That Ghost is nineteen-year-old Ryan Schmale of Sonoma County, California (live, he has a full band). Schmale makes spacey and dreamy, lo-fi bedroom pop that's often hauntingly hushed. This makes the perfect music to put on when you want to take a trippy magic ride somewhere... like Disneyland... yeah, that's right kids...a magic ride to, uh, Disneyland.

When That Ghost's tempos go up and get a little fuzzier, you can kind of hear a Wavves resemblance (That Ghost has played shows with Wavves and that comparison crops up a lot). But I like this band best when their croons go slow and low --- you know --- Nick Drake meets Cass McCombs style.

There's also a nice touch of psych-y drone to Schmale's acoustic guitar style that leads to a sort of hypnotic effect. It's catchy in a spellbinding sort of way. And mesmerizing audio hypnosis is just what you want when all you really want to do is sit back and embark on a hazy and trippy magic ride to... Disneyland... of the MIND, dude. Disneyland of THE MIND!

BOOM goes the brotherhood. JEFF the brotherhood are two brothers, neither of whom is named Jeff. One is named Jake and the other is named Jamin. Both are named Orrall. Whew, glad we got that over with.

Now, JEFF the brotherhood state in no uncertain words on their MySpace page that they "are not garage rock." Fine, ok. JEFF the brotherhood are not garage rock. They are psych-punk... garage-rock. BUST! Anyway, a whole lot of noise is created by just two guys. I love when that happens.

Their dueling guitar/drum rock-outs are distorted and fuzzy and they make ample use of reverb effects. Jake even busts out the wah-wah pedal on occasion for extended guitar solos, too. You know, sometimes the wah-wah is all you really want out of life.

Anyway, if none of the above helps you form a neat and convenient label for JEFF the brotherhood, think of their sound as falling somewhere in the middle of Japandroids and that band Disappears. Throw in some '70s punkness too. And, of course, compare them to every garage-rock band you can think of. BUST.

JEFF the brotherhood are a boozy and ballsy and boisterous band. They're mighty fun to rock out to.

I'm listening to The Very Best as I write this and I'm feeling a strange emotion I think might be happiness. This band just has that effect on people (well, on me anyway).

The Very Best are from all over the place. Technically based in London, countries of origin between the three members include Malawai (singer Esau Mwamwaya), France (Etienne Tron; 1/2 of the Radioclit DJ duo) and Sweden (Johan Karlberg; the other 1/2). Together, this jubilant electro-Afropop trio creates crazily catchy club beats that will get the kids of any nation up and dancing.

There's something entirely life-affirming about The Very Best listening/live experience. Mwamwaya often sings in his native Chichewa language (and other languages, English among them) so I don't have conclusive proof that these songs are all about joy. But it sure sounds that way.

Since they first started putting out well-received underground mixtapes, the band has seen a rapid rise. They've already collaborated with some big names including M.I.A. (they remixed her very early on... guess she liked it), Santogold, The Ruby Suns, and most notably Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend (he sings on their standout track "Warm Heart of Africa" --- The Very Best also admirably covered Vampire Weekend's "Cape Code Kwassa Kwassa").

When a band makes pretty much everyone who listens to them feel good all over (ok, maybe I'm just talking about me again), I'd bet my money they'll be sticking around for awhile. Yes, this is definitely happiness.

Los Angeles' Dum Dum Girls ain't no dummies. They know that tinny, swirling lo-fi Phil Spector sound is so HOT right now. Ask Vivian Girls and Liechenstein and Best Coast and Blank Dogs and, well, my comparison calculator is getting tired.

Dum Dum Girls is one girl with two first names, Dee Dee (actually make that three, since her given first name is apparently Kristin). Dee Dee writes and sings and records all these songs herself, but live the Dum Dum Girls earn the plurality of their name as three other girls (Jules, Frankie Rose, Bambi) rock alongside Dee Dee.

Much of the time, DDG's tracks move leisurely; slowly spinning and layered melodies that creep along towards a slightly gothic vibe. At other times, the band picks up the pace and amps up the distortion and it sounds just like good old garage-rock.

But I particularly appreciate those aforementioned slow times, especially when the hazy harmonies come in, because at those times Dum Dum Girls sound just like those delicious downer drugs a friend of a friend keeps telling me are awesome. Dum Dum Girls are good. Drugs are bad. Don't do them.

Sleigh Bells ring. Are you listening? Brilliant, that's just brilliant! By the way, I've been meaning to ask you; who the hell is Parson Brown and what makes him so make-believe worthy? You and your snowman can pretend to be anyone and you're going to pretend he's Parson Brown?

But moving on... Sleigh Bells are a dance-y, punk-y and mostly lo-fi-ish duo from Brooklyn consisting of master melody constructor Derek Miller (he was in Poison the Well) and singer Alexis Krauss (she teaches 5th grade). (Man, I wish Alexis Krauss was my teacher in 5th grade. But no, I got stuck with my mom. It's not easy getting a detention because you forgot to make your bed one lousy morning, let me tell you. Not easy.)

These two create dirty and distorted pop ditties that sometimes sound a little Yeah Yeah Yeahs-ish... but not ALL the time, so don't freak out on me for reaching for a low-hanging band comparison. Sheesh! I'm just trying to help you get an idea. Help ME help YOU! Sleigh Bells got lots of those nice riffs and guttural rhythms with layers of distortion that sounds like you just blew out your speakers. Miller definitely is into the low end of things when he writes these songs. It's all BOOM BOOM BOOM. But there are pretty epic melodies going on here too that work with the noise to add a nice little pep in your step as you rock out. And that's where the dance-y part of this duo's punk comes in. You can bop to the booms.

So check out Sleigh Bells. Who knows? You just might find yourself walking in a musical wonderland. Hey-yo! (James Brown I can see... but Parson Brown?!)

Brooklyn's Noxious Foxes are two men + one guitar + one set of drums = awesome. Now granted, I barely passed Geometry (you're telling a square is a rectangle but a rectangle isn't a square? Well sheeeeet, I may not be no Pythagorean Theorem master, but I manage) yet I know math-rock when I hear it. And this is math-rock. Nice and brutal and pretty and loud math-rock.

This has those math-rock rhythms that go up and down and all over the place and my ears shall follow them wherever they lead... always and forever... until the end of time. Remember Hella? Noxious Foxes remind me of that duo.

Duos that rock out really rule. Like No Age. And The Captain & Tennille. Remember Don Caballero? They weren't a duo but nevertheless they rocked out and really ruled too. Noxious Foxes remind me of them. Remember Television? Ever notice how a lot of that clean math-rock guitar sound is reminiscent of Television's guitar sound? No? Damn. I thought I was on to something.

Well anyway, if you like rapid-fire instrumental that would make a good soundtrack for those nights when you have to dodge all those crazy space ghosts that come at you hard from all directions (that happens to you too, right?), I recommend Noxious Foxes.

Toronto's Little Guitars rock some nice up-and-down pop that almost sounds just like surfing. Surf music? What an original insight, Rockness! Yes, we know, we know. And you heard it HERE first!

How did we come up with something so novel as "surf music" you may ask? Well, Little Girls' lo-fi guitar solo sound like the easy rhythm of waves (or Wavves, whichever works) and their taut bass lines sound just like snug wet suits. Yes, that last analogy to a wet suit was a stretch (no pun intended), but at least we didn't say, "These jams are just like long florescent shorts!" Those shorts were the true JAMS.

Now I don't know why, but when I rock out to Little Girls, I also really want Spuds Mackenzie by my side, offering me a cold refreshing beverage nestled in a koozy. Is that weird? He just seemed like a cool dog to chill with.

But back to the band's sound. Perhaps I'm misleading you, because this isn't all sunshine and lollipops. The band also has a gloom pop thing going on in some of their songs, keeping things slightly ominous. So maybe this is nighttime surfing music when the scary, menacing sharks might be lurking about? We'll work on that one.

Anyway, Little Girls have releases out on Mexican Summer (Washed Out, Kurt Vile) and Captured Tracks (Blank Dogs, Ganglians). If you like lo-fi and surfing and long shorts and cool dogs, you'll like Little Girls.

And... buzz goes the dynamite! Chicago's The Smith Westerns are a fuzzy lo-fi band that has lots of pretty (and slightly psych-y) melodies floating in and around some serious (mostly) garage-rock goodness. The kids are into it! But this isn't garage-rock in the aggressive "my riffs will start a fire and make even this here pile of greasy rags EXPLODE!" kind of way. This is the garage in the sensitive hearts "tool box, everything I do, I do it for you" kind of way.

These four teenagers must be four teenagers in la-la-la-love, because these songs are so sweet. Is this sensitive sensibility why this is sometimes called glam-garage? Who knows? Not I. If you like that band Girls you will probably enjoy these four young lads (and they recently toured together).

People compare The Smith Westerns a lot to Marc Bolan's T. Rex, too. And you see? I would never step out and say they sound like T. Rex myself because that's too vulnerable and risky. Pretty tricky of me, indeed!

The Smith Westerns have recently played shows with The Soft Pack, Neon Indian and Jay Reatard. When's the last time a Chicago band has received this much buzz? Um, let's say Veruca Salt. Man that band was so ALT.

Fluffy Lumbers is one dude. His name is Samuel. Samuel Franklin. He's from Ridgewood. Ridgewood, New Jersey. Wow, I guess this super concise & snappy pop just makes the short sentences spew out of me.

So here comes some more lo-fi, reverb-heavy garage-pop sweetness that will take you away to more innocent days. This sound has been heard recently if you've listened to Beach Fossils, Cheap Time, Real Estate, Titus Andronicus and Wavves. But I was told recently that naming other bands when writing about one band is "hack-y" so I guess I'll stop that.

Or maybe I'll just say that Fluffy Lumbers sounds like EVERY BAND UNDER THE SUN! How's that for hack? (They don't, of course.)

Anyway, Fluffy Lumber's music just sort of makes me feel good. And happiness is bound to happen when you write songs about drinking Swiss Miss on Christmas. And here you thought all these up-and-coming lo-fi reverb bands just sang about sand.

On a side note, Fluffy Lumbers does this cover of "Dreams" by The Cranberries that you should listen to. I'm not sure if it's one of the best or one of the worst covers I've ever heard. You tell me.

tUnE-YaRds is the incredibly out-there experimental pop project of Vermont's Merrill Garbus. So what is this all about? That's not a rhetorical question. I'm asking.

Using a digital voice recorder and some shareware software, Garbus has created a musical world that's unlike any musical world I've been in before, that's for sure. These songs are like a strange hybrid of reggae, soul, folk, funk, tribal and punk... I guess. Can this possibly sound like M.I.A.'s rhythms meets Danielson's vocals meets Arrested Development's "Tennessee" mixing meets Beirut's worldliness meets Ponytail's jungle percussion?

Ok no, that's a big time stretch (Arrested Development?!). Really, this doesn't sound like anything. And while I'm not sure if I can rock out to this (ukulele finger-picking solos over machine beats aren't quite the same as killer guitar licks), I certainly appreciate the magical originality.

And if you're going to officially spell your band tUnE-YaRds, well, originality better follow. So I'll ask again. What is this all about? Better have another few listens and see if it comes to me. I'm not holding my breath at enlightenment any time soon though.

Now this is just nice music. Freelance Whales represents Queens, NYC (there are many other great restaurants in Queens besides Jackson Diner, don't you know --- Jackson Diner isn't even the best Indian restaurant on that block!) and they also represent happiness admirably. When your band uses a harmonium, banjo, acoustic guitars, a cello, glockenspiel, a waterphone (don't even know what that is, but it sounds pleasant) and sweet synthesizers, you just know these guys won't be making music for Debbie Downers. Little Debbies, maybe --- but definitely not Debbie Downers.

These kind five (they sound kind anyway... they may be totally evil and suckerpunch marshmallow bunnies in the head, for all I know) create a pretty optimistic and highly singable world that sounds a little bit like melodic magic. It sounds like Disneyland.

When I first listened to Freelance Whales, I thought they had a little bit of a Cloud Cult thing going on, mostly due to the vocal similarities between singer/principle songwriter/main man Judah Dadone (he has a nice voice, indeed) and that Cloud Cult guy. But upon further listens, I also pick up a heavy Sufjan Stevens vibe, both in the singing styles and the beautifully ornate orchestration.

I guess as these guys get bigger --- and they WILL get bigger --- everyone will use that Sufjan comparison. So nevermind about that for now. Freelance Whales make for one contented listen. Now let's go get some Samosas!

See Cymbals Eat Guitars at the Oh My Rockness Birthday Party at Santos Party House on Wednesday, October 21!

There are only four dudes in this Cymbals Eat Guitars? It sure sounds like 40. This young band from Staten Island makes a big sound, and not in the Broken Social Scene oh-everything-is-so-precious-and-chamber-and-orchestral sort of way. This is big sound in the indie ROCK, sort of way.

Cymbals Eat Guitars are primarily a -- wait for it -- guitar-driven band. Singer/guitarist Joseph "Ferocious" D'Agostino lets it all out. His urgent, slightly off-kilter vocals remind me a bit of Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse meets Tim Kinsella. It's pretty much exactly what you want from your frontman. Well, what I want anyway. And he and his mates sure know how to make a simple opening guitar riff (and a little bit of keys) build into something more majestically optimistic. This music swirls and soars and distorts and dips. And it works. 4 members, my butt. I'm sticking with my 40 member theory.

Can you say a band plays indie Americana if they're from Canada? Is there such a genre as Canadiacana? I don't know, but I'm going to find out. And the only way to do that is by listening to The Rural Alberta Advantage a lot more. There are worse things in life.

These three play roots-y indie rock that's meant for long car drives to the middle of nowhere. And since they all come from rural Alberta, perhaps they know a thing or two about long car drives to nowhere.

Singer/songwriting/guitarist Nils Edenloff (often backed by keyboardist/percussionist/other random instrumentalist Amy Cole's pretty harmonies) belts his heart out about love and wishing for things and needs not being met and general longing. It's all very emo in a Canadiacana kind of way.

The band had their debut recently reissued by Saddle Creek, a label that knows a thing or two about roots-y indie rock. Before we forget, if you decide you like The Rural Alberta Advantage you also might like this band Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, too. Anyway, this is a good band to cozy up to and let them let it all out for you.

See Real Estate at the Oh My Rockness Birthday Party at Santos Party House on Wednesday, October 21st!

No, not the new abbreviated incarnation of Sunny Day Real Estate. Real Estate is a different band. But they're just as sunny, all the same.

A breezy, easy-feeling group out of New Jersey, this band plays pretty carefree sunshine-y pop with a little hint of psych-ness (and maybe a little surf). Their music will set you adrift on memory bliss (where, oh where, have you gone, P.M. Dawn?).

With songs about beaches and pools and lakes (not to mention one about "suburban beverages") this is a band that's fully aware that laid-back is the best bet. And really, you're not going to expect much in-your-face angst from a band that lists the Doobie Brothers as an influence ("woah-oh-oh, listen to the music!").

Real Estate makes music meant for summertime floating; an inner tube hugging your butt and a coozy nestled calmly between your thighs (wait, I think I just described Prince by accident). Did anyone out there ever listen to that band, The Kingsbury Manx? Real Estate have a similar vibe to them. They're just kind of, you know, easy.

See I Was A King at the Oh My Rockness Birthday Party at Santos Party House on Wednesday, October 21st!

You're really going to like I Was A King if you really liked radio alterna-pop of 1995. Ok, that sounds like a back-handed compliment. Sorry. But this band of five from Norway, featuring harmonious male/female vocal interplay, definitely sounds like something that was played on Q101 (the "alternative" radio station that played such cutting edge bands as Stone Temple Pilots and Collective Soul and, oh, even that Nada Surf "Popular" song!) when I was just a high school kid with a dream (to graduate).

This band sounds like Veruca Salt and Lucious Jackson and Garbage (who all undoubtedly listened to "Siamese Dream" two years before) and all those other crunchy and fuzzy guitar bands that sort of swirled back then. Then again, I don't like any of those bands, but I do like I Was A King, so never you mind about that whole alterna-pop thing.

The band's self-titled debut album features guest appearances from Sufjan Stevens, Danielson and a guy from Serena Maneesh. And those dudes are modern. The album also features that band who sang that "how bizarre, how bizarre" song (Ok, kidding on that last one).

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See Small Black at the Oh My Rockness Birthday Party at Santos Party House on Wednesday, October 21st!

I've been super into these guys recently. Brooklyn's Small Black is a duo (live there are more players involved) that creates synth-y lo-fi love songs (it sounds like love, anyway --- maybe they're singing about hate, but I doubt it) using a couple of casios and some beat machines. The vocals are the kind that, again, sounds like they're sung from a Fisher-Price microphone. But here, that sound definitely works (sometimes that sound is definitely annoying, as I'm sure you know).

Small Black works better than a lot of the other people rocking the "hot new old sound" of lo-fi because their melodies are just so damn pretty. Sure, there's some roughness and scratchiness with the way it's recorded (an aesthetic choice), but really when we talk about Small Black we're talking about beauty.

So just saying "lo-fi" doesn't give these guys a whole lot of credit. Gosh, I love pretty songs. Seriously, is there anything better in this life? Pizza is pretty good, but not as good as a pretty song.

Deastro is playing the Oh My Rockness 5th Birthday Party at Santos Party House on Wednesday, October 21st!

Deastro is 22-year-old singer/tech-head Randolph Chabot. As Deastro, Chabot creates electro pop songs (big emphasis on the 'pop' part) that sound much more rockin' when he plays them live, mostly because he has a full band behind him. At least he did when we saw him.

It's hard to describe this sound, because it's often all over the place. Sometimes his songs sound like an '80s arcade with all those crazy lo-fi bleeps and clicks and synthetic hijinx, and at other times his songs simply sound like bona fide chart-topping smash radio hits. Listen to "Michael the Lone Archer" and tell me that song can't go all the way to #1.

Ok, maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself with the #1 thing. But this guy definitely shows potential when he contains his electronics just a little bit and lets it all out with the pretty melodies and vocals. When Deastro's on, he's really on.

See Evan Voytas at the Oh My Rockness Birthday Party at Santos Party House on Wednesday, October 21st!

Now that Jacko is no longer with us, maybe Evan Voytas can fill a little bit of the void that was left in those, oh, ten billion people. When we listen to this young LA dude's song "Getting Higher" we feel like putting on a black tuxedo complete with shimmering socks and leaning into a few little retro Michael moves.

It's a really good sunshine dance jam sprinkled with just the right amount of funk (i.e. barely any funk, because funk usually just plain sucks). It's got insanely catchy beats and synths and is anchored by a perfectly pleasant guitar riff. As an added plus, Voytas' exceptional tenor simply sparkles as he reaches higher, baby. He's got the vocals thing down.

Now, we're not going to lie; we don't know a whole lot more about this guy or where he'll fall in the vast musical spectrum. He could either be the next electro-indie-pop "it" person like those Passion Pit guys, or he could be the next Michael Jackson.

Ok, maybe not Michael Jackson. But let us state for the record that Evan Voytas' popularity will fall somewhere between Passion Pit and Michael Jackson. You heard it here.

Ungdomskulen is playing the Oh My Rockness/Oya Festival CMJ show on Wednesday, October 21st!

Ungdomskulen (pronounce it at your own risk) are three noisy Norwegians that kick some serious Kroner! They've got a spazzy math rock (with maybe a bit of prog and, sure, let's say garage, too) vibe thing going on, and like to go all low and guttural with their guitars.

The bass lines are BFF's with angles, and will wage war on anything circular (rounded edges don't ROCK, after all). And the big time drums rein in all the wayward rhythms with rock-steady persistence and, when called for, aggressive percussive intimidation. Don't think this drummer doesn't bust out the cowbell on occasion too, because hell yeah he does.

If you ever see Ungdomskulen live (and I highly suggest you do) you will probably leave the show thinking, "Well, THAT rocked." And really, what more can you ask for from your rock show than that?

This band is for fans of similarly sludgy bands like The Jesus Lizard and The Melvins, the vocals of The Rapture (particularly on their song "Spartacus") and the angularity of this one band Tornavalanche that no one really ever heard of but I really liked and it's a shame they weren't more popular --- but I digress.

See Eternal Summers at the Oh My Rockness Birthday Party at Santos Party House on Wednesday, October 21st!

We really like this band a lot. I guess that's kind of a given because we write these band profiles exclusively for our "Band We Like" section. But this band is so good, they deserve our Rockness redundancy.

What makes Eternal Summers so likeable? Well, to start, this duo (Nicole and Daniel) rocks that nice and clean guitar jingle-jangle sound. And if we know anything about ourselves (we know we like chicken burritos, but after that our self-analysis gets a little hazy), we know we're into the clean jingle-jangle.

Also, Eternal Summers have a bit of that laid back, blissful beach-y vibe we've been super down with lately (see Best Coast, Beach Fossils, Ducktails, Washed Out, Beach House, Neon Indian, Real Estate and...). The beach vibe is mostly because singer Nicole's soaring, breezy vocals immediately transport us to the sand somewhere as we get set to tap an ice cold Capri-Sun. Ahhh, Capri-Sun.

And finally, we really like Eternal Summers because Daniel and Nicole trade off guitar and drum duties. If there's one thing we like more than guitar jingle-jangle, it is flexibility. Definitely check out this Virginia duo. You'll be into it.

See Free Energy at the Oh My Rockness Birthday Party at Santos Party House on Wednesday, October 21st!

Philadelphia's Free Energy (featuring a bunch of ex-Hockey Night members) are a perfectly hooky band. Their catchy songs are meant for hand-clap accompaniment and "nah nah nah-nah" choruses. This is straight-up pop that almost touches on twee (thankfully though, the members don't all wear white Oshkoshbegosh overalls or play on stage in big wheels or anything like that -- phew!).

The band just signed to DFA, which is kind of an interesting pairing. You're not going to find many of those yelps, cowbells (does DFA still rock the cowbells?) or crazy dance synth tricks in Free Energy's arsenal. But you will find songs you can listen to with the car windows rolled down.

Warning: Don't try to listen to Free Energy with the subway windows rolled down though. Screeches and drones won't mix well with this sunny stuff.

See Beach Fossils at the Oh My Rockness Birthday Party at Santos Party House on Wednesday, October 21st!

There are lots of new lo-fi bands out there that are obsessed with sand. By their sound, it seems all these groups really just want to be selling seashells by the seashore. There's Real Estate and Best Coast and Ducktails (maybe Small Black), not to mention the whole Underwater Peoples label roster, and now Beach Fossils.

Beach Fossils is the work of Brooklyn's Dustin Payseur and I tell you, his songs make us feel happy; so happy we want to chase Annette Funicello around with crazy Frankie Avalon. So happy we'd start a beach campfire, roast some dogs, and not even care if Johnny and his rough crew showed up and started bullying people with their bikes. Beach Fossils is great guitar jingle-jangle with that lo-fi pop distortion we've all come to know and distinguish by now.

If you like the beach, any of the above mentioned bands (and Blank Dogs too), or have a special place in your heart for itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikinis, you'll like Beach Fossils.

South Carolina's Toro y Moi is Chaz Bundick, the multi-instrumentalist pal and neighbor of Washed Out's Ernest Greene. Now, I realize no one cares about who a stranger's friends are, but it's worth the mutual-mates mention because both Toro y Moi and Washed Out rock that similarly breezy and blissed-out electro-pop sound. Some describe that sound (made with laptops, samples, and synths mostly) as chill. More recently, this sound has been called glo-fi.

Toro y Moi's melodies are easy on the ears in that wonderfully hazy kind of way. Try listening to this when you find yourself running in slow motion through a fairy-filled forest. It'll blow your mind. If forests aren't your thing because you're understandably afraid of Lyme disease and blown-out fairies, Toro y Moi would also be a good listen while dreaming in a beachside hammock somewhere.

Don't like dreaming either? Try listening while swimming underwater as you attempt to grasp a quickly falling shiny nickel. Toro y Moi makes electro-pop melodies that are suitable for all environments. Fun for the whole family, too!

I know very little about Brooklyn's I'm Turning Into. One of the few things I do know is that I'm Turning Into is one helluva cliffhanger band name. Cliffhanger band names rule! I should start my own cliffhanger band and call it "You Make Me ---" but I guess I'd need to get Richard Hell's permission first.

Anyway, one of the other few things I know about I'm Turning Into is that I'm just starting to like these guys. Someone in the band wrote Rockness an email and said something like "check us out," and because they didn't say Oh My Suckness once, we did. Thanks to their heads-up, I now get to write a profile about a new favorite band. I love it when that happens.

Another thing I know is that the three dudes in I'm Turning Into have a really rocking song called "Nonlocal" which I've listened to a bunch of times already. This exceptionally nostalgic song reminds me of those good indie rock songs of old --- the bands I liked when I first started getting into indie rock back in, like, 1994. You know those old songs I mean.

If I had to characterize I'm Turning Into, I just might say they are "rousing." But maybe after many more listens I'll feel like changing that characterization to "raucous." They definitely seem to have a crazy edge to their garage-y, punk-y and rock-y music. Some of their songs are really out there and go into extreme jam mode, but that's ok. I've always been a sucker for well placed guitar squeals and yelping harmonies and fanatical musical beat downs and break downs anyway.

So really, the main thing I know about I'm Turning Into is that I'm getting to like this band. And I'll leave you with a new band name idea, "I'm Going to Take This Band Profile And."

Florida, Florida, Florida. Everybody wants to talk about Florida bands these days. Blind Man's Colour? Florida. Surfer Blood? Florida. The Drums? NYC --- but they wrote their songs in... Florida.

Man, I didn't even know Florida had a music scene. Sure, there's that Iron & Wine guy, but before that I thought Florida's last great musical output was The Miami Sound Machine. Gloria Estefan, Holiday Shores is not.

So what ARE Holiday Shores? Why, they're just another good band coming out of Florida of course. Their music is pretty, muddled lo-fi guitar pop with lots of strangely appealing melodies floating around here and there (I particularly appreciate random piano poundings between nice and untidy guitar riffs).

Singer Nathan Pemberton's perfectly off-key vocal styling reminds me of the Cymbals Eat Guitars singer who reminds me of Tim Kinsella. So if you like singers who strain to hit the high notes, but don't really care if they do, you'll like Holiday Shores' whole thing.

This sound is definitely not "clean." There's tons of distortion (on the vocals and the instruments) going on that you'll need to wade through to ride the wave of this pop, but it's all in good fun. Really, this music is just meant for a party. One big, fat, drunken, beach party.

Brooklyn's Bear in Heaven are a band with some seriously pretty and soaring pop melodies. Sometimes these melodies are downright orchestral, if I do say so myself. But here's the interesting thing that makes me keep listening to these guys; at other times, Bear in Heaven's melodies stop soaring and just get kind of drone-y and noisy and psych-y. So put those experimental musical tangents in your definition of pop, all you pop definers (I'm arguing with myself).

I guess you could kind of compare this band to Grizzly Bear meets someone like Oneida, but that's just a comparison for comparison's sake. It's clear form the outset that Bear in Heaven does its own thing. The band was formed by the uber-talented vocalist/songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist Jon Philpot, and it also includes drummer Joe Stickney (hey, he's also played in Panthers), guitarist/bassist Adam Wills, and bassist/keboardist Sadek Bazarra.

This band has been rocking around for awhile now, and with so much talent, it's quite surprising they've managed to hangout under the indie rock superstar radar. But maybe as more people listen and appreciate the uniqueness going on here, that will all change.

Bear in Heaven have the follow-up to their debut album coming out on Hometapes in the fall of 2009. If it's amazing, which it might be, Bear in Heaven will again reinforce that bands with bear in their name just can't lose.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums are supporting Fanfarlo this week in NYC:

MON 9/21 Bowery Ballroom

TUE 9/22 The Bell House

London's Fanfarlo have a big, glossy folk-pop sound that will probably make them pretty popular over here. I hear a less world-inspired Beirut (in principle songwriter Simon Balthazar's vocals for sure, but also in all those damn mandolins, glockenspiels and horns) meets some of the go-for-the-gut emotive melodies of Snow Patrol (whom Fanfarlo has fittingly toured with). Oh fine, throw in a Sufjan reference too because of all the orchestration.

The band of six has a debut album that's been well-received over there in the UK, but it's not yet out over here in the U.S. of A (as of May 14, 2009). But since the album was produced by the same dude who did records for Interpol and The National, and it is full of songs that sound like radio ready "hits" to me, Fanfarlo's debut will be out soon enough here too. You can bet on that.

Did I mention this is one of those bands that plays a saw? What's up with the saw?

Florida's Surfer Blood have written a hit song. I know this much to be true. When I first heard their song "Swim (To Reach The End)," I thought there was no way I heard it right. So I had to listen to those three-minutes and nineteen-seconds a half-dozen more times just to make sure. And, wouldn't you know, I heard it right the first time. That's a pop song as good as I've heard all year.

Not only does it have big time power-pop choruses sung so perfectly and harmoniously (a la Weezer), but it even manages to pack in a sick little noodling guitar solo that reminds me of Chicago indie rock right around 1994 (the circa I'm a sucker for). I'm also feeling a serious Cheap Trick vibe going on. And everyone knows that Cheap Trick kind of rules.

Oh, and about those harmonious vocals -- they're perhaps similar to Animal Collective in sound, but less "enigmatic" and way more "happy." Surfer Blood definitely aren't lo-fi (which is often a gracious term for people who can't play their instruments all that well). These dudes are pros. Boy, that song is good.

But anyway, these little musings of mine aren't meant to be song profiles. They're meant to be band profiles. Thankfully, self-ascribed arbitrary rules are made to be broken. That Surfer Blood song is a straight-up JAM. (P.S. Surfer Blood's other songs are pretty good too...). Oh and they list Flannery O'Connor as one of their influences . How good is that book "Wise Blood?" I'll answer; really good.

London's The xx (don't even think about capitalizing either one of those x's) rock the serious Alt & B. Oh, you know what I mean by Alt & B. You're familiar, of course, with that silky smooth Dirty Projector's "Stillness is the Move" song, right? That song's totally Alt & B. How about Grizzly Bear's chill (and just slightly funkdafied) "Two Weeks" song? 100% Alt & B. The princess pioneer of Alt & B just might be Fiona Apple, but what has she ever done for us lately?

Anyway, The xx are fairly new to the Alt & B club (side note: Alt & B is not to be confused with hipster-hop), but they're already getting hyped up there (Europe) and here (my bedroom).

These two girls and two dudes creep their way through suave and just sort of overall seductive songs. Actually, this electro-pop makes me think of naked vampires. Is that weird? They've got that slightly goth New Wave synth thing going on, and some seriously slinky bass lines, and seductive male/female vocals that just seem to be out for your blood.

Yep, The xx are just like naked vampires. Fine new members of Club Alt & B.