If the rest of STEPHEN MALKMUS' new album is as good as ''Baby C'mon'' — a honeyed melody textured by fuzzy guitar chords — we'll be more than happy to Face the Truth. MATADORRECORDS.COM

JOE PERNICE takes a break from the Pernice Brothers' lush pop with the solo song ''Moonshot Manny.'' It's a tightly wound electro ode to Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox — and a real home run. PERNICEBROTHERS.COM

You'd almost have to be Bulletproof to survive in a guy-dominated field like DJing. No wonder DJ RAP, whose upcoming CD can be downloaded at EMUSIC.COM, produces her own tracks. Talk about a hotshot.

PITTY SING's spare, gloomy ''Aphrodite'' will take you back to 4AD — you know, the record label that brought us Dead Can Dance, whose dark atmospherics helped us get our mope on back in the '80s. ITUNES.COM