Tim Pratt's Music Picks

Chloe Day, a Venice Beach musician with a lovely, strange, crooning voice. Her album Pixie Runaway has some beautiful stuff on it, especially "Spoon"

The Mountain Goats, a band with a shifting roster of performers, built around singer/songwriter John Darnielle. Weird, smart, often heartbreakingly sad lyrics, very understated instrumentation. "Woke up New" from the album Get Lonely is one of my favorite songs in the world.