An unusual CD side project built around John Garcia of Kyuss is the hard-rock record to beat in 2008. Call it sludgy, greasy, or stoner suburban, but thank Zeus for the decidedly electric stomp yard of Hermano's Into the Exam Room, a perfect fantasy soundtrack for Thor and Loki to throw down to in a Ralph Bakshi animated ballet. Formed in 1999 with members of Supafuzz and Disengage, the band's Regain Records release is a hair-raising psychedelic dream, a real headbanger awash in the earthy musk of Eddie Hazel, Slash, Black Sabbath, Warrior Soul, Alice in Chains, Zodiac Mindwarp, and the Butthole Surfers.

If your modern-day boogie leans deep into the heart-pumping grooves of Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Electric Six, The Rapture, The Teddybears, or Hot Hot Heat, take a little time-traveling trip next week and discover the roots on Strut Records' fantastic new-wave compilation Disco Not Disco. Opening with Vivien Goldman's classic "Launderette," the dub rumble is a perfect moment in time, built on a bass line by George Oban of Aswad with guest alchemists Robert Wyatt, On-U-Sound's Adrian Sherwood, and Steve Beresford of the Flying Lizards. Crazy about that roller-coaster bass shimmy? Long before riot-grrrl made its mark, the girlfriends of the up-and-coming Mekons pulled together to form the seminal Delta 5, represented here with the wickedly anti-posh "Mind Your Own Business," utilizing two bass guitars and plenty of mad moxie. And it just keeps getting better, flowing into a 12-inch edit of Shriekback's "My Spine Is the Bassline" from 1982, a sweaty club favorite featuring XTC's Barry Andrews and Gang of Four bassist Dave Allen. America is represented in a handful of nice picks: "Sharevari" from A Number of Names, "Contort Yourself" from New York City's no-wave saxophone prince James Chance & The Blacks, and Bill Laswell's Material collective and its "dance version" of "Lose Control," featuring Chic drummer Tony Thompson. The 14-track CD features extensive liner notes by historian Bill Brewster, author of the terrific book Last Night a DJ Saved My Life.

With so many recent pop albums offering up only one or two decent, memorable songs and top-selling artists taking years upon years between mediocre releases, it's no surprise that music continues to slide into nothing more than computer files shared between MP3 players, personal computers, and 10-cent blank CDs. Not to sound like a crusty ol' curmudgeon, but sheeeee-it, I can feel my cerebellum shake when I think that over the course of 28 months, from August of 1965 to November of 1967, the Beatles released Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Magical Mystery Tour. Imagine my joy, when my teenage son's pals' Christmas wish lists are yearning for "real" copies of The White Album or gift certificates to buy "classic" used vinyl LPs at the ever-dwindling local record store. Wanna save American youth? Pick up any working turntables you might come across at yard sales, and place them at the feet of the next generation.

Punk rockers old and new can get their literary fix in four terrific new books that revel in the spirit, the lifestyle, and the humor of banging the drum their own way. It's not a sex confessional, but the spurts and snorts of My First Time are just as charged with sweaty adolescent discovery. Originally conceived as a small-run fanzine and now expanded into a full book from the AK Press, editor Chris Duncan invited more than 40 rock writers, artists, band members, and fans to share their first-punk-show stories. Not merely recollections of the concerts themselves, each tale is more the story of where the author was in life at that time, the cultural and social zeitgeist, and the often-hilarious anecdotes of getting to that show. Highlights include passages by Jack Rabid, Blag Dahlia, Jade Tree Records' co-founder Darren Walters, Joe Queer of The Queers, and scene historian George Hurchalla.