Morningwood, the 'Sugarbaby' rock band fronted by Chantal Claret, are readying their sophomore full-length album, tentatively set to come out in early 2009. "There's gonna be a lot more beats," Claret tells Spinner. "It's gonna be a little more eclectic. The theme is awesomeness. I hate that that's the word that I have for it, but it's the word that best fits. You will dance."

One example of said awesomeness is a hip-hop inspired song called 'That's My Tune,' written about kids "calling each other so they could hear their ring tones, like, 'Don't stop man. Let it ring. That's my tune! Let it play!'" Claret, who recently recorded the vocal tracks of eight songs in only five days, adds, "I think there's one ballad, 'Cat in the Box.'"

Other song titles revealed include 'Bipolar Bears,' 'Snobby Little Elf' and 'Hot Tonight.' "I hate forcing a title and picking the most popular phrase in the song, so I just sort of pick phrases that make me laugh," Claret says.

Rachael Yamagata is talking with Spinner on the phone, driving from the Chicago airport with her band, when suddenly she makes a jolting discovery: Once at the hotel, everyone else is off in a thousand directions, and Yamagata is locked inside the van. Finally, familiar faces appear. "Hey, guys," she says, tapping on the window glass, "can someone get me out of here?"

If Yamagata, 31, seems a bit contained for the moment, overall she's poised for what she sees as a creative breakout. Four years after her first full-length album, 'Happenstance,' a Best of 2004 release that established her as a formidable new talent, Yamagata returns with a surprising record in two parts, 'Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart.' While 'Happenstance' laid a vaguely dangerous stalker vibe over lyrics of romantic obsession and a wildly eclectic music bed of pop, blues, jazz, and Dixieland (shades of Laura Nyro), its successor goes poetically deeper and darker, the atmospheric nine ballads ('Brown Eyes') morphing into five samples of guitar-driven rock ('Sidedish Friend') by end of disc two.

Throughout, Yamagata eschews the traditional song-by-song format, and in spots, the orchestral transitions make the album seem like a film score. Elsewhere, particularly on 'Sunday Afternoon' and 'Pause the Tragic Ending,' repeated references to blood bubble up, underscoring a morose feel that turns on wind, rain, fog and, yes, vampires.

In October of 1982, at the height of their success, iconic punk rockers the Clash were invited to be the opening act on the Who's final tour of the U.S. For two nights in a row, Joe Strummer and Co. performed at Shea Stadium with the same raw energy and rebellious attitude that gained reserved them a spot in rock 'n' roll history. In this exclusive video, the band performs their classic hit song 'Should I Stay or Should I Go,' which has recently been introduced to a whole new generation of fans via 'Rock Band.' The album containing the entire concert (the first and only live album from the Clash) is available now. Buy it on iTunes.

Oasis recently dropped their latest collection of Brit-pop anthems, 'Dig Out Your Soul,' to a slew of rave reviews. The driving, energetic songs signal a stylistic departure from the subdued '60s pop sound of their previous release, 'Don't Believe the Truth.' In this exclusive video, the band performs their hard-rocking new single, 'The Shock of Lightning,' in an intimate club setting. Buy it on iTunes.

Broken Social Scene is sort of like the Wu Tang Clan of indie rock. The Canadian super-group has built a strong following while helping to launch a number of successful solo projects such as Feist, Kevin Drew and Stars. So it makes sense that when the band needed a new female vocalist to accompany them on tour they looked to Montreal native and Land of Talk frontwoman Elizabeth Powell.

"Brendan [Canning] has always kept tabs on me," Powell says of the Broken Social Scene's founding member. "Last year he asked me to do a Patti Smith cover for a Canadian film called 'The Tracey Fragments,' starring Ellen Page. One thing led to another and we ended up recording two extra songs, and then I sang on two songs for his solo album."

After Powell appeared on Canning's solo record, 'Something for Us All,' Land of Talk was asked to join Broken Social Scene on tour. Adding to the excitement, Powell would fill in on vocals and guitar with BSS, something she has referred to as "a dream come true." "The last time I said that in an interview a lot of people thought I was being facetious, but I wasn't," she explains.

Nick Hodgson, drummer and songwriter in Britain's snappily dressed pop-rock combo the Kaiser Chiefs is currently in England promoting his band's third album, 'Off With Their Heads.' But with the Stateside release of the album just weeks away (October 28), Hodgson is thinking beyond his own patch.

"Hello America," the lanky lad tells Spinner from his home in Leeds, UK as talk of their November promotional U.S. tour comes up. "We're looking forward to [coming back]."

Meanwhile, the new songs, which were recorded in the early part of 2009, represent a more mature and comfortable Kaiser Chiefs. "We haven't really greatly changed. I think we're relaxed," Hodgson says. "The first [album, 2005's 'Employment'] was just whatever, 'These are the songs that we have and here's the album.' The second one [2007's 'Your's Truly, Angry Mob'] was always going to be more self-conscious because we'd never been scrutinized before. But now, this record, we definitely feel a lot more like the first album, a lot more relaxed."

If this song sounds familiar to you, it most likely is due to it's resemblance to the Teddybears song of the same name, though one would be hard-pressed to consider Robyn's version a traditional cover. Stylistically they couldn't be more different -- the Swedish artist puts her own electro-pop stamp on the tune by adding rumbling synth bass lines and a driving dance beat. In the video, what starts as a sterile white backdrop turns to a Jackson Pollack work-in-progress. Have a look at the exclusive Spinner premiere below. Buy it on iTunes.

Keane, who release their third full-length album on October 14, explore a war-inspired theme in the video for their latest single. Without the comfort of bandmates Tim Rice-Oxley and Richard Hughes by his side, lead singer Tom Chaplin finds himself running in a dreamlike solo journey. Set in a rural landscape, the day-to-night sequence is comprised of a chase, a crash scene and explosions in the distance. Watch the video below. Buy it on iTunes.

Is there better way to jump start a new project than having Jay-Z sample your bedroom-recorded single in 'American Gangster'? Not really. Just ask the Menahan Street Band, who are unveiling their debut album, which also serves as the band's first non-vinyl release.

"Menahan is more like cooking breakfast with your wife on Sunday morning," ringleader Tommy 'TNT' Brenneck -- who is also known for his songwriting in both the Dap-Kings and the Budos Band -- tells Spinner of the band's sound. Keeping the flavor distinct among these projects is often a challenge for Brenneck, whos is constantly writing. "I write the basics of the song, then decide that this one feels like a Budos tune, or this one feels rights for Sharon [Jones]."

On Monday, New York City's breakout indie combo Vampire Weekend walked the red carpet at London's Q Awards.

The event saw the four-piece brush shoulders with the likes of the Who's Roger Daltry, Coldplay, Keane and a host of other popular British acts, but it might have been one of the group's last star-studded run ins of the year. Bassist Chris Baio recently told Spinner that following stops in Iceland and Europe, they are heading home at the end of fall to start work on the follow up to their 2008 self-titled debut.

"It's our last long tour on this album," Baio said. "We go from Iceland to the UK, then we're doing a week and a half in Germany, and then we come home, but it feels good," he said. "We're sort of at the end of touring on this album and we're all looking forward to going home and making another album."