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Part alt-country, part indie-rock, the band Delta Spirit burst onto the stage this year with its debut album Ode to Sunshine. The album is packed with serious messages set to pop riffs, thrown together with everything but the kitchen sink, including the occasional percussive trash can lid.

The Australian singer-composer and his band The Bad Seeds are best known for his angry, twisted ballad-like lyrics. Their most recent albums were last year's Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! and Live at the Royal Albert Hall.

Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the rock band Weezer, has released a solo set of at-home demos called Alone and Alone II.

The new album Regard the End is by The Willard Grant Conspiracy, a band comprising more than 30 musicians from all over the world. The players get together as their schedules permit, making music tinged with the blues, jazz and folk influences. David Greenberger has a review.

The singer Morrissey, who led the 1980s British band The Smiths, has just released his first recording in seven years. The CD, You Are the Quarry, reflects Morrissey's unique blend of the political and the personal, with songs like "Irish Blood English Heart" and "America is Not the World." Mikel Jollett has a review.

The Boston band Tarbox Ramblers has roots in prewar gospel and blues. The group's latest album takes off from their first record, using the old songs as a jumping-off point for leader Michael Tarbox to write primal gut rock and roll. The CD is called A Fix Back East. Meredith Ochs has a review.

Kinky Friedman used to perform offbeat country songs with his band, the Texas Jewboys. He later turned to writing mysteries. Now he wants to be governor of Texas. His slogan for the 2006 campaign: "How Hard Can It Be?" NPR's Ketzel Levine has a profile of the Texas funnyman.

The list includes the rock band Rage Against the Machine, country singer Willie Nelson and guitarist Link Wray.

A bipartisan group of five female South Carolina state senators have banded together to fight the passage of a near-total ban on abortions in a special session that's now underway.

Karen Michel reports on a collection of music from former Portuguese colonies in Africa assembled by David Byrne, a former member of the 70's art-rock band Talking Heads. The common thread throughout the music is beauty, sadness, and political content. The music is also connected BECAUSE of Portuguese colonization. For example, the Angolan "semba" in the collection bears a striking resemblance to Brazilian "samba". (STEREO)