Like all of the AI favorites, Ace Young knows how to wrap his pipes around a pop song - he made a name for himself on the fifth edition of the show with his empathetic readings of radio favorites. And just like other Idol stars, clips of Young in action have been circulating on YouTube and other file-sharing sites since his first appearance on primetime TV. Ace Young knows the power of video firsthand: footage of his memorable on-air rendition of "Father Figure" has become a viral smash.

Since the end of American Idol's fifth season, Young has kept awfully busy - much busier, in fact, than many of the contestants who finished ahead of him on the program. He's co-written songs for fellow Idol (and good pal) Chris Daughtry's platinum-selling and Grammy-nominated debut, performed on Total Request Live, acted as an ambassador to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and even starred in an episode of Bones. But he's kept his eyes on the prize: a killer debut album. The Colorado singer and songwriter turned down several recording contracts in order to maintain complete control over his work. His decision may have kept his set from getting to store shelves as quickly as other Idols' have, but patience is a virtue, and we're pleased to report that Ace Young's integrity has paid off handsomely. And we know that one listen to his self titled debut will make a believer out of you too.

Don't get us wrong - the radio-friendly singer hasn't turned his back on the music industry. The legendary Desmond Child is the executive producer of the upcoming debut, hitmakers Andreas Carlsson and Diane Warren have written for the project, and Chris Daughtry has returned Young's favor by contributing material to Young's album. But tracks like "Addicted" are very much Ace Young's own creation and sentiment, and it shows: his performances are personal and intimate, and have an authenticity that's impossible to fake. The song is crisply-written, too: it snakes in with a seductive six-string line before exploding into an infectious chorus. Like Daughtry's work, Young's pop music rocks - "Addicted" is punctuated by a guitar solo from ex-Marilyn Manson member John 5. Those who've waited for a recording from the popular Young - and, judging by YouTube plays and MySpace counts, there are thousands and thousands of them - are bound to be ecstatic.

The clip for "Addicted" feels authentic, too - and it ought to, since it stars Young's real-life girlfriend. She's just as comfortable in front of the camera as he is, which is surprising, since the lens loves the American Idol favorite. They make an enticing duo: Young looks the part of the long-haired pop star, and his girl plays the ingénue with genuine enthusiasm. The chemistry between the two performers is palpable, and their protracted love scenes make the "Addicted" clip one of the sexiest videos ever shot for an Idol. Director Spenser Cohen cuts rapidly between footage of Young in performance with his band and shots of the singer in bed (and half-undressed) with his amorous girlfriend. It's all a blur of action and color, lust, heat, and irresistible compulsion.

Their name boasts of their ubiquity and omnipresence - and they've backed up the boast by touring across the country non-stop. The A.K.A.s (Are Everywhere!) deliver infectious, urgent, socially-conscious punk-pop, and do so wherever and whenever they can. This summer, they'll be catching up with the Warped Tour (they'll be on the "Kevin Says" stage devoted to emerging artists) for fifteen dates, playing festivals with the Alkaline Trio, and somehow finding time for a quick swing through the Rocky Mountain states with The Frantic. Their energy is unflagging, their attitude is wonderfully pugnacious, their commitment to their fanbase is remarkable, and their shows are explosions of light, sound, and color. All that is more than apparent on Everybody Make Some Noise!, their hair-raising debut for Metropolis Records. Tracks like "Confessions of a Dangerous Mouth" and "This Is The Way We Move" manage to be simultaneously anthemic and confrontational, welcoming and challenging. Like the best punk rock bands, The A.K.A.s (Are Everywhere!) sound celebratory even when they're at their most scathing - "Dead Flowers Forever", the lead single, is both a vicious commentary on the state of the world and a raucous call to action. His voice dripping with contempt, frontman Mike Ski sings of "Valentine days and Hallowe'een nights", and a complacent culture that has wrecked what ought to be the best days of his lives. He's hard not to pull for; he's an everyman voicing common frustrations, a two-fisted spokesman for brutal youth. Transistor Studios are renowned for their own smart, edgy film-manipulation; they've done live-action work for the BBC, and animation for VH1, ESPN, and America Online. Their frenetic clip for "Dead Flowers Forever" captures the excitement of The A.K.A.s (Are Everywhere!) in concert, but does so unconventionally - and even a little self-referentially. We see the edges of the film, the curve of the frame, the black line between the sequential shots; occasionally, we're even treated to a photo negative of an image of the band. Contact sheets spring to life, footage slides around diagonally as if it's in a viewmaster, and the Ilford logo is occasionally visible at the bottom of the screen. It's a bit like encountering an art flick at an underground movie theater - you never know when the film is going to slip from the reels and treat the audience to some unintentionally psychedelic effects. Film races by at varying speeds, titles flash on the screen, white characters are scrawled on top of black test frames; it all creates a feeling of chaos and wild velocity. The A.K.A.s (Are Everywhere!) do their part, too, flinging themselves at their instruments, spinning and slashing with their guitar-necks, and spitting their fighting words at the camera. It all seems as if it could unravel at any minute, but it never does. There's solid rock inside the A.K.A. whirlwind - a firm, unshakable core of conviction.

Architecture In Helsinki introduced themselves to their video audience with the elliptical, hypnotic "This Is A Call" video; two years later, their dizzy clip for "It'5" turned the Aussie group into a human centrifuge. Isobel Knowles's animated spot for "Do The Collapse" is now acknowledged as an indie masterpiece - 8-bit videogame imagery, a Saturday-morning cartoon plotline, and a climax in which the bandmembers (or the superhero-like icons representing them) are swallowed by a shark-monster in a PacMan maze.

Since the release of the technicolor Places Like This, Architecture In Helsinki's videos have become, if anything, even more inspired. The bandmembers' taste for outrageous costuming, comic excess and satire and hyperactive movement has served them well - as has their willingness to experiment on camera. Kris Moyes's mind-blowing clip for "Heart It Races" used puppets and fluorescent outfits to tell the story of a primitive tribe (played by the members of AIH, of course) living in suburban Melbourne. For the memorable "Hold Music" video, director Kim Gehrig put the musicians on trampolines, and captured their wild and spontaneous mid-air choreography. Their recent clip for the uproarious "Debbie" was a video about making a video - a behind-the-scenes mockumentary and exposé of a stuntman gone haywire.

Josh Logue handled the camera for "Debbie" - and he's back for the winning "Like It Or Not" video. Now, we've all seen animated clips before, but it's a fair bet you've never watched one quite like this: the entire spot has been shot from cross-stitched designs. Pitchfork, among others, has noted the easy correspondence between Architecture In Helsinki's homespun sound and the aesthetic virtues of yarn-work: the clip, writes Marc Hogan "weaves together brightly colored threads the way the group can at their hyperactive best." What's more cross-stitching is a visually-bold technique: much as Cameron Bird's excited voice leaps out of Architecture In Helsinki's explosive mixes, eye-catching images knitted against solid backgrounds jump out at the viewer.

Cross-stitching, as it turns out, is ideal for storytelling, too. And although it's loaded with humorous and provocative images with early 80s referents - check out the Rubik's Cube hot air balloons - "Like It Or Not" is a narrative clip. It follows the tale of two coconuts who, dislodged from their tree, roll along on a fantastic voyage through some highly psychedelic landscapes. They're swept up in a twister (which unravels some of the threads), kicked through the jungle by sunglass-wearing hipster lions, smacked across a ping-pong table, putted into the stratosphere by horse-headed golfers, and stowed on the back of a giant pineapple as it floats through purple seas. The coconuts are fully anthropomorphized throughout, and their little stitched faces express sadness, trepidation, surprise, contentment, and relief. Rest assured, there is a happy ending to the journey here. But the best shot of all comes halfway through the clip - a perfectly realized cross-stitched tableau of Architecture In Helsinki in action, hammering away at their instruments as the fuzzy protagonists roll through.

Western Massachusetts isn't always thought of as an alt-rock hub, but maybe it should be - Northampton boasts a live club on every corner, and there's a long tradition of unconventional and offbeat pop-rock from the region. The members of a'tris met at Berklee College of Music in Boston - and received the first-rate instrumental training there that is so apparent on their recordings - but they've developed their sound and their unique songwriting voice in the Pioneer Valley. From their base in the Berkshires, they've become one of the most reliable club draws in New England and consistent producers of lush, fascinating, irresistible indie rock songs.

The a'tris sound has been likened to that of Coldplay, Radiohead, and other dramatic rock bands, and that comparison is helpful - but only as a direction. a'tris shares with those groups instrumental skill, clever programming, a taste for cinematic grandeur and a progressive sensibility, orchestral overtones, and a frontman with a pure, soaring voice. But principal songwriter Mason Taylor has his own sense of harmonics and pop song structure, and the unusual chord progressions and tricky melodies on Lensing have no easy analog in any other contemporary group. Many of these songs -like the gorgeous "Dark Lotus" - are built around hypnotic near-classical piano patterns and shuffling machine percussion. The ballads on Lensing are as singular as they are magisterial: "Selling Oxygen", another standout cut, marries a dizzy, challenging verse to a powerful and immediate chorus. But pretty is not all they do - guitarist Ben Azar can crunch with the best of them, and much of the programmed instrumentation is delightfully dirty and sonically edgy.

Even when it seems like a'tris is making a straightforward musical choice, there's always a wrinkle or two: "Automatic Doors", the single, is, on its surface, a state-of-the-art modern rock number, ready to be slotted into commercial radio playlists across the nation. Scratch a little deeper, and you'll find curious and suggestive lyrics, a novel harmonic structure, and dazzling instrumental appointments lurking in the shadows of the mix. The members of a'tris are masters of detail: sonic shading, clever samples, half-buried guitar and synth parts that work quiet wonders. "Automatic Doors" is crammed full of these hidden treasures; it's a song that, like most of a'tris's work, rewards repeated plays.

Eric Ekman's strange and beguiling "Automatic Doors" clip demands repeat engagements, too. The band plays their song in a backyard; they plug into amplifiers and perform as commuter trains roar in the background. We follow a sunny-day trip of a young man in his early twenties: he begins his walk through the suburban neighborhood with easy nonchalance. But then the world around him begins to exhibit bizarre characteristics - the portrait of George Washington in the center of a dollar bill on the ground speaks to him, painted flowers on a fence twist in the wind and grow wildly, and strangers on the sidewalk speak to him as if they know him well. Ekman increases the sense of destabilization by slowing the footage down ever so slightly; it imparts a strange dreamlike feel to the scene that perfectly matches a'tris's rich tapestry of sound. By the end of the clip, the main character is utterly bewildered; when he reaches the backyard where the band is playing, he looks through the slats of a picket fence and finds nobody there

Band of Horses make gorgeous, pained folk-pop that bleeds familiarity and intimacy - so it's unsurprising that this gang of contrarians have shot a video that examines the perils of closeness. As anybody who has ever played in a band can tell you, the easy intimacy between groupmates can quickly turn into an uncomfortable familiarity; this is especially true for touring acts who log hours together on the road. Wild enthusiasm for the Band of Horses has guaranteed that the group has spent the better part of the past few years streaking across the nation from gig to gig and living together in awfully close quarters. The clip for "No One's Gonna Love You" pokes fun at that fine line between camaraderie and outright hostility between twenty-something guys who, by virtue of their musical popularity, are forced to behave like married couples.

Indeed, it does often seem that the members of Band of Horses have been sprinting across the country nonstop since the release of their debut EP in 2005. Certainly their achievements have kept them on the front pages of the alt-rock press; they've played on the David Letterman show, toured with Iron & Wine, and relocated from Seattle to rural South Carolina. "The Funeral", the cinematic centerpiece of their first full-length, was ubiquitous for a time - the song was heard in video games, in advertisements, on episodes of One Tree Hill, Kyle XY, and Numb3rs, and in the trailer for the indie comedy Penelope. Recently, Band of Horses has tasted true mainstream success: Cease To Begin, their heralded '07 set, made its debut in the Billboard Top 40, and lead single "Is There A Ghost" was named one of the best songs of the year by Rolling Stone magazine.

The soaring "Ghost" may have been one of the true anthems of 2007, but if you ask a Band of Horses enthusiast for a favorite track, chances are, she'll mention "No One's Gonna Love You" first. So dear to the band's fanbase is the song that it's become a concert staple and a single by popular demand. There's plenty of footage of Band of Horses performing "No One's Gonna Love You" in Jarrod Tallman's wry clip for the song, and the shots of the band in action communicate the grandeur and intimacy of their heralded live set.

But the concert shots aren't the focus of this video. Instead, the narrative focuses on the behind-the-scenes action that'll be all too familiar to other touring musicians: the groupmembers showering in proximity to each other, brushing their teeth, blowing off steam with beach hijinx, cramming into sleeping bags in tiny rooms. And when they've had all they can stand, they grab beer bottles and slam them across each other's faces. Tallman makes this gesture seem almost affectionate - a kind of extreme version of a high five. This isn't the first time the Band of Horses have married whimsy with darkness in a clip; the memorable video for "The Funeral" told the story of a man distraught over the death of his dog and hurtling toward his own doom. Their remarkable ability to balance menace with warmth and down-home humor with violence will continue to make the Band of Horses one of the most vital acts in contemporary music.

Here on the East Coast, the sun is shining, the nights are warm, and the clubs are hopping. In Downtown Manhattan, it often seems like there's a rock show on every corner; across the river in Brooklyn, the pavements bleed music. In an environment like this, it's almost impossible for a young band to attract any attention - but Bridges and Powerlines have managed to beat the odds and establish themselves as one of the city's true indie favorites. They've done it by gigging around Gotham relentlessly (they recently completed an "outerborough tour" that took them to neighborhoods that most hipsters neglect), playing long-running parties at hot clubs, courting the local alternative press (the influential Deli magazine loves them), and by penning irresistible indie-rock songs.

Ghost Types compiles the best and most exciting of the band's material. It's dense and compelling power-pop, performed with enthusiasm and sung with detached, nerdy cool by Andrew Wood. The heady Bridges and Powerlines favor scratchy guitars and buzzy, haywire analog synthesizer; they're also partial to character studies, musical short-stories, literary irony, and telling details. Many of the tracks on Ghost Types are narrated by introspective workers: steamship captains, cabbies, laborers keeping the urban infrastructure humming. Theirs is indie rock that's brainy enough for New York City webloggers, sufficiently theoretical for the college set, and propulsive enough to dizzy up the rest of the nation.

Produced by Chris Zane (Asobi Seksu, Les Savy Fav), "Uncalibrated" is the purest introduction to Bridges and Powerlines's slightly-twisted worldview. The track rides in with a giddy Moog lead before exploding into a hooky chorus; it's just the sort of undeniable indie rock track that can compel a roomful of jaded hipsters to hit the dancefloor. The song seems destined to focus national attention on Bridges and Powerlines: Yahoo Music has already posted "Uncalibrated" on its main page, and Pitchfork followed with a feature of their own. "Uncalibrated" led the B&P charge into the CMJ Top 200, as left-of-the-dial radio stations across the country have gotten excited about the NYC quartet with the ingratiating sound.

Like many of Bridges and Powerlines' songs, the clip for "Uncalibrated" juxtaposes the small and human with the large, cold, scientific, and impersonal. The video opens with an official-looking map of the nation; this fades into an animated sequence of two DNA-filled cells dividing. A high-school instruction film? Not exactly - instead, it's the backdrop for a band of endearing sock puppets. Like Bridges and Powerlines, the puppet band is a quartet; also like B&P, every move they make is enthusiastic and purposeful. They don't, however, have hands, so they're forced to take their Moog solos with their faces and twist the knobs and throw the switches on the instrument with their mouths. Other sock puppets are along for the fun, too, including identical zebra-striped twins, a googly-eyed green customer, and a pink scene-stealer with an orange feather boa. It's sweet and geeky, bright and even occasionally glorious - and just like the track, there's something undeniably haunting about it, too. In short, it's a perfect late-spring anthem for New York 2008, and maybe the rest of the country, too.

Formed in 1997 by Jari Kuusisto & Stefan Westerberg, CARNAL FORGE released its debut, "Who's Gonna Burn" (War Music), in 1998. After signing with Century Media in early 2000, the band released "Firedemon" later in the year. Petri Kuusisto joined and the band would tour Europe supporting The Haunted and Nile and make the first of several prestigious festival appearances. In 2001 Lars Linden joined just to the recordings of "Please... die!" (Linden making his debut with the band at the year's 2000 Decibel festival and Wacken Open Air). "The More You Suffer" (2003) and "Aren't You Dead Yet" (2004) would continue to see the band expand fan and worldwide sales base as well as touring in Europe, USA & Japan, playing a number of festivals (Sweden Rock Festival (SE), Metal Meltdown (USA), Fury Fest (FR), Pressure Fest (DE), Kaltenbach Open Air (A), Summer Breeze (DE), Fuck the Commerce (DE) Metal Fest URI (CH) etc. and releasing the live DVD "Destroy Live" (2004). Vocalist Jens C. Mortensen would join the band's ranks in late 2004, impressing fans with his strong live performances. In early 2005, the band began work on new material and the first pre-prod recordings with Jens were made late 2005. In 2006 demos of all songs were made and in Oct the real recordings started. In January 2007, the band signed to Candlelight Records. "Testify For My Victims" was released June 2007. Director Owe Lingvall (Village Road Film) has made two videos for the songs "Burning Eden" and "Numb (The Dead)". Both videos recorded in Umeå, Sweden in January 2007, and additional photage for "Numb"during the fall. In November 2007 Jens and Jari both decided to part ways with Carnal Forge. Shortly after the replacements were found in Peter Tuthill (Vocals), and Dino Medanhodzic (Guitar).