The Granite Countertops are dark, whimsical, tender existential action heroes J Neo Marvin and Davis Jones, plus honored guests Matthew Grasso, Lizzie Borden, Junko Suzuki, Mark Parsons, and Stephen Abbate. The music ranges from noisy motivational dance tunes and flamenco/raga/trip-hop protest to populist cowbell rock, conflict-habituated jazz-dub, dissonant garage love ballads and trenchant chatty dronefests. 10 new original numbers, plus two covers of songs by Robert Wyatt and Donovan. It's a sonic pocket zeitgeist for 2010, and we can't wait for you to hear it.

Our newest Content Providers release compiles six diverse cover versions from their three CDs, plus three never-before-released renditions of songs by The Magnetic Fields, The Kinks, and Syd Barrett from a 2005 session featuring J Neo Marvin, Davis Jones, Stephen Abbate, and Heiko Bachmann. You know J Neo Marvin the songwriter, now observe him and his comrades in the role of interpreters.

The second collection by the Experimental Bunnies once again consists of music made for the Noodle Brain Productions TV series in 2005. BIOLOGY AND PHYSICS is an instrumental journey for these transitional times:

As we walk with confidence straight into the quagmire, we can hear the laments of the gold star moms around us until we keel over from outrage fatigue. It's hard when you're waiting for a bad idea to die. We persevere by carnival crawling, knowing that our just rewards are right around the corner, and there is a rescue remedy. I smell a new world and I'm ready for your instructions.

The debut by instrumental sound-scientists the Experimental Bunnies! An original score for Noodle Brain Productions' TV episode on the Integrity Tone Scale. To conjure each one of the 16 states of integrity on the scale, the Experimental Bunnies conceived and recorded their themes as spontaneously as possible into an analogue 4-track recorder, resulting in a score that careens through psychedelic noise, despondent mood pieces, post=punk, surf music, Krautrock, and even disco. The results can either be enjoyed for their own sonic appeal or in the context of a valuable self-awareness tool.

Ear Candle Productions' first digital-only release is a five-song EP by The Blame. The Full Disclosure Principle ranges from innocent pop-folk tunes to noise-laden workplace psychodramas to stirring anthems of empowerment. Includes a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Democracy", the Davis Jones tour de force "Worker Bee", and the cowbell-rock showstopper "Unexpected Impact".

San Francisco's X-tal were one of the great unsung bands of the 1990s. Combining the sly pointed lyrics of J Neo Marvin (and others) with a Velvet-y wall of guitars and the twangy crunch of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, X-tal forged a distinctively American sound while daring to shine a light on the flaws of both their country and themselves. WHO OWNS OUR DREAMS? collects, for the first time domestically, some of the best songs from their final albums, which were previously only available on German labels.

FREEDOM FRIED, the third release from J Neo Marvin & the Content Providers, has just been reissued for those who missed it when it first dropped in 2004. 12 songs for the "new American century", Freedom Fried ranges from melodic folk-pop to snarly garage-rock and beyond, all adding up to an unflinching portrait of the state of the union in the first decade of the 21st century. It's music for Americans who have found their home transformed into an occupied country, for foreigners who no longer recognize the once-admired, now scarier than ever, land of rock and roll, blue jeans and silly pop culture, and for any and all human beings who refuse to be stomped into submission.

WHAT IS TRUTH? takes its inspiration from psychedelic classics like Their Satanic Majesties Request and Magical Mystery Tour, resulting in an anything-goes approach that stretches the music in whatever direction each song calls for, from the Dylan-goes-to-New-Zealand folk-rock of "Primate House (1731 11th Ave)", to the darkly sad chamber-punk of "Ex-Supernova" or "Stick Figure", to the thumping "Mark E. Smith in Turkey backed by a jazz combo and a Rasta drum circle" ambiance on "Fiscal Year Zero (Charge Of The Lite Brigade)", the catchy Celtic Mariachi drone of "Formerly Boomtown", and the full-on joyful noise of "Kite Song". 28 musicians and singers from all over the musical map contribute to the resulting sonic crazy quilt. Recorded exactingly yet spontaneously in good old-fashioned lysergic 16-track analog by the incomparable Wally Sound, WHAT IS TRUTH? will astonish you with its musical twists and sharp songwriting.

J Neo Marvin resurfaced in 2001 with his first set of new songs since the breakup of his old band X-tal and the sudden death of his longtime companion Maati Stojanovich. Aided by a small group of family and friends, including Rico Bell of the Mekons, Carrie Bradley of Ed's Redeeming Qualities, and Alan Korn of the Cat Heads, SLOWLY I TURNED is an intense yet melodic set of chamber-punk missives, filled with grief, desperation, dark humor, and hope.