Normally, we would never recommend using the head of a Fender Stratocaster as a place to rest your drink or eat your TV dinner — they’re way too small. However, the fine artisans at Portland, Oregon’s Fender Custom Furniture have made that situation plausible. Behold Deluxe Stratocaster Coffee Table, a solid maple-crafted must have for anyone who lives, or longs to live, the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. Complete with six tuning peg caps, three chrome-plated legs and that classic Fender logo silk-screened on, the re-creation of an instrumental masterpiece is ready to turn your rec room into a den of sin. Just remind your friends to keep their feet off of it.

Twisting and bending our ideas of what neon bulbs are capable of, Roger Borg’s collection of lighting fixtures are eerily beautiful. Without relying on an anchoring fixture, the bulbs often stand alone in various color combinations and free-standing arrangements. The captions under each photo on his site break down exactly what each piece consists of in simple language, leaving us saying, “Wow. Never thought a half-and-half carton could look so awesome.” Also featured on his page are a variety of sculptures constructed using lights, steel, and glass, as well as paintings that look like creative snapshots of segments of his other work.

Aaron and Bryce Dessner, one of the brother pairs that make up the instrumental side of The National, produced Dark Was the Night, a compilation benefiting HIV and AIDS awareness through the Red Hot Organization. The record showcases the songwriting abilities of the bands keeping indie rock interesting (including Beirut, Arcade Fire, and Grizzly Bear) on an expansive list of contributors to this 31-track double album. Nice collaborations from Feist and Ben Gibbard, Dirt Projectors and David Byrne (!) and a Buck 65 remix adding some abstract rhyme flavor to the mix. Our personal favorite is the eerie tital track, featuring unique use of violins by the Kronos Quartet.

I picked up a double LP a little while back called De La Collection. It had all the original songs that Prince Paul sampled to make the De La Soul beats that popped and bounced like superballs over their first three records. Since that find, I’ve been on the lookout for these collections. Generally, if you love the beat that spawned it, you’ll find new appreciation for the original. While crate-diggers often have to reassemble such things on their own, someone took care of Massive Attack with Protected: Massive Samples. Some of the cuts were obvious, but others surprise with a list including The Blackbyrds, Billy Cobham, and Chaka Khan.

There are a few shower MP3 players out there, but they’re all so ugly. They look like the junk electronics that you’d find next to the nose hair clippers in the department store’s “Gifts for Him” section. TokyoFlash just released the Juke Tower Waterproof MP3 Player, and it would look at home in the trendiest shower. The player is about the same size of as a bottle of shampoo, so there shouldn’t be any trouble finding a place to put it. It has a port under the main body where you plug-in a USB flash drive filled with music, podcasts … whale calls. There’s also an LED clock on the body to help remind you of how late you are.