What was the last thing that really shocked you in a good way?
Heartsrevolution. Amazing band from LA, i'm a bit knackered to go into why i like them so much but I interviewed them for fact magazine recently, so hopefully that'll be up next week and i'll link it. there's a song called Digital Suicide on myspace.com/heartsrevolution which i have caned ever since i heard it.
there
are good new guitar bands around: the ones involved in the Baltimore warehouse scene that Dan Deacon seems to be the figurehead of - Ponytail, Ecstatic Sunshine, Double Dagger and the Death Set (who've just signed to ninja tune's new imprint) are all great. I really recommend Ponytail's album
Kamehameha.
There's other DIY punk types outside Baltimore that are really exciting: Mika Miko, No Age, Abe Vigoda, Lost Sounds' album was good too but i'm not that into Reatard... I don't know how 'indie' it all is but that word lost all meaning long ago, and i think they're worth bringing up in the thread.
and definitely agree with you dan - the first Strokes album is wicked.