This is good stuff from just one dude. No, the dude in question is not "The Dude," but rather Los Angeles' Pat Grossi. Using the moniker Active Child, Grossi creates electro bedroom recordings (actually, I have no clue if it's in his bedroom, or not -- he could record in his utility room for all I know) that synthetically soar on the wings of Grossi's sublime vocal range. Sometimes he'll go all low like Ian Curtis, and other times he'll explode into pretty falsettos like Antony. Not many dudes can do that.

With Active Child, there is a plethora of layered keyboard (+ other tech gear) lushness (including some harp action, I believe) going on here. And that's all coupled with these deep, almost club-style beats that make for a singularly unique musical world. A world I want to hang out in for a bit, maybe play a little hop-scotch.

In a way, this kind of reminds me of TV On The Radio, but opting for a little less rock and a little more folk, and a lot more electro-ness. And not to belabor this point, but we feel we should mention again those Grossi vocals. They are the key to this whole operation. Well, that and the synths... and the beats.

As I say, Active Child is good stuff. Yes, we're being entirely redundant about all this. Don't get mad about it. This aggression will not stand, man.

Here's some warmness right here. Twin Sister is a NYC band led by front-woman Andrea Estella. And her luminescent laid-back vocals are the main source of that melodic warmness. The carefree bass thumps (played by Gabel D'Amico), chilled-out guitar riffs (Eric Cardona), sweet keys (Udbhav Gupta) and well-timed drum taps (Bryan Ujueta) don't hurt the warmness either.

But we're not just talking moderate temperature here. With Twin Sister, there's lots of illumination going on, too. Their catchy songs are bright like a contained living room fireplace. Their twinkling choruses glitter like a well-behaved backyard 4th of July celebration.

No, Twin Sister's melodic warmth and heat won't produce shock and awe. But they will produce calm and contentment. And sometimes that's what you want out of your rock 'n roll band. You can watch stage SEX and DRUGS and BOOZE all the time. With Twin Sister, you'll get radiated by rock that brims with soft light and comfortable heat. Light and heat. Just think light and heat.

Tan Dollar is a beautifully noisy trio (Chris Throne, Chris Balingit, Liz Suh) from Irvine, California that rock two keyboards and one set of drums to make loud, blissful, experimental goodness. From what I can tell, this is what the kids call "lo-fi." I guess. I'm going to call it "good-fi" though. You know, for a "hoot."

Now, I'm not going to spend time analyzing and deconstructing the meaning of Tan Dollar's lyrics for you because a.) that's never really been my thing... blame not going to Grad School and b.) I can't really hear any of the lyrics anyway. There's too much distortion and stuff going on to make out what these guys/girl are singing about. But it sure sounds like they're singing about something, well, experimental. Maybe it's just about donuts.

When I listen to Tan Dollar, I do hear crazy falsettos over all this wonderfully blown-out distortion, and those always sound nice together. And I also hear really pretty keyboard solos that give these songs some solid melodic overtones. Melodic overtones rule. But yeah, I keep listening to these guys and keep finding new things to like about them. It's... what's that word? Oh yeah, interesting. When I first put Tan Dollar on the old player, I thought I heard a little bit of Blank Dogs. I don't think that so much anymore. I don't know what I think. I think I need to see them live.

Here's a band that's excellent to listen to when you're feeling sad, but not in the, "There's a tear in my beer" sort of way -- more in the, "Ah, life..." sort of way. Back in the day (mid '90s to be somewhat exact) L.A.'s The Delta Mirror was two dudes making hip-hop jams. I'm not sure if they wore their clothes backward, but it would've been a lot cooler if they did.

But here, now in 2010 (2010?!), The Delta Mirror are definitely not hip-hop. They are the same two dudes, though (Craig Gordon on voice/guitar/synth, and David Bolt on a lot of keys and other assorted electro things -- and live, Karrie K. on bass).

Yes, they still kind of have some of those hip-hop-ish machine beats building the foundation for their songs. But The Delta Mirror of today is pretty much straight-up shoegazer pop. Their songs are epic too, like any good shoegazer band, with many of them clocking in at the 6- to 8-minute mark. So there's plenty of time to feel wistful between bridges and choruses.

But yeah, The Delta Mirror's long melodic musical forays into electro pop exploration just give off an overall vibe of melancholy. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the synthetic layers of keys, or the hollowness of the machine-made beats, maybe it's the swirls and fuzz of a lonely sounding guitar. But it all works together to just sort of make me feel, what's the word, heartbroken? But heartbroken in a positive way, if that makes sense, which it really doesn't.

Craig Gordon's voice sometimes reminds me of Paul Banks of Interpol too, and he always seemed like a sad guy. Anyway, don't leave here with the impression that The Delta Mirror is a downer in the traditional sense. The songs are solid and highly melodic and they're pretty much exactly what you want to listen to when you're feeling that, "Ah, life..." vibe. That vibe isn't always bad.

Trippy, man. Trippy. Los Angeles' Pearl Harbor is a laid-back, breezy band comprised of two sisters; Piper and Skyler. Piper is in her early twenties, and Sky (as of this writing) is 14 years old. Yes, 14 years old. Woah.

Anyway, the two sisters make swirling shoegaze-y music that's hazy and harmonious and dreamy and sunshine-y and, well, you don't need more adjectives to get the gist. Like most leisurely, dreamy and swirly pop music, this can be a cerebral head trip where all you want to think about is the fleeting, drifting days under the relaxation of the mighty sun's rays. Told you. It's trippy, man. Trippy.

Pearl Harbor will probably appeal to fans of all those old '80s shoegaze bands (you know the bands I mean... let's not get into it) and Best Coast for sure, that band Dunes, and First Aid Kit maybe (but really that's just because they're two young sisters too). Comparisons foreva!

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a pool raft with my name on it (I like to put my name on all my pool accessories for some reason... it's weird).

Philip Seymour Hoffman is a guy I know nothing about. Not the actor. I know lots about him, like how he was the bully in Scent of a Woman. And he likes to eat at this one cafe in Chelsea, like, EVERY DAY. What's up with that, man? There are other places in NYC to eat!

But enough about that other dude. The guy in this band called Philip Seymour Hoffman is the unknown one. Now, don't you go blaming me for not knowing much about PSH the band. This guy often wears a mask when he twiddles his tech knobs and sticks a microphone down his throat. Mystery is kind of the thing he's going for here. And the lo-fi machine wonderment made here is indeed mysterious and haunting, and probably a bit creepy.

It's the kind of music that makes you feel slightly on edge, sort of like how Former Ghosts, another one of my recent favorites, makes me feel. PSH is just sort of overall bizarre and hard to pin down. Perhaps he's like a less accessible Animal Collective, maybe? But it's less pop and more drone and more, well, creepy.

While PSH doesn't have any radio-ready straight-up JAMS that would make good background music for cell phone commercials, this music definitely has the power to suck you in and make you feel something. And hey, if that something is creepiness, well, that's better than feeling nothing at all, right? I'm into this. I don't exactly know why. But I'm into it.

Sweden's Love is All is a festive band that delightfully riffs their way through catchy choruses. These four guys and one woman (she sings) play post-punk that prefers "fun" and "jangly" over "angst" and "gloomy." Of course you probably already know that, considering the name they chose for their band. What I hear most when listening to Love is All is The Wedding Present's strums crossed with The Go! Team's affirmative temperament. Love is All's music defies these cynical times, making them the most optimistic of rebels.

Oh, boo-hoo, another indie super-group... of sorts (YOINKS... just did what every other music writer does and attached "of sorts" right after mentioning a somewhat super band that has members of other bands in that band... YOINKS! But we've talked about this problem of ours extensively on these pages... enough is enough, wasn't remotely funny the eighth time).

The Babies are a super-group OF SORTS (YEEE HAWWW!) featuring Kevin from that band Woods, Cassie from that band Vivian Girls, and Justin from that band Bossy.

I like The Babies. They've got that nice, lo-fi sunny swirling '60s sound you've heard from some of the members' other bands, and they've also got that muffled punk thing going on too. You know, muffled booze punk. Not the punk that goes "ARF! ARF! ARF!" but the kind of punk that goes "YELP! YELP! YELP!"

Yep, The Babies are just what you want sometimes. My biggest complaint with this band though, is that that no matter HOW MANY TIMES I tell them not to play with Daddy's records, they STILL pull them all out and stomp and spin and dance all over the gatefolds. And I won't even begin to help you imagine what 180 grams of vinyl looks like after it's served as a giant teething ring. GOD!

Professor Calculus! Yes! 8-bit video game music made by future rock stars! If you like Anamanaguchi as much as we like Anamanaguchi (and oh-oh, oh what a GAL!), then you'll like this Professor Calculus four-dude crew from Los Angeles in the California.

This is super electro math-rock (Math like Calculus! That means this stuff is hard! I hope I get it! I barely passed Geometry. It was only because of my famous 'protractor protruding from the cheek' trick that my merciful teacher passed me... she was a fan of old time vaudeville, I think.).

But this Calculus isn't too hard for me to understand, really. What's so hard to like about sweetly distorted guitar riffs and splashes of ambience before coming around to a big time arcade chorus!? God, I've always wanted to rock like an arcade.

Anyway, if you like instrumental video game rhythms that appear to go all over the place, but are really on a completely focused trek to one high holy and elusive destination --- Happy Mountain --- then you'll surely be into these dudes. Never heard of Happy Mountain? Well, it's the place in the sky where angst and brooding and boring rock 'n roll aren't allowed. Happy Mountain is a place full of music like Professor Calculus's music; their BOOM BOOM BOOM bass lines and pretty, epic 8-bit bleeps that scream youthful joy.

That's the kind of place Happy Mountain is. And if I'm ever so lucky to get there, I know with all of my heart's hope they'll be playing these guys on the sound system when the other first guests and I arrive for the passing of hors d'oeuvres.

Ayisha Abyss is the first track from Serena Maneesh's new album "S-M 2: Abyss in B Minor," out March 23rd on 4AD.

Norway's Serena Maneesh can, at times, be musically manic-depressive. Sometimes they rock high and sometimes they rock low. Most of the time, they are a purely guttural band out to slay you with their spiky guitars, dangerous rhythms, and distorted samples. But the band does have their lonely moments of reflection, incorporating sparse piano hymns and hushed, dark atmospherics, between instrumental explosions.

Main man Emil Nikolaisen sings sparingly, and often turns over vocal duties to his sister, Elvira, when the songs need the serene, dreamy quality her fragile voice conveys. Serena Maneesh has been compared to wall-of-noise bands like Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain, mixed with the grand orchestration of Sigur Ros and M83. They even had their friend Sufjan Stevens play the flute and marimba on their 2006 self-titled album. Not too many bands can kill you with feedback AND flutes. If that's not musically manic-depressive, I don't know what is.

London's The Joy Formidable are a swirling, dream pop band comprised of singer/guitarist Ritzy, bassist Rhydian, and drummer Matt (it's always the drummer that has the boring name...always the drummer).

So what exactly is a dream pop band anyway? I don't know. I thought you knew! Maybe dream pop is about having lots of hooky choruses under layers of fuzzily unthreatening guitar distortion. Maybe it's about those pretty vocals over that nicely put together noise that makes it dream pop. You know, because without the pretty vocals, maybe it would just be rock 'n roll?

Maybe dream pop is... well, maybe you should ask The Pains of Being Pure at Heart or something, because I don't really know what dream pop is. I just wanted to say it. Dream pop. It feels good on the teeth and the lips and the tongue.

But I DO know that The Joy Formidable are definitely catchy. You can't go on tour with Passion Pit if you're not catchy. That's Rule #1. Rule #2 is that there IS no Passion Pit.

Anyway, The Joy Formidable has a pretty good name too. Their name means they are happy when they cause fear, I guess. Whatever. They are also dream pop. Good dream pop. We think.

Brooklyn's Diehard are an exceptionally catchy foursome that play ALT power-pop seemingly straight from 1993-1996. Yeah! Now, harkening back to the past is not necessarily a bad thing (it's a BAND thing, man... everyone lifts from everyone... and that's why we're all high on POP, baby..., especially when the era you're lending your listeners' ears to was a pretty damn good era.

Yeah, I'm talking about the power-pop era of Weezer's Blue Period. And hmm, maybe the power-pop era of Chicago's Veruca Salt. Diehard kind of reminds me of Veruca Salt for some reason. And heck it, maybe Diehard even reminds me a bit of the indie-pop era of Velocity Girl meets the power-pop era of The Poster Children. Yeah, that's it! Boy, that was one good era.

Of course, this mid-'90s FM-friendly era also had countless ALT bands that employed only deep baritone singers ("AND I FEEL ITTTTTT... WHERE YA GOIN' WITH THE MASK I FOUNDDDDD...), but thankfully Diehard isn't one of those ALT bands from that ALT era.

Ezra Selove and Liz Schroeter trade off very pleasant vocal melodies, actually. And their pretty pop power chords might even make Scott Stapp lay down his crucified arms (for a minute, anyway) in appreciation... not that Diehard sounds like Creed or anything. Creed RULEZ though!

Diehard has played shows recently with Free Energy and Small Black, and should try to jump on a tour with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, if only to relive the magic that was Flight 151. Anyway, Diehard and ALT ERAS FOREVA!

Now I'm going to tell you something I've never told anyone before. But you can't tell ANYONE! At the college I went to, in a hidden corner of a forgotten building, there was this small room called "The Heaven Room." The room was all mirrors; the floor, the four walls, the ceilings. And on the mirrored ceiling there were little patches of painted-on clouds hovering slightly above you, just like little wisps of a dream.

The effect was that it appeared you were floating in the firmament somewhere beyond this universe's borders. And as you stood, solitary, and looked at your image reflected back at you from heaven, soft angelic music played in the background apparently to calm any and all of your earthly cares. It was all very cheesy, of course. And I kind of loved it.

"The Heaven Room" was definitely a guilty pleasure, kind of like how Blink-182 is a guilty pleasure... but not really like that at all.

My point is this; when I listen to the effortlessly ethereal (and dare I say, angelic) voice and dreamlike melodies of Brooklyn's Julianna Barwick, I think of that "Heaven Room." THIS is the music I wish would have been playing in there. Then I wouldn't have felt guilty at all for ditching class to stare up at my image above the clouds and above space and above time. THIS is the music I wish would have been playing in "The Heaven Room." Now, please don't tell anyone I told you this about my college days... ever.

L.A.'s Local Natives play grand and lush guitar pop with plenty of pretty harmonies. Hmm, that seems like all of the elements you need to be huge, don't you think? What's that? Do they have keys and strings and things, too? Why... yes, they DO have keys and strings and things! Does that convince you of their forthcoming hugeness? Ok, good.

When I listen to these five guys (it's always such a pleasant listen), I sometimes hear a bit of Band of Horses. going on. But, you know, less twang-y. I think it's the harmonies mostly that make my brain go BOH! And sometimes when I listen to Local Natives, I hear a bit of that band, Wild Light. Anyone out there listen to that band?

Anyway, THIS band's jam of the moment is this song "Camera Talk." So if you're interested in checking Local Natives out, start with that nice little ditty. You'll hear their grandness and the lushness and the harmonies and the keys and strings and things all encapsulated in that one three-minute-and- forty-five-seconds song.

And if you like it, get their debut album on Frenchkiss (The Dodos, Passion Pit, The Antlers). If you don't like it, sorry for wasting almost four minutes of your life. What else would you have done? Eat ding-dongs and watch Dr. Zhivago in your underwear? That's what we would have done.

If you refer back to my profile on Denmark's Oh No Ono (don't go back and read it - subjecting yourself to these profiles one time around is plenty painful as it is), you'll find that I implied that all bands from Denmark sound like Mew.

Well, I'll be the first to admit when I'm wrong (every time a space shuttle launches into space, that doesn't mean astronauts get out and walk on the moon... who knew... not me.).

The Kissaway Trail sounds absolutely nothing like Mew (except for a little bit of melodic bells). Nope, The Kissaway Trail sounds like a dash of Scandinavian heaven. And Scandinavian heaven sounds remarkably like good pop music. We know; we've been to Norway.

You can sing along to this band very easily, and hey you might even want to try kissing to them too! I mean, why not? Epic pop music that's all pretty and stuff has always been for lovers, after all. Now all you need is someone to love you! Wahhhhh!

The Kissaway Trail says they're influenced by Daniel Johnston and Sunny Day Real Estate. Hmmm, now there are two influences you don't often see lined up next to each other (they also say they're influenced by Grandaddy too, and we definitely hear that).

But really, they should just say they are NOT influenced by Mew. But then Mew would make a counter-claim that THEY are NOT influenced by The Kissaway Trail. And then things would just get ugly up there in Scandinavia. And Scandinavia is normally so pretty. We know. We've been to Norway.

Why, MNDR (pronounced Man Dar) could stand for anything! Could it be Mistress New Disco Rocker? I guess I could do some research and try to find out what MNDR stands for, but 1.) I'm too lazy and 2.) I don't really care. I guess those 2 points are sort of the same point, maybe.

Anyway, what's MNDR all about? It's about NYC's (via LA, via SF) Amanda Warner singing and rapping and making the big time dance beats using some advanced synth tricks, that's what it's about!

Call this gadget-rock. Call it PC-techno-pop. Call it future-blip-core. Call it an electro-geek out. Call it Mistress New Disco Rocker. Call it whatever! But just call it only after you see MNDR in action. You'll have a GOOD time. Why is GOOD all in caps? Because our HAND SLIPPED.

A few more fun facts: MNDR has recently played shows with Neon Indian and Javelin and These Are Powers. And word on the street is she also designed and programmed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' touring keyboard rig. What's, like, a rig? Is that, like, a download? But enough writing, we're going to crunk this MNDR UP! (Maybe it's My Notes Do Rule?)

Former Ghosts' music haunts me. And yes, I know this is a cutesy thing to say because of their name and all, but it's also true. This is a band that gets under your skin and does something strange down there before rising again to the surface. It's no surprise that Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu is in this band, because Xiu Xiu always liked to plunge into my pores too.

Freddy Ruppert is the primary singer/songwriter/synth maker in Former Ghosts. Stewart helps out on the synths and vocals too, but it's Ruppert's show. And man, this music he makes certainly sticks with you... more like clings to you... more like leeches onto you. I don't even know what to call this; dark goth industrial pop of some kind? Whatever it is, the music doesn't make me feel happy. Then again, it doesn't make me feel sad either. It just makes me feel... off.

Sure, the melodies are pretty and everything (this IS a synth band, after all) but prettiness doesn't always lead to godliness. And boy, I don't even know what that means! You see? You see what Former Ghosts does to me? I'm all mixed up. As of this writing, the band is on tour with Cold Cave. And if Cold Cave isn't the perfect touring partner for Former Ghosts, I don't know who is (except maybe some Trent Reznor side project should he ever decide to go in a more peaceful direction).

I like this. I think. But it makes me anxious.

When I first listened to Oh No Ono I thought, "Wow this band sounds a lot like Mew." And then I learned they were from Denmark and I was all like, "Ohhh that explains it!" Isn't it funny when bands from the same location start to mimic each other? What's that all about really? Is it intentional or some sort of zeitgeist subconscious thing? But, of course, this is a long and involved pseudo-intellectual socio-philosophical discussion for another time (like when you and I are both bored to tears and have a few hundred hours to kill).

So going back to where we began, Oh No Ono sounds a lot like Mew; especially the precious elfin vocals we all know and love. Careful now, an ewok riding a unicorn is going to jump out at you from the dense forest at any moment! Oh wait no, that's just the big chorus kicking in. My bad.

Does this description of Oh No Ono sound derogatory? If so, allow me to step back and say I am a big fan of Mew and I do happen to like what I've heard of Oh No Ono. Besides the aforementioned vocals, they've got those grand, swelling melodies that are filled out with lots of pretty strings and things. It's all very epic in its popness! And you'd be crazy not to like epic pop! Right? You'd also be crazy to NOT believe in magic fairy dust. I've been sprinkled with it. It's real and it's spectacular. I should go to Denmark some day.

If you've never had the pleasure of hearing or seeing San Francisco's Tycho, but you just so happened to glance upon his song titles (I don't know why this would happen, but just go with it) --- "Adrift" and "Cascade" and "The Daydream," to name a few of these titles ---- you'd pretty much know what kind of listening experience you'd be in for. Relaxing, ambient, low key, pleasant electro-chill that doesn't suck; that's what you're in for. Ah, I'm much calmer simply after writing that sentence fragment.

Tycho is Scott Hansen, who's also made a big name for himself in the design world as ISO50. When he's not rocking the visuals, he's making pretty, machine melodies and beats that immediately remind me of Ulrich Schnauss, one of the foremost Master Relaxers currently in electronic music.

Yet what's particularly nice about Tycho specifically is how all of his songs flow together effortlessly. His set is like one long smooth wave of electronic warmth. Watch and listen and observe the rough edges around your mood smoothing out. Your once abrasive day will slowly turn to silk with each Tycho bleep, click and soft snare tap. I guarantee it.

Oh, and I want to make this statement too: this is that rare "mellow" electro music that is NOT boring. Who knew there could be such a thing! Pretty, pretty stuff.

Shout Out Louds are four lads and one lady from Sweden and they sound a whole lot like The Cure. Seriously. Singer Adam Olenius does a spot-on impersonation of Robert Smith at his most happy. And I guess that's the biggest difference between the two groups (besides, you know, millions and millions of album sales). Shout Out Louds don't reach for that anguished diary drama like The Cure often did.

This band instead opts for those fun, catchy cowbells and hyper-melodic choruses (more like "Friday, I'm in Love" maybe). Yee haw! And it's a good thing Olenius doesn't incessantly sing about hearbreak, because The Shout Out Louds don't have a whole lot to be sad about these days. I mean, they're on Merge Records, after all. Many people also like to compare Shout Out Louds to their compatriots, Peter Bjorn and John. But whatever, these guys are The Cure.

We enter shows well in advance here at Oh My Rockness. As soon as the venues list them, we list them. But Miike Snow's shows take the cake for "advance warning." On his upcoming 2010 tour, Miike Snow's shows were confirmed like nine months before they were to actually take the stage. What is this, Pavement?

We were all, like, "Who the hell is Miike Snow and why do people need to buy tickets so far ahead of time?" So we did some digging and listening and the first thing we realized is that Miike Snow is a little trickster. You see, Miike Snow isn't a man. Miike Snow is a band! Ohhhhh, so this is like a Milli Vanilli thing, is it?

Listen, Mr. Snow... or should I say Mr. Andrew Wyatt and your beat-making production team of Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg (they've written hits for Britney Spears and J-Lo... serious!)... no one around here likes tricksters. Trixter, on the other hand, had a good jam with "Surrender."

Apparently, you have your own jam on your hands with a song called "Animal." Miike Snow the band's (from Sweden, nonetheless) hit jam "Animal" was played on "Gossip Girl!" Not that we watch that show. Why would we watch "Gossip Girl" when it conflicts with '80s re-runs of Supermarket Sweep on the Gameshow Network? "No, you idiots! Don't go for the diapers! Go for the hams! The hams, I tell you!"

So who does Miike Snow sound like? Well if you don't know by now, it's probably too late to fall in love with them, because all those upcoming shows of his --- sorry, of "theirs" ---- are most likely sold out. And if you know what Miike Snow sounds like, why are you reading this bad band profile? You should be popping out to their hit jamz. (PS. If you really want to know, Miike Snow sound like catchy popster hit makers.)

Brooklyn's Class Actress is some pretty perfect popness from the exceptionally talented singer/songwriter Elizabeth Harper. With the recent additions of machine players/producers Mark Richardson & Scott Rosenthal, Class Actress is now a full-blown band sent directly from heaven to bring ecstasy to your electro-pop bodies. (Wow, that was dramatic.)

Harper's perfectly catchy but slightly melancholy pop --- with just the right dash of intoxicating seduction --- has drawn comparisons to old pop heavyweights like The Smiths and New Order. And a more contemporary Chairlift comparison seems to crop up regularly when musing melodically about Class Actress.

Well whoever they might sound like, Class Actress is what I want to listen to on the dance floor --- because their songs are kind of slow in that slow, dance-y way --- and I can't dance to those fast dance songs that go BOOM BOOM CRASH BOOM very well. Quick boom-boom rhythms just aren't my body's forte.

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.