BEAR HANDS (unsigned, unpublished) -- Brooklyn's Bear Hands is a group that's been around since 2006-ish (we were first schooled on them by our friends at Oh My Rockness in '07)... Their sound? Hmm... Cold War Kids playing Pavement covers. With a couple of guys from Hockey jamming alongside them. For the masses? Not so much. Do we think they could sell 50,000 albums? Maybz. Are we personal fans? Fer sure. The band is gonna tour the UK for a couple weeks in June and then open for Passion Pit in NYC June 19. Our money is on the band being scooped up by a label before then.

THREE RADIO STATIONS DROP 'NEW MUSIC' THIS WEEK -- Lousy news for new music fans (and the music industry in general) - Eighteen-year Alternative-formatted KWOD Sacramento has flipped to an 'all '90s' format. After 13 years as an Alt-outlet, WMFS Memphis pulled the plug and has begun simulcasting ESPN Radio. Alternative WSWD Cincinnati cleared out the Alt-Rock so that station owner Bonneville can switch Country WYGY over to the stronger WSWD signal. What did they put in the Country station's place? An '80s-based AC station - "Rewind 94.9, Feel-Good Favorites From the '80s and More."

UPCOMING L.A. AREA SHOWS OF NOTE:

May 27 -- Michael Miller - Crane's
May 30 -- Samantha Crain - Spaceland
Jun 1 -- Oliver Future - The Echo
Jun 1 -- Castledoor - Spaceland
Jun 3 -- Carina Round (9p), Butterfly Boucher (10p), Meiko (11p) - Hotel Cafe
Jun 4 -- The Parson Red Heads - Spaceland
Jun 10 -- Susie Suh - Hotel Cafe
Jun 16 -- Miike Snow - Spaceland
Jun 17 -- Loquat - Viper Room
Jun 19 -- The Blood Arm - The Echo
Jun 19 -- Emily Wells - Hotel Cafe
Jul 1 -- The Tender Box - Viper Room

MICHAEL MILLER (unsigned, unpublished) -- Los Angeles singer-songwriter Michael Miller is gearing up to independently release his new album titled, I Made You Up, and we got an advance copy - it's fuckin' fantastic. It's deep. It's rich. It's the best 'Sunday morning coffee-and-newspaper' album we've heard in a few years. He's got some songs posted on his MySpace page - check 'em out. Michael is playing with a full band at Crane's in Hollywood on May 27. Go see him. We'll be there too. Michael doesn't have management either, so if you're a label or publisher, and you'd like some MP3's sent to you, we'd be happy to hook it up - E-mail us and we'll get some your way.

UPCOMING L.A. SHOWS OF NOTE:

May 8 -- Bob Schneider - Key Club
May 8 -- Aushua - Spaceland
May 13 -- Castaneda - Dakota Lounge (fmrly. Temple Bar)
May 14 -- Hensley - Hotel Cafe
May 20 -- Fitz & The Tantrums - Viper Room
May 21 -- Dynamite Walls - Viper Room
May 22 -- Ragsy - Hotel Cafe
May 27 -- Carina Round - Hotel Cafe

PAN AMERICA (unsigned, unpublished) -- We first featured Los Angeles band Pan America in February of 2007. After some time apart and some lineup changes, the band is back with some FANTASTIC new songs. The five-piece certainly sits at Jimmy Eat World's table in the high school cafeteria, but there's something a bit more mature about their songwriting/song structure. This stuff is REALLY radio-ready, folks. Time to address this band. Seriously. E-mail talentfilter@gmail.com if you'd like more info.

THE TEMPER TRAP TO GLASSNOTE -- A little birdie tells us that the label derby for Melbourne, Australia buzz band The Temper Trap has gone to Daniel Glass' Glassnote Records. Quite the coup for Daniel and his crew, as virtually every major label (and a handful of other indies) had a deal on the table. Rumor has it the band is licensing their record to Glassnote and chose not to enter into a 360 partnership.