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The rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah released its first record last year on its own label. Major labels came knocking when the band quickly became an Internet darling. The band decided to remain independent and, this week, will release its second record on its own label, Some Loud Thunder.

Damon Albarn is an increasingly busy British musician whose past projects include the rock band Blur, the pop/hip-hop mutation Gorillaz, and a West African ensemble called Mali Music. His latest group, which has just released their eponymous debut, is The Good, The Bad, and The Queen.

Andrew Bird's new Armchair Apocrypha finds him continuing to prove himself as a performer of significant elegance and depth. "Scythian Empires" amply demonstrates his gifts for marrying obtuse-but-evocative imagery to uncommonly lovely arrangements.

A review of Wincing the Night Away, the new recording by The Shins. Their song "New Slang" was on the soundtrack to the 2004 Zack Braff movie Garden State.

Jazz singer Tony DeSare has just released his second album, Last First Kiss. He covers Carole King, Cole Porter and Prince on the recording.

While Modest Mouse's "Dashboard" lacks the snaky charm of "Float On," it's a pure pop confection: danceable, uncomplicated and ripe for airplay. Fans too young to remember XTC can draw comparisons to Franz Ferdinand, what with the song's stiff, guitar-driven neo-disco rhythms.

Valentine's Day wouldn't be complete without a soundtrack, but finding the right love songs can be a chore. In the hopes of turning up something for every romantic playlist, five experts in the world of public radio offer their opinions on all-time great Valentine's Day songs.

In this series on Oscar-nominated scores, NPR's movie-film expert Andy Trudeau takes Liane Hansen through two more of the nominees: Javier Navarrete for Pan's Labyrinth and Thomas Newman for The Good German.

Songstress Patti Austin's newest CD, Avant-Gershwin, allows her to cover the classic and sometimes controversial music of legendary composer George Gershwin. Austin talks about her music with Tony Cox.

Find out the number one album of the year as selected by NPR listeners. Count down the top ten CDs with All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen as he chats with reviewers Robert Christgau, Will Hermes, Meredith Ochs and John Richards.