Modern Americana blues from Hawthorne, CA — home of Black Flag and the Beach Boys, though these guys sound more like Grandaddy.
Thavius Beck
Collages of stuttering breaks and swirling samples, along with extended doses of “spoken word” culled from the underbelly of American pop culture. A potentially played-out formula turned downright entrancing.
Weevil
Lonely, loping folktronica with a healthy shoegazer sheen.
Audio Learning Center
Audio Learning Center were once members of grunge-era misfits Pond and Sprinkler, bands that disappeared before anyone could notice. “Stereo,” pairing anthemic crescendos with Chris Brady’s endearingly fragile vocals, may just right that wrong.
TRS-80
I keep thinking CLOADM “donkey”…sorry. I actually played a Donkey Kong clone on my TRS-80, loaded from cassette. These tracks are much better than Donkey Kong; reminiscent of DJ Shadow’s work with UNKLE.
On!Air!Library!
The chin-stroking ambience of O!A!L!’s 2003 material (see “Ex’s and Ho’s Oh’s”) makes way for a more diverse palette of bristling pop and sprawling sonic gems in ’04.
Devics
On their site, Devics name-drop Johnny Cash, Arab Strap, Iron and Wine, and Sparklehorse. If those bands float your boat, chances are you’ll be happy you found Devics.
Smokey and Miho
Perennial guest vocalist Miho Hatori finds her most natural fit yet, resurrecting ’60s Brazilian samba and bossa nova with all-star session man Smokey Hormel (Beck, Tom Waits).
Sixtoo
Halifax’s art-hop pioneer evolves his doomsday mic checks into full-blown audio armageddon (see “Storm Clouds & Silver Lining”) for his Ninja Tune debut.
Heiruspecs
Not rap, not jazz, not spoken word — at least not as you know it. Refreshingly tight live sessions that manage to reference Run-DMC and Mother Goose in the same verse with only a slight smirk.