• The Little Ones: "Lovers Who Uncover"
• The Little Ones: "Cha Cha Cha"

A friend IM'd to me the MySpace page of a band called The Little Ones. An LA band. The MySpace music player started into "Lovers Who Uncover" and before the song had ended I was on the band's website and ordering a copy of its upcoming EP (that will ship on April 10th). Yes, the song is that immediate, that likeable, with the kind of pop smarts that make The Shins so lovable. A few bars of handclaps and a "Hey! Hey! Hey" shoutalong are the icing on the cake. The band's singer/guitarist, Ed Reyes, was formerly of Sunday's Best (which had albums out on Polyvinyl). The Little Ones' new EP, to be released on Branches Recording Collective, was recorded by David Newton (of The Mighty Lemon Drops) and mixed by Tony Lash (member of Heatmiser).

• Tsotsi soundtrack

"Tsotsi," a South African film set in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, won the the Oscar for best foreign language film. The soundtrack was released in February by Milan Records and predominantly features the music of kwaito star Zola (who also starred in the film). The film's website has a page with album streams. Zola's site has a downloads page has an MP3 player with song clips. Here's a RA stream of Zola freestyling.