Not exactly new, but I am hearing lots of local bands cover Captain Beefheart songs. It’s like every band in the southeast is going through a hippie phase.
Personally, I am leaning more towards electronic/electro acts like Gang Gang Dance or Crystal Castles. The genre provides more experimentation than your average indie rockband.
In the same vein, Health’s Get Color is really good. Much more of a straight dance album, with less of the weird atonality you’d hear from Gang Gang Dance or Crystal Castles.
Movie soundtracks continue to confuse me – I know a lot of people who eat up stuff like the soundtracks to Adventureland.
Personally, I can’t listen to what’s basically a mix tape when it’s divorced from its original context. I think the last movie soundtrack I really liked was from Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.