I always get excited when something new by Eux Autres comes across my desk. The ex-Portland, now San Francisco brother-sister duo plus third member Yoshi Nakamoto (The Aislers Set, Still Flyin’) will release a new EP called Sun Is Sunk via Bons Mots Records on February 28. Recorded by Jason Quever (Papercuts), expect Sun Is Sunk to push the boundaries of what you know about Eux Autres.
The Larimer siblings (Heather and Nicholas) have always created highly infectious, French-influenced garage pop, and that continues in “Right Again”. …

I love it when N8 submits his year-end lists. They are unpretentious, span a vast repertoire of genres, and typically include several albums I have yet to hear. N8′s 2011 list fits the mold: in fact, I have yet to listen to any of the ones that made the list this year. Now this is not by lack of want or know — I’m familiar with many of the albums, just haven’t gotten around to them. Dig in and enjoy!

Mexican Summer is the type of label that when it puts out an album, you give it your full attention. Unfortunately, I’ve been vacant of late. This is tragic, though the good news is that Mike Wexler has brought me back into the Mexican Summer light. A dreamy psychedelic pop sound, filled with chill ambient sounds, borderline haunting with Wexler’s vocal rasp. It makes songs like “Pariah” very cool.

Brutal honesty: I’m stuck on Helvetia’s 2011 album The Lam right now. In particular the first track (“Saucer of Dread”) and track 3 (“On the Lam”). Helvetia has returned with a new track called “A Mirror” and it embodies precisely why I dig this band: epic soundscapes, driving shoegaze riffs, hazy melodies, downtrodden vocals.

In a way, I kind of miss the days when Of Montreal gave us songs like “Disconnect the Dots” and “The Party’s Crashing Us” and even “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal”. Paralytic Stalks seems a different beast entirely, filled with further psychedelic pop experimentation than we’re used to from Kevin Barnes and company. The more I listen to it, the more I get it. This album is not supposed to be an easy listen.

In the layers between folk music and pop music lays a fantastical world where I often enjoy spending time. It is here I discover some of my favorite songs, bands and albums. Today’s band is a new find, and it comes from this mystical land of upbeat storytelling, catchy riffs and subtle hints of a country sound. Whistle Peak joins together experimental folk with electronic pop.

Something dark and immense haunts the pop that Ben Heywood (Summer Darling) masters on his new release Skills for the Long Emergency under the name Heywood. From the depths of a post rock, shoegaze haze, Heywood will just as readily produce mind-melting noise as it will dive into an obscure, dream-like melody.

Brooklyn based Lightouts are Greg Nelson and Gavin Rhodes. The duo creates thick and fully developed rock music pulsing with electric guitar solos and clean, rolling harmonies. Progressive and balanced, the band’s sound is reminiscent of 90’s alt rock and 70’s glam rock dance halls; their music just makes you feel good. These guys have a true gift for musicianship, structure, and layering; they know what they’re doing and they do it well. Frivolous, motivated, tightly focused and refreshingly energetic, Lightouts are a welcomed cure for winter blues.

Ulrich Schnauss and Mark Peters have joined forces outside of their project Engineers for something a bit different. Their album, “Underrated Silence” is expected to drop February 2012. “Underrated Silence” is ambient, dreamy, mostly instrumental electronic shoegaze with spacey synths, soft guitars, and hints of piano.

Inspired & The Sleep is a little band out of San Diego that creates music much in the vein of artists like Tune-Yards. “While We’re Young” in fact has that band written all over it. The song is sunny lo-fi pop at its finest; upbeat and filled with joyous blissful indie vocals, tribal percussive beats, and twee acoustic guitar.