From the Mysterious wilds of the Pacific Northwest come Tiny Vipers. Tiny Vipers is singer/songwriter/sonic alchemist Jesy Fortino. Her first record Hands Across the Void is out now on Sub Pop records and one of the most challenging, hypnotic, and beautiful records I have heard in a long time. Her powerful yet cautious voice and strummed guitar are augmented with electronic sounds both sinister and otherworldly.

On her first visit to Philadelphia she sat on the curb on Chestnut street and chatted with me for a bit. Here are her thoughts on touring, recording, criticism, David Lynch and Current 93.

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Mick Harvey is an Australian national treasure. For the past 30 years he has been one of the most interesting figures on the Aussie post-punk scene and has also been instrumental in making some of the finest musical voices out there sound wonderful. Beyond his work with others he has recorded two records of Serge Gainsbourg songs translated into English and recorded two original solo records. The newest of which, Two of Hearts has just been released by Mute records and deserves a place on your shelf and in his pantheon of fine work.

Mick Harvey co-founded the Boys Next Door with Nick Cave in the mid-70's who later evolved into the Birthday Party. The BIrthday Party, along with Joy Division were arguably the most important and most influential of all of the bands of this era. Following the implosion of the Birthday Party Harvey was a member of Crime and the City Solution, and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds (which he is an crucial and instrumental force behind to this day). He has also produced and played with such greats as Robert Forster, PJ Harvey and fellow Birthday Party member Rowland S. Howard.

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Patton Oswalt belongs on Magnaphone. He does a bit where he conjures up a scene that involves a loser eating a KFC "Famous Bowl" at 3am. Said loser asks if they could make the bowl play This Mortal Coils' It'll End in Tears while he eats it. In an earlier version same loser asks if it could play Pink Floyds' "The Great Gig in the Sky" (along with "Dogs" my favorite Floyd tune ever). So as you can see he's one of us.

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Since 1987 the Wedding Present has been making intense, literate and melodic pop music. Armed with jarring guitars and lyrics deconstructing the excruciating minutiae of relationships not seen since the Updike last wrote about Rabbit, the Wedding Present has been a stalwart, vital part of the British music scene. On the occasion of the release their latest singles/video collection, Search for Paradise, frontman/lyricist David Gedge was kind enough to converse with me via e-mail from the studio. Here are his patient and pointed replies.

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