It's nice to see that Spinner — via writer Cameron Matthews — took the time to actually interview and profile Pujol, quoting Poojie's accurate depiction of the local rock scene. Here, look:

"A lot of the people here [in the scene] have grown up here and a lot of their parents are involved in the country music industry," he says. "It's not necessarily like the punks vs. the country music industry. It's just that there's a good infrastructure for making and playing music here. It's fairly shared. There's not really antagonism. The facilities and the resources are here and people play in 'em."

Over the last few years, Nashville has become a hotbed of sweaty garage rock. From Jeff the Brotherhood to D. Watusi, the town that's most known for its Opry is welcoming a new kind of loud. Pujol rooted himself in Nashville because he could grow alongside local heroes in an environment based on sharing.

"I moved here from the middle of nowhere because people didn't want to share," he says. "And not because they didn't want to, but that they probably didn't know how to. I got lucky coming here and meeting people that wanted to figure out how to share ideas with enough dignity to have this conversation."

So as you'll hear, "Providence" features many of the characteristics we've come to expect from the Pooj — gritty guitar tones, plinking key parts, a busy bass line and accessible but finely crafted, big-picture lyrics. It also features some falsetto, which, at least as far as I can recall, is pretty new for the Pooj. There will be a release show at Club Roar featuring Natural Child, Fox Fun, D. Watusi and more on June 5, but more on that next week. Now, listen:

• Cover art.

Spin premiered the hook-heavy, life-affirming gem today, and it totally rules — despite bearing no non-titular similarities to the Black Flag classic of the same name. The song is, to my iron-clad-intuitive ears, the J-Bros’ poppiest tune to date, but it also boasts some of the most wicked-heavy, enema-inducing guitar tones (not to mention Jake Orrall’s highest pitched vocal) the band has ever committed to wax. Dig it.

So then, good news for fans of two things: 1) Joel McAnulty, and 2) isolated-sounding, acoustic indie-folk anthems. Dahl recently released his solo debut under the moniker Phantom Farmer. It's called Alpha, and it's available for free download via Phantom Farmer's Bandcamp page. The eight-song Alpha features just McAnulty's voice and his guitar, as he strums out big, reverb-ensconced, nouveau-spiritual acoustic numbers about the grandeur and complications of life, and finding peace here on earth and all that jazz. It's sparse and wide-open, and in the hands of a less gifted singer, it might fall a bit flat and static. But, as I noted, McAnulty's croon is a big, bold, full-throated one, and he pours a lot of emotion and a lot of breath into each and every note. If you're searching for a listen that features, I don't know, danceable beats and up-tempo feelgoodery, then you're going to want to look elsewhere. All you're going to find here are loping, wistful, weary folk numbers that sound like they were recorded deep within the head of a man who is surrounded on all sides by nothing but dark forest and sad memories, peppered with grains of hopefulness though they may be. Not party-time fare, no. But then, neither is the output of dudes like Leonard Cohen and Townes Van Zandt and Will Oldham, and I'll just bet McAnulty has listened to some of their stuff in recent months and years.

Stream all of Alpha below, or get it for free here.

Here's a little something special to put smiles on the faces of Features fans (which, seeing as how you're reading the Cream and all, probably means you). The pride of Smyrna Sparta is giving away Still Lost, Volume One: Demos, Outtakes & Alternate Versions (which, true to its title, is a compilation of demos, outtakes and alternate versions cherry-picked from the band's vaults) today on NoiseTrade — the Radiohead-esque pay-what-you-want, band-to-fan streaming-and-downloading site. So live a little, link this-a-way to "tip" the band for the hook up, or just stay put and pleasure your ears with Features nuggets in the conveniently embedded widget above. Track listing after the jump, yo.

On Soup du Jour, Matt Robinson’s piercing tenor vocals are self-assured in a manner that reminds me of Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell, and I’d be remiss not to mention the strikingly breezy, Shins-esque pop arrangements of tunes like “Tome of Love” and “Catherine.” And while songs like “Salty Dogs” feature that dark-but-jaunty sort of ’60s-pop dichotomy a la Harry Nilsson, a big chunk of Soup seems most directly influenced by frantic, post-punky indie rock of the late '80s and early '90s. “I Said” is actually the sort of juke joint-flavored Texas indie-rock tune that reminds me of Toadies — and I don't mean that as an insult — and album-closer "Georgia Moon" is a genuine, down-home, front-porch pluckin' number. So, seeing as how I just referenced a pretty broad smattering of styles and artists, it could easily be said that Soup du Jour is an eclectic collection. And, as is often the case with especially eclectic albums, the tone and energy are a bit all over the map. That's good for easily bored listeners with a broad and welcoming palate. But anyway, if you've honestly just spent all this time reading my blog post, you certainly have the patience to give a few of these tracks a listen.

Soup du Jour was recorded by Calicocat member Coley Hinson at Trail East Studios, and you can stream it below or download the whole damn thing for free over at the band's Bandcamp page. But don't think this means we're about to start posting about each blog-forsaken thing that every Tom, Dick and Harry tweets at us! Then again, maybe we will. That's up to you guys. "Brain Wreck," "Tome of Love," "Salty Dogs" and "Catherine," by the way, happen to be my personal faves.

So. Here's what's up. Last week, on May 1, The Dynamites released a single via Outta Sight Records/Gemco Records. Side A is a duet between Walker and fellow soul OG Bettye LaVette. It's called "Yours and Mine," and it's a mean, richly arranged, world-worn waltz that finds Walker and LaVette bouncing their anguished, rafter-reaching lamentations off of one another until they spiral into a righteous, horn-bolstered tempest. You can hear that one below. The B-side is called "Serendipity" and features just Mr. Walker on lead vocals. That one's more of an up-tempo, Sam and Dave-esque R&B number with a busy, riffing groove and bouncing bass line. Hear that one after the jump.

There's a very detailed press release at this link, and I recommend visiting that if you want to read all about LaVette's and Walker's respective histories, and what led them to collaborating. You can get the 7-inch of "Yours and Mine" b/w "Serendipity" for $5 via The Dynamites' site. And if you still don't have Burn It Down (shame on you!), you can get that and the 7-inch for a total of $13.