It's hard to believe it's been five years since Broken Social Scene dropped their last album, but within minutes of listening to their new release, Forgiveness Rock Record, it's obvious that no one has even come close to challenging them as the indie-rock collective of the aughts.

Andy Warhol, the Velvet Underground, Nico, Edie Sedgwick, and the rest of The Factory gang are held in high regard by those who consider them ground zero for cooler than cool. Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips understand this and are the right choice to produce original music for a selection of Warhol's 1960s black-and-white filmed screen tests.

With Canadian duo Japandroids, size doesn't matter.

Magnetic Fields' mastermind Stephin Merritt knows how to write poppy love ballads, and Realism is no exception.

Peter Wolf Crier further demonstrates that there's something good happening in the Midwest, with local boys like Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, Gayngs, and Volcano Choir contributing, prolifically, some of indies loveliest music.