"How do I say this diplomatically? I don't love everything I hear," Mayer writes on his blog. "I think that's fair to say. When I hear something I do love, it stands out. And if it's in the singer/songwriter genre, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Dave Barnes is that sore thumb. My thumb aches for Dave Barnes (one word: T-Shirt!). I was trolling the internet a while back – for songs – and came across a tune of his called 'Grace's Amazing Hands' and I was immediately floored."

"Dave and I have kept up over the years, but it took listening to his tunes recently to realize that I've been comatose when it comes to calling out his name in public... He's one of those rare talents that comes so complete out of the box that you can't ask to change a thing, even if you think at first you want to. It just is – and it's great. Dave has never pounced on me, he sends his CD and then – rightfully so – let's the music do the promoting. And he's right in thinking it works. Even though I'm late as hell in responding."

His new album is called "Me and You and The World", and it's so up and coming, it's both in the iTunes top10 right now, AND it only costs $5.99. If you're into the John Mayer/smooth voice/r&b over acoustic guitar thing, you should definitely grab this one.

This week's iTunes Editor's Music Choice is a band out of of San Antonio, Texas called "Girl in a Coma". Inspirations here are immediately apparent as the lead singer sounds like a female Morrisey, while the band name draws from the name of a famous Smiths song.

The album is well done top to bottom. Surprisingly sophisticated chord progressions, nearly perfect vocals, fantastic harmonies. I'd start with "Their Cell", my favorite track.

The album, "Both Before I'm Gone" is on sale this week only for $5.99.

iTunes is having a fantastic sale right now where albums of up-and-coming artists are available for $5.99 and $6.99.

Two of my favorites in this group come from the genre of "modern chick music", which isn't quite as angry as Lilith-Fair-era chick music, but is also just girly enough to struggle in crossover success into the male audiences.

1. Missy Higgins - On a Clear Night

I've loved Missy for what seems like ages, when she won a songwriting competition in high school and became a breakout success at the age of 16. She's Australian and absolutely huge over there. Here, her songs pepper the Grey's Anatomy soundtracks, but she hasn't had much radio play.

The striking thing about Missy is her voice. The Australian accent mixed with the strong, but still breathiness of her dark alto is undeniably awesome. "On a Clear Night" is the name of her new album for $6.99. Stand-out tracks are the quietly morose "Where I Stood", the jubilant "Steer" and the dainty "Sugarcane".

But if you want a song that will absolutely melt your girly heart, go check out "The Special Two" from her first album. About a girl who surprised herself by cheating on the love of her life, you'll be shocked she wrote this when she was 16.

Grab Missy Higgins' "On a Clear Night" for $6.99

2. Meiko - Meiko


Meiko (despite its spelling, pronounced "meek-koh") is one of those MySpace success stories. Still an independent artists, she's done very well on iTunes, keeping the #1 folk record for several consecutive months. I'm not sure I would classify her as folk, but who can figure out what folk really means these days?

The great thing about the album is that there's no laziness. It's quality songwriting and production all the way through. Stand-out track for me is "How Lucky We Are" which was apparently originally called "Sh*tty Apartment" but changed for the album release.

The self-titled album Meiko is an absolute steal at $5.99.

1. Cut Copy - Lights & Music
I'm ridiculously pleased that this is the free song of the week, since I was prepping an article on Cut Copy anyway. They released their new album, "In Ghost Colours" last week and tempted by the $6.99 price and great review in Spin Magazine, I downloaded. It is love.

Cut Copy's unique sound mixes elements of indie rock and dance music, and the result sounds like the soundtrack to the most raging, awesome party that you've ever wanted to throw. If you listened to New Order in the 80's, you get the general gist.

The free track and first single, "Lights & Music" is cool, but my favorite track on the album is "Feel the Love". I guarantee that it'll be showing up in a car commercial sometime soon.

So grab "Lights and Music" today for free, and if you like it, I strongly urge you to grab the whole album for $6.99.

2. Señor Flavio - Mandita
I am told that Mister Flavio, aka Flavio Cianciarulo, "is a founding member of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, one of the greatest rock bands on any continent, from any era." This track in particular is supposed to explore 80's rock, a la UB40.

I like the overall track which is upbeat and poppy with lots of hurried rhythmic lyrics. But then this rather scary man who is apparently in third-stage emphysema pops up and starts yelling angrily for the kids to get off his lawn. Or at least, that's what it sounds like. It's in Spanish, I can't tell. It's not for me, but maybe you'll enjoy it...

Good Charlotte. Lessee, what do I know about them? I know that like five years ago they were one of the first emo bands. They were all cute and young, and had huge hits like "Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous".

Then they disappeared for a while. I think they did another album, but nobody listened to it. Word was that they messed around too much with their sound, and lost their core fanbase. Plus they were growing up and getting less cute, which never helps.

Their recent album is back to basics, retooled in a more young-adult way. So well, in fact, that now they're touring with Justin Timberlake. Good for them.

I also know that the lead singer, Joel Madden, was dating Hillary Duff for a while, but then got Nicole Ritchie preggers. Are they engaged now, or what? And isn't Joel's brother in the band? What celebrity is he knocking up?

Regardless, I love their new single "I Don't Wanna Be In Love". The full album, "Good Morning Revival", is also discounted at iTunes for a limited time at $7.99.

Pick up "I Don't Wanna Be In Love".
Pick up "Good Morning Revival" for $7.99.

Hold on. There's an American indie rock band that does better in the UK than in the US? Yup. They're called The Bravery and whatever oversight led to that odd discrepancy will be corrected pretty soon, since the long-due Bravery are finally burning up alternative radio waves with their new album "The Sun and the Moon".

Frankly, it's a bit shocking that The Bravery has flown under the radar for so long, since they clearly have a flair for the dramatic.

In 2005, they got into a huge fight with "The Killers". Brandon Flowers criticized them in the press saying that the Bravery were riding on their coattails, and that anyone who was once in a ska band could not be serious about New Wave music. I assume this means someone in the Bravery played in a ska band?

At the Glastonbury Festival in 2005, their set couldn't be aired on TV, since their bassist decided to take off all of his clothes, play naked, and finish off by jumping into the drumkit.

Then, at an MTV VMA after-party, while sitting with Jay-Z and Ludacris, the drummer jumped up on stage, stole the mic from the MC, and tried to rap over their music. Security rushed him and there was a big fight (the Killers happily jumped in too), and the Bravery were ousted from the party.

Conclusion? They are drama queens. But the music is still pretty groovy. Two songs off the record have hit the top 10 so far: "Believe" and "Time Won't Let Me Go".

The album is a steal right now at $7.99. Pick up "The Sun and The Moon" this week, while it's still on sale.

Artist-on-the-Rise Kate Voegele is young, hot, and was on One Tree Hill. And as we all know, that's the trifecta of success, the ultimate triple threat, that everyone in the music industry is looking for.

Turns out she's got some amazing pipes as well. Check out "Kindly Unspoken". The girl's voice is fascinating: a bit uncontrolled, definitely unique, and man can she belt. It's like searing, raw emotion in a bottle.

Kate Voegele's debut album has been hanging out in the top 10 of the iTunes charts for a while. It's now available for a limited time at the bargain price of $7.99.

Check out Kate Voegele on iTunes.

The night is planned. The dinner is cooked, the candles are lit, and you've scattered your rose petals. All that's left to do is to put on some special tunes.

You know the kind of tunes I mean. You need a smooth, soundtrack brimming with romance to complete the evening for your special someone.

Luckily, iTunes has you covered with 16 classic tracks for $6.99. All of these songs were, at one point, #1 hits on the Billboard charts.

The album includes:

• I'll Make Love to You by Boyz II Men
• Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye
• Truly by Lionel Ritchie
• More Than Words by Extreme

It's too bad the Grammy's, and even the VMAs, have neglected the "weirdest music video" category. I say this, because surely Mika's "Happy Ending" video would win it.

What did the pitch meeting for this video look like?

Producer: "So, we'll have you sleeping in a seven year old's room, and your stuffed animals will start singing to you. Then a balloon will grab you and suck you into Earth's orbit where, while wearing a hot pink blazer, you'll be serenaded by disemodied hands doing that face-talking thing from 'Labryinth'. Oh, and your shoes will be untied the entire time. It'll be a classic!"

Mika: "My shoes are untied the entire time? Do you really think people will buy that?"

Producer: "Good point. Okay, we'll make it a dream sequence then."

Trippy music video aside, you'll remember Mika from his hit "Grace Kelly" earlier this summer. In the US, he sort of disappeared off of that, but in the UK, the album went on to spin off a gazillion more #1 hits. Yes, a gazillion.

Mika himself is kind of awesome. He was an opera singer, who woke up one day and decided to go pop. All of the songs themselves have a timeless quality which will last in your music collection.

Pick up Mika's "Life in Cartoon Motion" for $7.99 on iTunes today.

If you haven't seen Flight of the Conchords on HBO, it's a bit difficult to fully describe how entertaining this show is. It's kind of...quietly hysterical.

Basically, two New Zealanders who have a band move to New York to try to make it. They have a single fan, who stalks them mercilessly. Their band manager works at the New Zealand Tourism Bureau and calls attendance at the start of every meeting consisting of the three of them. The curiously side-splitting songs their band writes are interspersed into the episodes.

And their rap names? Hiphopapotamus and Rhymenocerus.

iTunes has a free Podcast promoting Flight of the Conchords that includes a number of the music videos from the show (including the Robots one above), and the video blogs of their crazed fan Mel.

If you want a bit more, iTunes is also offering an EP collection of a number of their best full songs for $5.94.

There's pretty much no chance that you haven't heard OneRepublic's smash hit: Apologize. It's been all over the air waves this winter. I'm sure you were, like myself, captured instantly by the soaring vocals of lead vocalist Ryan Tedder. His last name is Tedder? How cute is that? With those little chubby cheeks he absolutely could be a chubby teddy bear.

I digress. OneRepublic blew up on MySpace this year, and then blew up even further under the arm of Timberland. Personally, I think their raw track sounds way better than the Timberland remix, but judge for yourself. What I'm here to talk about is the album.

The album is really amazing. If you like The Fray, Coldplay, and Maroon 5, OneRepublic has a knack of mixing some of the most striking features of each of these bands: the wunderkind pianist, the soaring falsetto, and the funky soulfulness.

Listening through, you'll cycle through getting goosebumps and getting pumped up. The entire record rockets with cathartic release.

And get this: iTunes has it on sale for $7.99! That's $2 less than amazon and $5 less than you'll pay in the store. In addition to 13 great tracks, you'll get 3 music videos and a digital booklet with pics of the band.

Get OneRepublic for $7.99 at iTunes today!

Everybody needs to get those oldies but goodies into their mp3 collection. Those songs that you grew up with, danced to in front of the mirror, and would secretly still like to dance to in front of the mirror.

In honor of that spirit, iTunes is having a $7.99 sale for a large number of their Greatest Hits albums. What's good about this? Two things:
1. Greatest Hits albums have lots of rad songs on them, so there is a high awesomeness:crap ratio. And,
2. Greatest Hits albums have TONS of songs on them. Usually 15-18. Meaning that you're getting a great value for your money.

Here are some of the highlights of the sale that I would recommend:

1. U218 Singles - U2
I cannot emphasize enough what a great deal this is. Not only are you getting U2's 18 top hits, but 10 other songs as well, including 9 live tracks. That's 28 U2 songs for $7.99. I call that value for money.

And don't tell me that you don't need U2. Everybody needs U2. Sure, 15 years ago you collected all of the cds, but along the way your car got broken into and they were stolen, or there was a tragic accident involving a dog, or after getting super emo after a bad break-up, you listened to 'With or Without You' on repeat for 43 hours straight and your cd player imploded, cd still inside.

Plus, Bono will just give the proceeds of the album purchase to Africa or something. So it's practically giving to charity and getting great music in return. C'mon. You need it. You know it.

2. Journey's Greatest Hits
Journey is one of those bands that nobody pretends to like, and then you open their car doors and "Just a small town girl, livin' in a lone-ly wo-ooorld. She took the midnight train goin' ehhn-eeee-where..." comes blaring out. And you get in the car, reseal the doors, and join them in air guitar for the next four glorious minutes.

Seriously, this album is so guilty-pleasure good that it pangs my heart strings. 16 tracks, among them: Don't Stop Believing, Any Way You Want It, Open Arms, Faithfully, and more sheer awesomeness.

Other Highlights:

• Best band of the 90's: Smashing Pumpkins' Greatest Hits
• My first introduction to David Bowie was in the movie Labryinth, with giant hair and tight, bulging spandex pants. My eyes took years to heal. But turns out he makes some great music too: Best of Bowie
• Yeah, you know 'Man on the Moon', but if you haven't fallen in love to 'NightSwimming', you don't really know REM yet: REM's Greatest Hits
• Listen to the chord progression of a train wreck in action: Britney Spears' Greatest Hits
• I only recently got into the Cure. There's something timelessly cool about them: The Cure Greatest Hits

Post a comment about your favorite greatest hit album!

If you haven't heard of Mew, you should definitely check them out. They are a Danish quartet, and they create music on an epic scale rarely heard these days. Their vocals float on driven, dreamy soundscapes that calm and rage simultaneously.