Without waiting for the year to finish I want to share some of the creative music being made as we speak. This week's show features 2 tracks from Tosca's "No Hassle"--a creative gem from the Austrian duo Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber. Their style might be categorized as chillout grooves, but that might also be too limiting. "Fascinating" certainly covers it.

I'll also play two tracks from Muse's "The Resistance"--a less-inspired, but occasionally brilliant album of political and social defiance--and anthems by Black Eyed Peas and Rascal Flats.

My favorite live band Umphrey's McGee released a creative studio album in 2009. This was a welcome release because their live vocals are so pathetically lame as to be virtually unlistenable (their fabulous musicianship and improvisational creativity more than make up for it).