On the same day that America inaugurates Barack Obama as its new president, A.C. Newman will be releasing his new solo album, 'Get Guilty.' But Newman, leader of Canadian indie rockers the New Pornographers, isn't worried about sharing the glory with the President-elect .

"It's a nice coincidence," Newman tells Spinner about the January 20th release date. "It's nice to have a little footnote there."

For 'Get Guilty,' his second solo release, Newman enlisted some additional help from Mates of State as well as Superchunk's Jon Wurster. "I think this record is maybe a little more rock," Newman says. "I think I wasn't afraid to be a little bit more ragged."

As for his main gig, New Pornographers fans can expect more from them in the coming year. "I don't really think of my solo records as a separate career or anything," Newman says. "I think I'll probably concentrate on the New Pornographers."

Don't call Ryan Adams Ryan Adams. That is if you're referencing his work with the Cardinals. In an interview with Spinner after the band's performance for AOL Sessions, Adams lamented that the group's previous albums, including the most recent, 'Cardinology,' says "Ryan Adams and the Cardinals" because of the record label.

"People really don't understand [that] I'm just in the band," he tells Spinner. "I don't do s---, I don't run anything. They're just using my name because somebody thinks I had some level of success, which is such f---ing total bulls---. No one knows who the f--- I am. That's why they go, 'Bryan Adams?'"

With their mix of acid, dub, jazz, downtempo, bossa nova, Brazilian, Indian, trip-hop and beyond, Thievery Corporation create music for the person who claims, "I like a little bit of everything."

Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, the D.C. duo better known as known as Thievery
Corporation, have six albums under their belt, including high-profile
soundtrack placements on 'Garden State' and 'Vanilla Sky.' The album 'Radio
Retaliation' is their most recent and most focused effort to date, with
guest appearances from Femi Kuti, Seu Jorge and many others, with each
collaboration bringing the songs' vibe to the forefront thanks to the near-perfect casting of roles for the album.

"We have some higher tempo ranges than previous albums, Thievery Corporation multi-instrumentalist Eric Hilton tells Spinner. "Lyrically, 'Radio Retaliation' is much more urgent.

As a member of the New Cars back in 2006, musician/producer Todd Rundgren was expecting that their tour would last about a year-and-a-half. Instead it got postponed when guitarist Elliot Easton broke his collarbone in a bus accident. That left Rundgren with the possibility of no work for the summer, so he assembled his own band and toured Canada.

"The response to the stripped down guitar-oriented approach," he tells Spinner, "was so enthusiastic, that I continued to do it. When it came time to make another record I figured I should probably for once play along with expectations and to continue to focus on the guitar."

The result became 'Arena,' Rundgren's latest record, which is sort of a back-to-basics rock album from an artist known more for his avant-garde and uncommercial approach to music in the last 20 years. He references his former '70s progressive rock band Utopia in which he was its lead singer and guitar player. "Since Utopia broke up in the mid-'80s," he says. "I hadn't really assumed that role very often. It represents something of a return though we're not doing the same kind of music."

All work and no play makes Airborne Toxic Event ... just fine, actually. Beginning Nov. 1, the band played 30 gigs in 30 days in the UK -- a schedule likely to ensure a breakdown or two, be it equipment or mental. But not necessarily so with these L.A. rockers.

"The first week was all adrenaline," singer/guitarist Mikel Jollett tells Spinner. "The second week, we hit a lull and by the third, we were just loopy." "We had pretty much lost it," jokes drummer Daren Taylor. While keeping it together, the fivesome maintained a healthy level of sarcasm, even in the case of their lone female member, violist Anna Bulbrook. "At this point, she can hold her own in a s--- talking session with anyone," says Jollett.

Franz Ferdinand just wrapped up a brief string of U.S. dates in support of their third album, 'What She Came For,' due in January, but the Scottish four-piece will be back soon.

While the band will likely be doing promo spots on late night television upon their return this Spring, one place you probably won't catch them is on 'Dancing With the Stars,' even if the program borrowed their 2004 hit single 'Take Me Out' for a celebrity rumba earlier this fall.

"Really?" guitarist Nick McCarthy guffawed when Spinner clued him in. "I think it's absolutely hilarious. We still see ourselves as left of center and it's always quite funny to be on like ultra mainstream TV. I like it!"

The Flaming Lips brought their seven-years-in-the-making interstellar vision of 'Christmas on Mars' to life on film this year. Today, frontman Wayne Coyne explains to Spinner why Christmas matters, but this time a little closer to home.

Reason No. 12:
Smiling triggers a release of endorphins. Smiling is contagious. And smiling almost always makes your face look better. Christmas makes you smile!

Reason No. 11:
Santa! Elves! Reindeer! Trees! Snow! Presents! Misletoe! Music! Lights! Food! Parties! Who needs religion?! Christmas shows that generosity and sympathy for suffering are reasons to believe in humans, not gods.

Reason No. 10:
We forget how lucky we are to live in a world where almost anything we want to eat at any time -- regardless of how exotic -- is available. Christmas gives us an opportunity see once again how simple and pleasurable human existence can be. Remember "food made with care always has the flavor of love." Didn't Padma Lakshmi say that?

Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips counts down his twelve reasons why Christmas matters. Missed reasons twelve through seven? Find them here.

Reason No. 6:
When I was 6 years old, my older brothers told me that Santa Claus was not real. I said, "What do you mean he's not real? I see him everywhere I go." And they replied, "That's just your dad or some guy at the store dressing up like him." For a brief moment I despaired, but I quickly recovered and thought, "If there is no real Santa, then maybe we could all be Santa. That way we don't really have to wait for him to drive all the way down from the North Pole. We'll just be him right now." And so maybe Santa himself is not real, but we can easily make the idea of Santa real.

Reason No. 5:
We have sympathy for those humans that are suffering. We also have sympathy for all the creatures of the world that might be suffering. There is a mechanism within the human mind that allows us to have a psychic "oneness" with the people and animals around us. If we are lucky, they are happy and healthy and in turn make us, in a psychic sense, happier and healthier. But when we are around those who are suffering, we have a psychic suffering as well. So we want to relieve their suffering because it relieves our suffering.

Reason. No. 4:
We get to look at colored lights in the darkness of winter. It is a great coincidence that as our days -- in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway -- get shorter we battle back with artificial light. And so, as we all cooperate by adding our own little light into this cold, dark world, we transform this bleak void into a place of hope and wonder.

Reason No. 3:
To be hopeful and to be happy -- these are strange, silent sensations that seem to happen only in our minds. But as Christmastime proves, it is a contagious way of being. To show each other that we believe in each other is an energizing event. To be in the company of other humans who are being optimistic and enthusiastic is like a form of real magic! Anything is possible!

Reason No. 2:
Christmas celebrations encompass all the wonders of our natural world. It is full of animals, trees and even weather. So even if there are not humans in our life to give love to, we can always give love to animals, give love to trees and plants, and we can always have experiences that illuminate the grandeur of existence by simply realizing how helpless we are to the patterns of our planet.

Reason No. 1:
It shows us and proves to us the power of giving love. We sometimes think it's about giving gifts, but what the gift represents is love. And so, to some, it's awkward and maybe for some it is even embarrassing, but you see, it's the giver who is actually getting the greatest gift. So we set aside this day to have this powerful interaction with the people around us. If we did not get to do it once a year, our world, as we would eventually see, would not have experiences with "giving love" and the human race would slowly evolve back to its medieval nature.

--Wayne Coyne

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An impressive A-list of indie darlings, including My Morning Jacket, Beirut, the Arcade Fire, Cat Power and Spoon form the track list for the latest Red Hot compilation album, 'Dark Was the Night,' due out in February. Produced by brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the National, the compilation marks a noticeable departure from the mainstream focus of all the previous Red Hot discs.

It will include a number of unique collaborations between indie artists including Feist with Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Animal Collective's Grizzly Bear (individually), as well as Dirty Projectors with David Byrne, the Books with Jose Gonzalez, Blonde Redhead with Devastations, and Conor Oberst with Gillian Welch.

There's a lot to be down about these days, but indie-pop duo Peachcake is determined to lift the world's spirits, one city at a time. The group's quest for global cheer-ification begins on the streets of Los Angeles.

Vocalist Stefan Pruett tells Spinner, "The video captures Peachcake's pursuit to bring forth free art to the citizens of Los Angeles (and soon the entire earth) in hopes that it will inherently lift spirits, liven hearts, and revive exuberance in their daily quests and trajectory! Greatness abound, from the weirdos of the Planet Awesome."

See it all unfold in the 'Souls Have No Drum Machine' video premiere.