Spike Jonze commissioned Karen O, frontwoman of Yeah Yeah Yeahs to put together the original score for his big-screen adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are. She soon set about recruiting an army of helpers: fellow YYY members Brian Chase and Nick Zinner are on board, as is Deerhunter/Atlas Sound fellow Bradford Cox, plus Jack Lawrence and Dean Fertita of Dead Weather / The Raconteurs, Liars’ Aaron Hemphill and Lily Allen production fame. Pfew, what a line–up! The result is a beautiful and really sweet soundtrack that can easily be listened to outside the context of the movie.

We’ve mentioned AU before here at Indie Thursday. And we’ve good reason for doing so. The band played a magnificent show at Incubate 2009. From their first note on, it immediately was apparent that AU live is a completely other experience than AU on an album. When playing live, songs tend to be built up around suspense and rhythm rather than melody and atmosphere. What we’re getting at is that the band just released a new EP capturing this live sound. It’s called Versions and it’s a lot more energetic and louder than their other releases, while maintaining their pretty melodies. It’s recommended!

Last but definitely not least are The Renderers. Hailing form Christchurch, New Zealand, this band formed in 1989. They’ve got the whole psychedelic 60’s sound going on, but in an utterly good way! With great songs to match their great tunes, this band already measures itself a cult status, and definitely deserves more praise than they’re getting right now. Make sure to catch their new album, Monsters and Miasmas.