[This weekly feature is a snapshot of what the SD staff can't get out of our collective head each week. On any given week, we might be digging a new local act, French electro remix, old jazz chestnut, the newest Japanese electro-folk or whatever else we've got on the turntable/iPod that week.]

After a break for the holidays, we’re back with another edition of the Stranger Dance Staff Playlist. This week’s picks feature the noisy garage blues of White Denim, a deranged hip-hop gem from Ol’ Dirty Bastard and an impressive debut from indie-electo-folkie Emily Wells.

Vague Panther: White Denim – “Don’t Look That Way at It”
White Denim – “Sitting”
Buy White Denim at Insound

The Stranger alerted me that our friends MGMT earned the top spot on Filter’s list of Top 10 albums of 2008. So first off, congrats to MGMT (yes, that was shameless name dropping)!

However, while I was there I started to check out the list of bands that ranked high, but didn’t make the top ten. One of them was White Denim, an outfit from Austin, TX that I remember checking out last year, but somehow let fall off my radar.

Good timing on my part, because they quietly released Exposion about in November – while I’ve only listened to it a couple of times (today, as I’m writing this at my day job), it’s just good ol’ messiness that I love: axe-grinding guitar pops, shouting vocals over the chorus, and smattering of post-punk. I couldn’t decide what song to post, so you get two. Lucky you.

Uncle Corey: Ol’ Dirty Bastard – “Brooklyn Zoo”
Buy Ol’ Dirty Bastard at Insound

To be totally honest, I hated this album when it came out. I loved Wu-Tang and was blown away by Method Man’s Tical, and Dirty being Dirty, I was pretty excited for Return to the 36 Chambers, ODB’s first solo album and the second Wu-Tang spinoff. I was not impressed. The album was waaaay too weird the first time I listened to it and it just didn’t sit well. So, you know those albums that you listen to, set aside, then really never go back to? Well, that was this one until about five years later when I dug it out and had that “ah ha” moment. The key to loving ODB is to completely, totally and wholeheartedly embrace the depth of his insanity.

Sometimes he doesn’t rhyme, or finish verses. He’ll bail in the middle of a song, or start singing off key or making terrible noises. It’s just part of the plan. But then you get verses like “Introducing, yo fuck that nigga’s name/My hip-hop drops on your head like ra-hay-hain.” Simple, but awesome.

Stranger Jay: Emily Wells – “Symphony 1: In the Barrel of a Gun”
Buy Emily Wells at iTunes

I came across Emily Wells on the always excellent Fuel/Friends, whose “I am mesmerized” review made me stop and give a listen. I’m glad I did.

To my ears, she’s at the intersection of Andrew Bird and Björk, and as a huge fan of both, I’d say that’s a very fine place to set up shop. A virtuosic violinist, Wells loops layers of violin over drum machines, synthesizers and dozens of other instruments — including metallophones and glockenspiels — to craft rich and affecting sonic landscapes. Her beautifully haunting voice glides above — not as the lead — but another layer in her lush symphonies.

Like Bird, her live looping acrobatics aren’t just gimmick, but virtuosity that augments strong song-writing and a unique sound.

For further proof, here’s a video from a recent radio performance: