The song itself is just the latest international success for the stylish quintet. "Wake-Up Call" has already charted in more than twenty different countries, and, in testament to Maroon 5's widespread appeal, made the Top 10 in countries as dissimilar as Lebanon, Poland, and the Netherlands. It Won't Be Soon Before Long earned Maroon 5 their second straight platinum disc, and topped sales charts in the United States and the United Kingdom. In the week of its release, It Won't Be Soon shattered the sales records on iTunes, and lead single "Makes Me Wonder" hit #1 this June and was, arguably, the song of the summer. The record has been critically-lauded, too: in an All-Music Guide rave, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it "that rare self-stylized blockbuster album that sounds as big and satisfying as was intended."

Akerlund's clip shoots high, too. Maroon 5 has never been shy about nodding toward classic movies - the video for "She Will Be Loved" was loosely based on The Graduate - and "Wake-Up Call" is a pure caper flick, complete with sun, skin, and hot-blooded murder. Titles, too: Akerlund lets song lyrics take the place of the film credits. But this is Adam Levine's show, and he makes the most of it: in a series of dramatic scenes, he busts in on his lover with another man, kills him, and then enlists the members of Maroon 5 in an attempt to cover up his crime. Of course, there are sexy girls aplenty, running toward the camera in bikinis, tied-up provocatively in the back of a speedboat, and playing poker at a bar. Eventually the plot unravels, and despite a truly spectacular car explosion, Levine's hot temper lands him in the slammer.

Mason Proper is about as gutsy as young rock bands come. Viewed from a certain angle, There Is A Moth In Your Chest, Mason Proper's debut, is just a terrific rock album: well-built songs, great melodies, intriguing lyrics, spirited performances. But listen a little harder, and the band's startling collective imagination becomes evident. This Michigan quintet loves off-kilter sounds and haywire synths, stuttering electronics and frenetic percussion - and when they build a song, they make sure there's space for their wild flights of fancy. No two Mason Proper songs sound the same, but they all bear an aural signature: a kind of musical intelligence, dark humor, playfulness, and a will to amaze listeners.

There Is A Moth In Your Chest is a bracing ride. Songs twist and turn, dissolve and re-form, flit between genres, weave through verses and combust into choruses. Each track seems to contain secrets, and almost all of them contain elements unusual to rock songs. "Blue Lips Eternal Inquiry" is bathed in lush strings, "The World Is Smaller Than You Think" is animated by a rogue shaker, a berserk analog lead runs through the electrifying "Lights Off", and "Mr. Charm" is all sharp angles and ricocheting beats. Lead single "My My (Bad Fruit)" is probably the most traditional rocker on There Is A Moth In Your Chest - but even this radio-ready track is spiked by renegade electronics. Singer and songwriter Jonathan Visger's language is often dense and provocative, and here, it's especially so: the song is crammed with apocalyptic and unsettling images. Yet the energy is explosive and the melody is infectious, and the song has become a favorite of Mason Proper's rapidly-expanding fanbase.

As you'd expect from a band that makes music as propulsive as There Is A Moth In Your Chest, Mason Proper tours constantly. This summer, the quintet will be swinging through the Midwest and Northeast, sharing bills with Ra Ra Riot and Jason Isbell. The clip for "My My (Bad Fruit)" catches Mason Proper in performance, too - but this is no ordinary gig. For starters, the band performs in an open field and under a blue sky. This is an outdoor wedding of sorts, but at first, it's unclear who's getting married, or why the musicians in the band seem more battered and bloodied with each subsequent shot! The bride, by contrast, looks healthy and poised in her gown and bone-white makeup, and her ladies-in-waiting gather about her, conspiratorially. In the hills behind them, a gigantic faceless conductor waves around his baton, generating atmospheric turbulence as he does. He seems to be somehow associated with the bride - because she, too, commands the air, shooting lightning-like squiggles from out of her eyes! The members of Mason Proper struggle with that same energy, attempting to tame it, but largely getting buffeted by it. Finally, Visger's bandmates prop his battered body up and lead him to the middle of the field, where his dangerous betrothed awaits him.

Maximo Park charted five UK singles from A Certain Trigger, hitting the Top Twenty four times. "Our Velocity", the lead single from Our Earthly Pleasures, is their most successful release yet, breaching the Top Ten, and continuing the group's ascent to the top echelon of contemporary British rock. "Our Velocity" shares much with the singles from A Certain Trigger: daring, unpredictable songwriting, energetic performances by the bandmembers, and a wide-eyed howl of a lead vocal from one-of-a-kind frontman Paul Smith. But producer Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters) has toughened and tightened the sound, and brought out something elemental and undeniable in Maximo Park's skewed art-pop. The band is as literate and urgent as ever, but there's a newfound fierceness - and seriousness - to "Our Velocity" and the other songs on Our Earthly Pleasures that seems perfectly calibrated to appeal to fans of Britpop and American indie alike.

What's more, where other independent artists run from any association with the past, Alex Deep is upfront about his influences. Stoned By Dreams, the independently-released Merlinmoon debut, evokes memories of Sixties and Seventies classics by The Doors, King Crimson, and especially Pink Floyd. "Days Of Rage Into The Light", the album's twenty-minute centerpiece, is a richly-textured and magnificently-recorded epic - prog-rock grandeur realized on an indie budget. Like much of Stoned By Dreams, "Rage Into The Light" is heavily informed by Alex Deep's own philosophical writing. "Poppy Fields", the lead single (and the name of the band's initial EP) takes its title from a passage in the Merlinmoon exegesis. "It is up to each individual", writes Deep, "to find the way to his own poppy field - a place where one can be free inside the limits of the mind, living dreams by following passions".

"Poppy Fields" is an intriguing lyric from a far-sighted group - one sufficiently high-minded that they've been asked to perform at the United Nations Walk of Peace in San Salvador. That said, Deep and director Ricardo Korda also play on the psychedelic connotations of the flower in the trippy clip for "Poppy Fields". Much of the video is a spirited literalization of concepts and images from the Merlinmoon philosophy: the singer appears in chains, bound to the demands of the material world. But it's not all symbolism and surreal artistry. The stunning Mexican model Pia Watson is on hand, too, and she imparts some serious sizzle to the proceedings - especially when she's passionately kissing Alex Deep in a field of flowers!

The video opens with Watson in her own artist's gallery, laboring over a terra-cotta statue of a man with his head bowed. Troubled, she goes to visit Alex Deep, only to find him bound and restrained by chains. Uniformed women escort him into a disturbing-looking aperture - and once he's through, an already-trippy clip becomes even more eclectic and engrossing. The Merlinmoon singer is confronted by a lord of gluttony: a bearded man on a makeshift throne, overindulging in food, drink, and sensual stimulation. Deep, too, is tempted by the gorgeous girls in his dreamworld. Back at his apartment, Pia Watson searches for him; the women with white armbands seize her and dress her in military garb. Meanwhile, Alex Deep's strange adventures accelerate: he wanders past a mural decorated with musical notes, strains to escape from a small green room, and watches as a fallen girl soldier bleeds yellow paint against a tree trunk. It's all fantastic and allusive, heavy with meaning, and it demands attention and repeated viewings - just as surely as Stoned By Dreams rewards close engagement with its sound and sentiment.

Midtown was an American pop punk and alternative rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. Formed in November, 1998 by three Rutgers University students, Midtown soon became a quartet. The band took advantage of the fertile New Jersey punk scene to develop a sound that combined elements of emo and punk rock and began recording shortly after their formation. Their first EP, Sacrifice of Life, was issued by Pinball Records in 1999. Their second album, Save the World, Lose the Girl, was released in early 2000 by the Drive-Thru Records label and picked up for distribution by MCA. After Living Well Is The Best Revenge was released they left the label. Their next album, Forget What You Know, was produced while the band was not under contract with a record label and then picked up by Columbia Records.

We'll have to wait until July for a full-length. But the songs that have emerged from the Mink camp so far are enough to excite anybody with a taste for legit New York rock and roll. Carlson leads the band through a characteristically Manhattanite repertoire: "Dematerialize", a sardonic, Lou Reed-like blues rocker, the decadent, trash-poppy "Crazy World", and the distorted, gritty "Pressure Pressure". And then there's "Talk To Me". The quartet's lead single sounds to our ears like an irresistible springtime hit: a brash come-on with a singalong chorus and energy to burn. Over Stella Mozgawa's propulsive shuffle beat, guitarists David Lowy and Nick Maybury slash and stutter, and Carlson shakes off his nerves and sings out a solicitation to the gorgeous girl across the room.

"Talk To Me" is just one of several Mink tracks produced by the visionary Sylvia Massy (Red Hot Chili Peppers, System Of A Down). Massy has preserved the group's live intensity, and polished the band just enough; commercial radio stations, teased by the sound, have already raced to add the song. "Pressure Pressure", produced by grammy winner Chris Shaw and remixed by Massy, found a receptive audience at ESPN - the sports network used the track in its promotional spots for the '06 MLB playoffs. This winter, Mink wowed audiences at no fewer than four SXSW showcases, and will hit the road this month for three weeks with Saliva before joining up with none other than the legendary KISS for a string of shows!

One thing we've noticed over the years is that when a bandmember directs the clip, the result is always tremendous fun. That's not to say that we don't value the contributions of experienced outside directors - it's simply to acknowledge that the in-house option often has the best understanding of what it is that makes a particular band connect with its audience. The four members of Mink have collaborated with some of the best and highest-profile videomakers in the world - you'll remember that their last clip (for the raucous "Talk To Me") was directed by Christian Lamb, who has shot videos for Madonna, Kelly Clarkson, and Coldplay. But they've turned the camera over to bassist Grant Fitzpatrick for their latest effort, and he's made "Get It Right" a nonstop hoot and a celebration of everything that makes Mink so irresistible.

Then again, when you're working with musicians as telegenic - and enthusiastic - as Mink, it's hard to go wrong. The transcontinental quartet (three Australians, one American, and fans all over the world) are inspired amateur filmmakers, posting video excerpts of shoots, gigs, and assorted hijinx to a YouTube channel titled MinkTV. In their clips, they're eminently watchable, performing with staggering energy and visible personality. Unsurprisingly, given their taste for spectacle, they've become big in Japan and they'll be making their Japanese debut by appearing at Fuji Rock Festival '08 alongside The Go! Team, My Bloody Valentine, and Hard-Fi.

They've made names for themselves stateside, too, and their American profile is growing. Mink has toured the states with Perry Farrell's Satellite Party, opened shows for Angels & Airwaves, headlined at the hippest Brooklyn clubs, appeared at Lollapalooza, and placed songs on weblogs and radio playlists across the country. "Get It Right", the latest single, was featured in the most recent episode of House. Their songs feel classic: bruising big-riff garage-rock indebted to the Stones and the Stooges, but slavishly imitative of neither. Singer Neal Carlson pouts and sneers his way through these urgent and infectious rock cuts, bleeding attitude as he does.

Carlson is entertaining to watch, and Fitzpatrick and guitarist Nick Maybury are awfully compelling, too - but drummer Stella Mozgawa steals the "Get It Right" video. Explosive behind the kit and gloriously spazzy in action shots, she's the group's not-so-secret weapon; a pint-sized, tongue-wagging dynamo with a knack for dramatic gestures. And just like the rest of the band, she looks good in superhero tights. Yes, Grant Fitzpatrick has cast the members of Mink as caped crusaders, battling a gang of costumed evildoers on the streets beneath the Manhattan Bridge and the boardwalks of Coney Island. There's mysterious masks, safety goggles, acrobatic and occasionally hilarious play-fighting, and even a carrot used as a cellphone. Much of the footage is intentionally sped-up for comic effect, much as it would be in a live-action Saturday-morning special. And regardless of how much fun they're all having - and how much chaos they're generating - the members of Mink take pains to reconstruct some famous shots from Help! It's a tip of the cap to the band's classic roots, and a reminder that music video wasn't always so serious.