The six members of Sleeper Agent are taking on giants with their cover of Blondie’s classic “One Way Or Another.” What do you do when standing toe-to-toe with Debbie Harry on her home turf? You pick up the pace, kick up the fuzz and wail your hearts out. Harry’s powerful, razor-sharp vocals are replaced here by Alex Kandel’s snarling yowl while the group fills in behind with filthy guitar licks and frenetic drums beats. It’s not measured and commanding like Blondie’s original tune, but instead is straight up, in-your-face and absolutely uncontrollable.

Sleeper Agent are heading into the studio this year to record the follow up to their 2011 debut, Celabrasion.

STREAM: Sleeper Agent – “One Way Or Another (Blondie Cover)”

After an extended period of silence, Jamie Isaac will be putting out a proper release this year in the form of his debut EP, I Will Be Cold Soon. Last April Isaac gave an interview for DIY in which he stated that he wanted to take 2012 to, “solidify further how [he] wants [his] music to evolve.” Based on “Softly Draining Seas,” he spent that time well. Complete with percussion that brings back memories of LCD’s “Dance Yrself Clean” and piano chords/vocals that would make even James Blake pause and applaud, “Softly Draining Seas” is a beautiful piece asserting Isaac’s impending arrival. Stream it below.

STREAM: Jamie Isaac – “Softly Draining Seas”

Ty Segall has been called a “garage-punk prodigy” and a “San Francisco psych wunderkind,” an “ultra-prolific” “lo-fi rocker” with a “distinct talent for crafting really catchy vocal hooks.” Today though, he set aside those catchy vocals, kicked his lo-fi vibe into overdrive and teamed up with fellow Californians Chad & The Meatbodies to create a split benefit single. Segall’s half of the split, “Music For A Film 1,” is a classic rock’n’roll-gone-wild instrumental with heavily layered percussion and incremental gnarly guitar shredding that proves as well as refutes the many monikers of this Bay Area “living legend.”

Proceeds from the single, the seventh in the Less Artists More Condos series, will go to the Ariel Panero Memorial Fund at VH1 Save the Music, a nonprofit dedicated to instrumental music education in public schools. A veritable rock star AND charitable? “Wunderkind” indeed.

STREAM: Ty Segall – “Music For A Film 1″

Lost Boy’s home recordings are full of lo-fi charm. His creative output is relentless; often recording several songs per month, he’s a music machine assembly line with a distinct, in-your-face falsetto. There’s a certain depth to his compositions, despite being only one man with an 8-track recorder.

Check out “Chew”, the first single off of his debut album, due out later this year. The video will send you on a cosmic journey to the center of the lo-fi universe.

MP3: Lost Boy – “Chew”

There are some songs by Boston’s You Won’t that should be too big for two people to pull off. Yet they pull them off anyway. And then there are songs like their cover of Tall Dwarfs’ track “All My Hollowness To You” that show how precise and expressive the duo can be using the barest of tools. To the tune of just a marching guitar riff and sparse drums for accent, singer Josh Arnoudse’s fuzzy vocal belts those romantic lines, “I want to screw you/ I wish I could get through to you/ There’s nothing more that I want out of you.” There’s a great urgency and energy in the bare-bones track, and a fair amount of fuck-it-all as well. And who can resist that?

You Won’t are planning to start recording new tracks this summer (they are playing some new ones on the current tour opening for The Joy Formidable) for a new record sometime in 2014.

STREAM: You Won’t – “All My Hollowness To You”

For the last several years Smiths fans craving new tunes had to make do with the crooning of Morrisey’s solo project. At long last Johnny Marr, the other piece of the Smiths’ signature sound, has strapped on his guitar, and this time it isn’t to back up Isaac Brock in Modest Mouse. “Upstarts” is the first glimpse at Marr’s upcoming “debut” album, The Messenger, and careful listeners will hear his fingerprints on every riff. The video is a simple live performance piece featuring nothing but Marr and his band in an empty airplane hanger. His jangly, echoed strumming is out in full force, though this time he’s backed by a dancy high hat/snare backbeat as he lays out some easygoing, driving-fast-in-the-summer-sun vocals.

The Messenger comes out February 25th via Warner Bros.

Williamsburg’s Cameo Gallery – one of Brooklyn’s odder spaces, accessible only through the back of the Lovin’ Cup cafe – hosted Dawn Landes on April 14, but for me the real story was in first-opener Donora. The Pittsburgh trio turned up the reverb and gave every 80s baby ample reason to rock out that night.

Powered by a bass and guitar sound that’d be at home on a Cranberries record (or Wish-era Cure), the group worked through a good deal of their 2011 release, Boyfriends and Girlfriends, while also playing some tracks from their self-titled debut. Live they carry over all of the cuteness and sweetness from their recordings while adding an irrepressible energy. A lot of this has to do with lead vocalist Casey Hanner, who’s quite an expressive singer, but additionally the rhythms move faster, everything is louder, and from first note to last it’s hard not to break out into a huge smile. It’s even harder not to dance.

On one hand I think they’d be well served to bring a fourth musician to play the old school Casio keys from the record, but on the other it’s entertaining to watch drummer Jake Hanner and his epic beard play a sampler as if it were just another piece of his kit. From the big-time, anthemic, built-for-singalongs chorus in “Boom Boom” to the softly whispered verses of “Shhh,” Donora’s music is fun, engaging, and makes for a terrific show.

STREAM: Donora – “Boom Boom”

Those well-versed in the ways of DC indie rock have come across Mercies at one point or another. My first experience with the band — made up of guitarist John Russell, bassist Justin Hunter Scott and drummer Ezra Finney — was at a house show in Petworth a month back, where they won me over pretty quickly with their sweat-drenched garage rock. Mercies’ new EP, This Is Not About Control, captures the trio’s energy in full lo-fi glory. Those of you living in the District should mark May 11th on your calendars, when the band will be returning to the local live circuit with yet another house show, details on which can be found here. Listen to This Is Not Control below and check out the EP artwork after the jump.

STREAM: Mercies – This Is Not About Control

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This isn’t the first time I’ve written about MMOTHS and I have a feeling it won’t be the last. Last time MMOTHS appeared here on ATG was with his collaboration with Keep Shelly in Athens. This time, he’s enlisted the help of LA dream-pop wizards Superhumanoids on a new track, “Summer.” The song is laidback and atmospheric yet at the same time driven by a heavily percussive beat. The song’s title is an ironic one considering how depressing the lyrical content is. Listen for yourself below.

STREAM: MMOTHS – “Summer (Feat. Superhumanoids)”

Nite Jewel is the alias of L.A. artist, musician, singer-songwriter Ramona Gonzalez. Her sophomore effort, One Second Of Love, is another sexy, shimmery journey through synth-heavy nu-disco-girl-pop. Above is the brand new video for the album’s title track. It may be the perfect antidote to the temptations of psychedelics and dissociatives, because I can’t think of a better way to describe this visual short than as the cinematic embodiement of a strange and horrible acid trip. One Second of Love, is out March 6th on Secretly Canadian.

STREAM: Nite Jewel – “One Second Of Love”