• Kung Fu Records has just released the first in its new independent feature-length film series, That Darn Punk, on home video. The movie is a truly homegrown project, recorded on film - not video - with a bare-bones budget of $20,000.

• As a connoisseur of interesting cover versions, I raise my glass and invite you drink deep from the new Face To Face collection, Standards & Practices, just released on the Vagrant label. Uncovering the band's personal guilty-pleasure nuggets from the new-wave 1980s and more contemporary influences is a real treat on this one - tearing into blistering renditions of selections like The Smiths' "What Difference Does It Make," the Pixies' "Planet of Sound," the Pogues' "Sunny Side of the Street," and the Jam's excellent "That's Entertainment.

Back when MTV weaved its way into the cable-ready homes of America in 1981, the industry machine of producing music videos was just beginning, and if you were there in those early broadcast hours, you surely remember the strange flow of primitive imagery that made the magic box such a mesmerizing experience.

Lots of Pavement fans are whetting their whistles as the first new solo music from band founder Stephen Malkmus hit the street this past week. I really like the new tracks I've heard from the just released Discretion Grove EP - definitely made to be played loud - so warm up those speakers, kids! Malkmus' new identity as a solo artist is staked out February 13 when Matador Records releases the new full-length album, which might or might not be entitled Swedish Reggae.