Each Tuesday stop by Muzzle of Bees for our recommended purchases for the week. Here are the albums we suggest for the release date of May 22nd:

Artist: The National
Album: Boxer
Label: Beggars
Myspace: The National
MP3: The National – Fake Empire
Video: The National – Mistaken For Strangers
MoB: Everyone was/is/will be talking about this album and for good reason. We’re sure it will end up on many a year end lists (ours included), and are very much looking forward to helping bring them to the High Noon Saloon on Saturday, June 9th. We were thrilled to listen to these songs at Radio City Music Hall a few weeks back in New York and think Boxer shows a well-defined and maturing band on the cusp of greatness. If you’ve yet to grab their Black Sessions from 2005, better do so soon, because we’ll be taking it down next week.

Artist: Handsome Furs
Album: Plague Park
Label: Sub Pop
Myspace: Handsome Furs
MP3: Handsome Furs – What We Had
Video: Handsome Furs – Dumb Animals
MoB: Of course we’re fans of Wolf Parade, so it was pretty easy for us to get behind Dan Boeckner and fiancé Alexis Perry in their Handsome Furs moniker. We’ve come dangerously close to blowing out some car speakers listening to this loud driving to and from the city. Regardless of Boeckner’s contributions to Wolf Parade, this album is mighty enough to stand soundly on its own.

Artist: Hot Chip
Album: DJ Kicks
Label: DFA
Myspace: Hot Chip
MoB: I’m running a marathon in less than a week and I’ve listened to this compilation a ton as I ran through mile after mile of the Wisconsin countryside. This collection turned me onto new favorites (Grovesnor), and provided some great blasts from the past as well (Positive K). We stayed out really late in Chicago recently as Al Doyle and James Murphy took to the turntables at the Smart Bar – one thing we’re sold on is these guys ability to own a dance floor.

Artist: Battles
Album: Mirrored
Label: Warped Records
Myspace: Battles
Video: Battles – Atlas
MoB: These guys rocketed to the top of the indie radar when Pitchfork gave them the Best New Music stamp and a 9.1 rating. They’re high on our list of acts to see at the Pitchfork Music Festival this summer, and they also will be playing the Stonefly in Milwaukee on July 13th. That video for “Atlas” might just be one of the best we’ve seen this year so far.

Artist: Stars
Album: Do You Trust Your Friends?
Label: Arts & Crafts
Myspace: Stars
MoB: “Remixes are at their best when they do two things: (1) reinterpret a band’s work so that you have a new appreciation for them and (2) introduce you to new groups. So they deepen your appreciation for a band, and at the same time, expand your musical range. Do You Trust Your Friends? does both.” Read the rest of our thoughts on the album here.

Download: eMusic
Buy: Strictly Discs