Meet The Briefs, the punk rock band that kept me sane (and awake) during a recent 36-hour work marathon. Catchy as heck and dripping with snotty wit (promise me you’ll listen to “Silver Bullet”), The Briefs wear their influences — The Dickies, Undertones, Devo — like, well, tighty-whites pulled over their pants for all to enjoy. So, enjoy…
Greg Davis
Reluctant beats rinsed in rippling, melancholic guitars — perfect for after hours listening (assuming you’re driving home after getting dumped).
DJ Zeph
Raashan Ahmad unleashes a brief history lesson of dance moves whilst Zeph moves the crowd with his disco flash production.
Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start
Come for the name (the cheat code for endless lives on the Nintendo classic Contra, fyi), stay for the thrilling emo…tional rollercoaster rides.
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Arto Lindsay
A taste of Rio served Manhattan supper-club style, Arto Lindsay’s sleepy vocals and seductive beats take David Byrne’s formula and run…er, saunter with it.
The Hold Steady
“My name is Steve Perry, baby, people call me Circuit City…” Snarky rock ‘n’ roll anthems swirl around singer Craig Finn’s breathless, cynical wordplay. And then, just like that, they’re over…
The Poem Adept
Act I: Davy Rothbart’s Found Magazine comes across a discarded demo tape by some ridiculously bad rap outfit called The Ypsilanti All-Starz (an even funnier name if you live in the Detroit area).
Act II: Davy’s brother Jason and his band The Poem Adept cover the All-Starz with a surprisingly earnest coffee house version of “The Booty Don’t Stop.”
Act III: The Poem Adept — who, unfortunately, are at their best when singing about booty — approach their muses for a multi-record songwriting deal, lest they end up next to Dynamite Hack in the history books.
The Mathletes
Hilarious, cute, and quite often catchy — just what you’d expect from a young bedroom pop maestro with a quivering voice who choses to go by The Mathletes instead of Joe, covers Boards of Canada, and openly admits to stalking Cat Power. (Thanks, Gabba Pod.)
Babbletron
Instrumentally sparse, lyrically thick head-nodders that — while decidedly unpretentious — exude the confidence of b-boys who know they’ll be around for a while.
babbletron.com
Noise for Pretend
Sultry bossa nova noir… Mysterious and enchanting, and not just because frontwoman Esperanza Spalding is barely 18 years old.