The Hold Steady keyboardist Franz Nicolay is best known for his classic boogie piano lines, jubilant backing vocals and sharply curving mustache, but his new solo album Major General looks to catapult him to star status. Click below for an exclusive download of the excellent "World/Inferno Vs The End of Evening."

• "World/Inferno Vs the End of Evening"
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Who: North Carolina's Annuals, a sextet of indie rockers that are getting melodic on their second album, Such Fun, which amazingly features cover art by PBS painter Bob Ross.

Sounds Like: The Tar Heel State's version of the Arcade Fire, with singer Aaron Baker leading a small army of multi-instrumentalists. "We focused more on the song," Baker said of this album compared to the band's debut, the critically-acclaimed Be He Me. "We'll listen to parts of the songs for awhile, then each member of the band will come together and find what fits well with the song. We just tried to keep in more balanced on this record." The result is a less experimental but no less energetic and entertaining sophomore disc.

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Who: The Knux, a pair of brothers from New Orleans' Ninth Ward who show their band geek chops on their debut Remind Me in Three Days....

Sounds Like: With influences as far ranging as Led Zeppelin and the Cash Money crew, the Knux mix experimental Native Tongues rap with live instruments and the sample savviness of Portishead to form supercatchy tunes with densely referential lyrics. "I can't listen to new hip-hop — it's too fucking clean," Alvin "Rah Almillio" Lindsey says. "We want to be extra-grimy, extra-raw. That's why we compare ourselves to the Strokes."

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Tomorrow Goldfrapp are rereleasing Seventh Tree as a special edition DVD featuring live tracks, videos and concert footage. For an early taste of some of the band's dreamy, atmospheric pop, grab an early (and free) download of "Clowns." If it wasn't for the applause at the end, you'd never know this orchestral tune wasn't perfected in the studio.

"Clowns"
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For more Goldfrapp, check out the band chatting about the album here. As Alison Goldfrapp told us of the record's name, "I had a dream about a very large tree. There was beautiful sunshine, and the tree was waving in the wind and said it should be called it the 'Seventh Tree.' And you can't argue with a dream."

Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet.

The Band: Kooley High
The Buzz: Stunning North Carolina hip-hop group makes grand, thumping tracks from sliced-up soul and shards of R&B. It's like every song should be released on 45.
Listen If: You don't care how cold it is outside — to you, it's always summertime. And 1993.
Key Track: "Too Late," the kind of sizzling all-crew scorcher that would have done Arrested Development proud.

The Band: Iran
The Buzz: TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone flexes his pure pop impulses, writing songs with grand, gliding melodies and strange, sinuous choruses.
Listen If: You wish Bowie sounded a bit more like the bands he palled around with.
Key Track: "Airport '79," Iran's "Five Years" rewrite that scrapes up bright acoustic strumming with scabrous swipes of synth.

The Band: Fire on Fire
The Buzz: Maine collective plays sprawling, haunted Appalachian folk, stacking grainy layers of acoustic guitars, mandolins and harmonium for a new spin on old-timey death ballads.
Listen If: Your beard is bigger than most babies, or you have an abiding fascination in ghost stories of the old American West.
Key Track: "Heavy D," which has nothing to do with '80s hip-hop and everything to do with the great existential weight.

Who: Philadelphia soul singer Jazmine Sullivan, who at the age of 21 has already gained fans like Kanye West, duetted with Stevie Wonder and released her first album Fearless.

Sounds Like: Sullivan's voice recalls both Mary J. Blige and Lauryn Hill, and on the Missy Elliott-produced Fearless, Sullivan jumps from roots reggae on "Need U Bad" to the girl group sound of "One Night Stand" to the Winehouse-esque "Bust Your Windows," a song that made Kanye West proclaim on his blog "This is my favorite song right now!!!"

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Photo:Adriana Jovanovic

Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet.

The Band: She Keeps Bees
The Buzz: Dark rock from Brooklyn that recalls Rid of Me-era PJ Harvey, ignited by the rich, soulful vocals of Jess Larrabee.
Listen If: You're a teeth grinder or a fist shaker, or you like the sound of grimy, primal blues.
Key Track: "Gimmie," where Larrabee pours her rich voice over a grizzled guitar strum.

The Band: Fredrik
The Buzz: Swedish collective disappears into the woods, writes airy songs built from thumping percussion and fluttering acoustic guitars.
Listen If: You're looking for the perfect soundtrack for a long hike in a dark woods.
Key Track: "Black Fur," a lonesome, loping number boasting a gently pleading vocal melody.

The Band: Kissey Asplund
The Buzz: Swedish soul singer — really! — whose eccentricities make Erykah Badu look like Roberta Flack.
Listen If: You have a hard time believing there's such a thing as Swedish soul, or like to spend long hour in basement rooms surrounded by smoke.
Key Track: "Fuss 'n' Fight," where Asplund recites blank verse over a flat, fitful electronic backbeat.

Who: Deerhunter, a quartet of Atlanta shoegazers that follow indie acclaim and opening for Nine Inch Nails with their most accessible album to date, Microcastle (read our review here).

Sounds Like: Deerhunter combine My Bloody Valentine's atmospherics, Sonic Youth's knack for experimentation and the girl group vibe that channels Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. Microcastle features everything from billowing dream pop like "Little Kids" to twitchy dance rock on "Nothing Ever Happens." "I listen to music every waking hour — silence makes me uncomfortable," says singer Bradford Cox of his wide-ranging influences.

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Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet.

The Band: Illa J
The Buzz: Brother of legendary hip-hop producer J Dilla salvages some of his brother's unused beats and uses them to build an album of relaxed R&B.
Listen If: You (rightfully!) have no fear of the phrase "late-period De La Soul."
Key Track: "R U Listenin'?", where rapper Guilty Simpson joins Illa for a laid-back track specifically engineered for head-bobbing.

The Band: The Foreign Exchange
The Buzz: Dutch producer Nicolay gets Little Brother's Phonte to trade rhymes for serenades, resulting in a record of smooth, silky grooves.
Listen If: You've got an impatient lady in the next room and you're sick and tired of waiting for a new D'Angelo record.
Key Track: "Daykeeper," a dusky number lit up by powder blue piano and Phonte's aching croon.

The Band: French Miami
The Buzz: San Fran psychopaths craft skull-collapsing post-punk, wiry (and Wire-y) guitars twitching over steady chugging rhythms.
Listen If: You never saw any reason why math rockers couldn't cut a rug every now and then.
Key Track: "The God Damn Best," whose cockeyed guitars and pummeling rhythm feel like industrial-strength Polvo — even after it hits the part that seems to paraphrase "My Humps."

Who: Six-piece Oklahoma City indie pop band the Uglysuit, who went from opening for the All-American Rejects and the Roots to headlining their own packed CMJ showcase.

Sounds Like: Bound by no genre, the sextet jump from from Brit-pop-style ballads like "Happy Yellow Rainbow" to atmospheric, jazz-tinged explorations on "Brownblue's Passing" to gorgeous piano-powered anthems like "Chicago" on their self-titled debut album.

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