The CL Music Team kicks off the week with some new jams (or old) to launch us into a new work week! Here’s what we’re spinning now; to check out previous entries, click here.

– Rise Against, Endgame (2011)

I’m tired of slagging Rise Against for writing big rock hooks instead of angry punk tunes. Yes, Tim McIlrath’s voice is more polished. Yes, the riffs are not quite so ferocious anymore. But their songs remain vehicles for change and rallying cries for the fucked-over. “Make It Stop (September’s Children)” tackles gay teen suicides. “Satellite” laments the death of the American dream – and probably sounds the most like old school Rise Against. The central question of Endgame is, if all the awfulness in the world really heralds its end, would wiping the slate clean be so bad? As long as they continue to make their statements without creating bloated rock operas like other punk-turned-mainstream bands, Rise Against will be okay.

Ray – The Pauses, A Cautionary Tale (2011)

When The Pauses’ Tiereny Tough dueted with Deleted Scenes’ Dan Scheurman on “Tonight You Belong To Me” at a July 2010 show at New World Brewery, I was kicking myself for not discovering the Orlando-based “indierocktronica” band sooner. Their debut LP was just released on New Granada Records last week, and it is a joy to listen to. Tough’s vocals on tracks like “Pull The Pin” and “Beyond Bianca” are a good foil to the slinky, distorted guitar lines, and the subtle electronic touches on slower cuts like “Hands Up” and “The Leap Year” beg for repeated listens. They even throw in a version of “Tonight You Belong To Me” as a hidden track at the end of “Goodbye, Winthorpe” to cap it all off. [Click here to read Leilani's story on the band and check out the video for "Go North" after the jump.]

This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2011.