The Darling Fire (Indie band, reminds me of The Breeders, but slower pace...may not keep)
The Hold Steady. Where the hell have these guys been? Hints of early Springsteen, Zevon. Totally digging this, but I have quite a collection to plow through.
Telethon. Lousy name, good band. Tough to explain this band, but you want to be where you can focus on the lyrics. Good music, but lyrics matter with this band. Not your 80's 3 chord rock band.
New Sleater-Kinney. Fuzzy, synthy turn for these ladies. Grew on me after 3 listenings and a little sativa. Still, this album apparently cost them one of the better drummers in the biz, Janet Weiss, who left after some obligatory promo stuff. Seriously underrated drummer.
Janet Gardner. Former lead singer of 80's all-girl band Vixen, who was actually pretty damned good. I always thought that band was better than the sum of its parts (their gorgeous and talented guitar player being no small part of that), and Janet's voice just rated "pretty decent" overall, but she is older than I am, and has a second solo album out. Not much more depth to her voice, but it's better and the recent album is quite good.
And now, thanks to Palama, Roy Buchanan. Damn. I grew up in this guy's time, have been playing, singing and/or listening to music most of my life. How did I miss this guy? Thanks.