Seven years have now passed since the release of Imperial Teen's massively under-valued Feel the Sound album. That record was one of my favourites from that year, a textbook example of contemporary pop, and one which seemed to puncture the bubble of gloomy indie and rock which was the zeitgeist. They've finally returned with a new album, Now We Are Timeless, which firmly re-establishes them as trail blazers of this intelligent, but fun electro sound.

Molly are a duo based in Innsbruck, Austria comprising Lars Andersson on guitars and Phillip Dornauer on drums. But this isn't your standard raucous guitar-drums indie garage duo, Molly are more akin to the sweeping densely populated sounds of Explosions in the Sky or Sigur Rós. Occasionally toning things down a notch to Slowcore territoty. Put it this way, everything is slow and that ain't no bad thing.

Ivan The Tolerable has traditionally been a thoroughly singular DIY project for Teesside musician Oli Heffernan. In recent years we've seen a gradual shift towards a fuller, more refined sound, getting friends on board to provide instrumentation and also relinquishing some production and mixing duties. Last year's Autodidact and Le Monde Inverse are a million miles away from the early tapes and EPs, for example.

Stanley Brinks is the the sort of artist that just can't stop himself from releasing stuff. This could also be said of The Wave Pictures, to a slightly lesser extent. I think it's unwise to try and pin a number on this latest episode in the Brinks mega saga, but suffice to say he's released over 100 in various guises over the years (putting The Wave Pictures' impressive tally in the shade).

It's been six years since Bill Callahan released Dream River, an album which, like pretty much all Bill Callahan / Smog records, has aged nothing but gracefully. Now he's back with a new collection called Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest which contains a whopping 20 tracks. You can only really get away with a title and duration like that if you've earned a fair bit of good will, and Drag City know that they can trust this fella to deliver the goods.

Earthen Sea is the recording alias of Jacob Long, a producer from New York, and Grass and Trees is his second album for Kranky records. His first, the well received An Act of Love, mixed electro beats with more abstract soundscapes. The inspiration for this one was to create simple, restrained music to contrast with the hectic city where he lives, so the music is quieter and sparser in comparison, removing most of the dance elements in favour of more ambient, thoughtful compositions.