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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: Wale The Buzz: DC rapper with nimble flow nips funk and go-go, proving brainy and fun aren't mutually exclusive. Listen If: You used to go straight from debate meets to nightclub teen nights. Key Track: "D.C. Gorillaz," with it's wise-ass chorus, "You ain't got a chance, if you ain't got a dance." Wale's Seinfeld-sampling Mixtape About Nothing is available for free at elitaste.com. The Band: A-Trak The Buzz: Kanye's touring DJ nets a Nike mixtape and a tiny sliver of the spotlight. Listen If: You fully believe in the ability of synthesizers to be funky. Key Track: "Say Whoa," which is that "Oh Yeah" song from Ferris Bueller updated for the 21st Century. The Band: Seun Kuti The Buzz: Son of Afrobeat great carries on father's legacy, band, sound. Listen If: Two drums are two too few, and you often fantasize about creating a James Brown marching band. Key Track: "Mosquito Song," where scurrying percussion and hazy brass wrestle for supremacy against a busy, bobbing bassline.

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 drummer Kim Moyes. Vital Stats:

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?”

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":