San Francisco psychedelic outfit crash headlong into wall of sound. The result? Stripped down indie rock with detours into lingering, epic rock operas awash in layers and layers of guitars.
Havergal
Prairie drawl and bug zapper glitches = campfire music for the computer age.
Magnus
Distant vocals served over cool techno and coupled with solid funk basslines and snappy guitars bring an old-school (circa 1994?) vibe to today’s dancefloor.
Variable Unit
Sinewy, smokey grooves bob and weave to Azeem’s verbal left-right combos. Major league hip hop at home in the underground.
Meow Meow
Christopher O’Brien’s gently wilting vocals find uneasy peace around screechy, scratchy, scrunchy sounds from a guitar that, like a good cowboy, just canít be tamed. Fans of dissonance, Meow Meow give you a twister-full of noise. Fans of pop craft, Meow Meow give you the bittersweet sunny day after the storm.
Mahjonng
Mahjongg is an ancient Chinese tile game responsible for the academic downfall of countless college students. The band Mahjonng has similar powers with their frenzied pop disarray (a la the supremely underrated Beatnik Filmstars). Be strong.
Arab Strap
Like the Scottish tongue: lots of burrs and still a great listen.
Puritan
With a penchant for literary lyrics, Puritan manage loose, almost off-handed pop songs to dark, dusty anti-ballads with a Malkmus-esque flair. Imagine Lloyd Cole making music in an American bedroom without the Commotions.
Guitar Wolf
Is Guitar Wolf a Japanese homage, pastiche, or caricature of U.S. garage rock? As with “Iron Chef,” does it really matter? Guaranteed to be the best 2:27 of your otherwise dull day…
RF
If you had to pigeonhole RF, you might label it Intelligent Acoustic Music. His whispering guitars and gentle programming make me want to snuggle up with my iPod and a good Haruki Murakami novel.