, early, early this morning, McCabe's announced something unexpected: The Swell Season will be playing tomorrow night in the guitar shop's intimate performance space. You may not recognize the band's name, but you know them as Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech pianist Marketa Irglova from the movie Once. The gig got booked......

Artist: DJ Bitman Album: Latin Bitman Label: Nacional Records Release Date: November 6, 2007 Listen to the track "My Computer Is Funk": DJ Bitman is Chilean Jose Antonio "Toto" Bravo who has also gone under the name of Bitman & Roban. Latin Bitman is his second release in the US following last year's Musica Para Despues de Almuerzo and while I didn't hear that debut I really like this "sophomore" effort. You may have heard......

Artist: iNSiDEaMiND Album: FragMental Release Date: late 2006 Label: Public Transit Recordings When one thinks of turntablists from the Great White North, most would immediately think of the hyperkinetic Kid Koala, but no, he ain't the only one with wheels of steel in the land of ice and snow. Toronto's iNSiDEaMiND is composed of Professor Fingers and Steptone and their flavor of scratch magic is much more mellow, ambient, and atmospheric than the battle-DJ......

John Doe @ Largo Deftones @ Avalon Brand New Heavies @ El Rey Lindsey Buckingham @ Wiltern A Flock of Seagulls @ Hollywood Park The Wrens, Asobi Seksu, Bon Savants @The Troubadour Petra Haden & the Sellouts @ Getty Center Ima Robot, Whitestarr @ Roxy Ray Parker Jr. @ Vault 350 Islands @ Henry Fonda Lupe Fiasco @ Key Club Gliss @ Amoeba Janis Ian @ McCabe's Kid Koala, Fog @ The Echo La......

The Monday holiday makes it a very light week for new releases. Here are a few things that caught our eye.... Dave Alvin West of the West (Yep Roc) – This is a concept album about California from the former leader of the Blasters. All these songs were written by California songwriters (Alvin co-wrote one of the songs). He covers Merle Haggard, Jackson Browne, John Fogerty, Jerry Garcia, Tom Waits, The Beach Boys and......