Who: Sydney, Australia dance-punk duo the Presets, whose second album Apocalypso has proven to have more staying power on the Aussie charts than Madonna and Mariah.

Sounds Like: The Rapture with an army of '80s synths. On Apocalyspo, the Presets revel in the darker, more cosmic realm of dance music while still having fun and involuntarily getting people in the mood to move. There's also punk and new wave elements, but just don't call them "Indietronica." "I kind of hate that term," says vocalist/keyboardist Julian Hamilton.

Vital Stats:

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Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet. This week: a few choice picks from some buzzworthy acts on the Hype Monitor.

The Band: J*Davey
The Buzz: LA electro/soul combo smoke up a sequencer and sigh over the resulting beats.
Listen If: You wish the new Erykah Badu record was longer, or you miss old, weird Prince.
Key Track: "Turn the Lights Out," which delivers big streaks of synth and pulsing rhythms.

The Band: Dead Heart Bloom
The Buzz: Brainchild of singer/songwriter Boris Skalsky, DHB deliver giant-sized guitar noise topped with gianter-size religious cynicism.
Listen If: You think the National and American Music Club are upbeat.
Key Track: "Come Back," a sublime combination of dour, druggy vocals and corkscrewing guitars. It couldn't be easier to hear, either: the band is giving away their entire EP for free.

The Band: Chris Letcher
The Buzz: South African Singer/Songwriter crafts songs that sound like dawn: low and creaky, slowly building to a big burst of light.
Listen If: You're a sucker for tricky orchestration, pleading vocals and big theatrical flourishes. Or you kinda like Arcade Fire.
Key Track: "Deep Frieze," which opens with a twinkle and crescendos with a great boom.

Who: Indie-pop chanteuse Lykke Li, a worldly Swede whose infectious debut Youth Novels was buzzing long before its Stateside release in May.

Sounds Like: Dance music with a devilish wink. With production by Bjorn Yttling, Youth Novels’ sugary pop, biting lyrics and breathy vocals make heartbreak sound sweet. “I just do music, I don’t know where it comes from or what it is,” says Li, whose influences include Madonna, Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan and hip-hop, of her spontaneous blend. “It just is.”

Vital Stats:

• The daughter of "free-minded old hippies," as she calls her parents, Li, 22, grew up between Stockholm, Sweden, and a mountaintop home in the South of Portugal where “You can grow weed in the backyard,” she recalls of her unconventional upbringing. “Maybe you’re not allowed to say that?”

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Alejandro Escovedo's latest album Real Animal earned three and a half stars in our latest issue (out tomorrow!), and critic Will Hermes writes, "as a solo artist, [Escovedo]'s transcended labels, and his latest is a chrome-bright autobiographical song cycle with flashbacks that roar into the present." Sample the goodness for yourself: here's "Real as an Animal - Live From Sirius Satellite Radio":

Click above to watch the premiere of the Duke Spirit's new video for "Lassoo," which was shot live at London's 229 Club in November 2007. And here's a bonus! When the English rockers were in New York recently, Rolling Stone chased them downtown to a park and got them to play two acoustic tunes for us. To watch videos of those performances, click below:

"The Step and the Walk" live in NYC

"Dog Roses" live in NYC

While we had the Duke Spirit in our clutches, we asked them about the songs they'd performed, and what songs they like to perform to.

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The Band: Ladyhawke
The Buzz: Pouty New Zealand chanteuse (real name: Pip Brown) stimulates your Lauper gland.
Listen If: You can complete this lyric: "I remember hating you for loving me/Riding on the __________."
Key Track: "Back of the Van," a song so terrifically '80s you can almost taste the Aqua Net.

The Band: Tanya Morgan
The Buzz: Never mind the name — Tanya Morgan is a hip-hop trio with an affinity for soul breaks, big beats and complex, conscious lyrics.
Listen If: You can name the four essential elements of hip-hop, and you're bummed that most popular rappers cannot.
Key Track: "Threemcees," which introduces the world to the concept of a "bi-polar bear." Which is perhaps a distant relative to the "Hypochondrioctopus"?

The Band: Black Ghosts
The Buzz: London electro duo gaining traction thanks to a recent Diplo remix.
Listen If: You used to play Colecovision just for the soundtracks.
Key Track: That Diplo remix of "Repetition Kills You," which twists the band's bright bounce down 10 octaves until it sounds like something from Violator.

Who: Seattle's harmonic five piece Fleet Foxes, who follow-up a critically-acclaimed EP and intense live performances with their self-titled debut album.

Sounds Like: A mixture of fellow Sub Poppers Band of Horses and Iron & Wine, Fleet Foxes create harmonic pop jams. Think CSNY performing Pet Sounds. "I'm just a sucker for harmonies," says frontman Robin Pecknold.

Vital Stats:

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Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet. This week: a few choice picks from the charts at BlogFreshRadio.

The Band: Cool Kids
The Buzz: Chicago duo do old-school hip-hop with pride, passion and plenty of punchlines.
Listen If: You also miss the sound of an 808, and prefer T La Rock to T-Pain.
Key Track: "What it Is" off the upcoming Bake Sale EP, where the pair freewheel over a track that would do Eric B proud.

The Band: White Williams
The Buzz: Weirdo electro new wave with pitch-bent vocals, LED synths and whole canyons of empty space.
Listen If: You find yourself saying the words "Man, Tubeway Army were so underrated" with alarming frequency.
Key Track: "Violator," whose twinkling electronics and strange spirals of sound will probably make your calculator and your microwave amorous.

The Band: Young Knives
The Buzz: Hip-dork Brit band overloads songs with words, riffs.
Listen If: You really could have used the concept of the "hip dork" 10 or 15 years ago.
Key Track: "Up All Night," where guitars zig-zag over bouncing-ball bass and Henry Dartnell's self-aware Cockney pout.

[Photo: Getty]

Who: Rap-rock six piece Flobots, a Denver collective led by self-described "Jesus meets Huey P. Newton" emcee Jonny 5.

Sounds Like: Linkin Park with Rage Against the Machine's Zach de la Rocha and his political leanings at the microphone and a violinist building the tension. Jonny 5 raps about topics like human rights, globalization and drug legalization on the band's major label debut Fight with Tools.

Vital Stats:

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Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet. This week: a few choice picks from the charts at BlogFreshRadio.

The Band: Mates of State
The Buzz: Connecticut lovebirds write sweet, sunny pop songs.
Listen If: You believe in domestic bliss and the power of a solid melody.
Key Track: "Get Better," a heavenly slow-burner full of ambling piano and sawing violins that blossoms into a 70mm hyper-color chorus

The Band: Bodies of Water
The Buzz: Spiritual collective rewrites the hymnal to incorporate prog, freakfolk.
Listen If: You have a soft spot for church music, and you would've liked Polyphonic Spree if they weren't so f@#&in' happy.
Key Track: "Under the Pines" from the group's forthcoming record finds them embracing their '70s rock impulses, opening with pipe organ and winding its way through long, knotty passages.

The Band: Sigur Ros
The Buzz: Eerie Icelandic orch-poppers refine their sensibilities and create brisk, crackling pop.
Listen If: You're attending a pot-luck seance, or you're looking to score a YouTube video where everyone rides bicycles through a series of caves.
Key Track: "Gobbledigook," a dark, breezy number powered by palpitating percussion and lit up with occasional orchestral filigrees. It's the sound of sorcery.

[Photo: Crackerfarm]