Living amidst the wheat fields in eastern WA has reminded me lately of how well small towns can be suited to particular things. Locally grown food, irresistible coffee shops, and most importantly the glory of house-shows. The independent music spectrum lends itself well to the intimacy of a house-show performance.

Pepper Rabbit broke through last year with a few pretty stellar EPs. Xander Singh and Luc Laurent, the force behind this exceptional band, are back with something new. It’s called “Older Brother” and it can be found on their LP, Beauregard, released recently courtesy Kanine Records. “Older Brother”, like many of the songs off the duo’s EPs from last year, is light and playful with great indie pop hooks and harmony vocals in the vein of Michael Nau (Page France, Cotton Jones).

Colorful and as epileptic-inducing as a Dan Deacon video is “Bead”, the latest by Dinowalrus and director Matthew Caron. This video is not for the fainthearted: those susceptible to epilepsy, vertigo and possibly even claustrophobia might want to turn away, or at least close their eyes. Dinowalrus is a Brooklyn-based drum and drone group that flirts with electronica and psychedelia.

Your typical singer that possesses the airy whispery vocal styling tends to take a back seat to the instrumentation that accompanies it, but that is not the case with modern shoegazers Zaza. These mystical, dreamy vocals hold just as much weight as the swirl of sound that gives Zaza’s music the shoegaze name. Their upcoming EP Cameo, out next month on Kanine Records, features six tracks of exalting audible pleasure.

It’s hard to capture the imagery behind a band like Chairlift. It’s always just out of sight, both the glimpse of meaning and the meaning behind the words. There are so many little message, tiny metaphors, hidden meanings and cute phrases. But it’s all a wash; Chairlift’s music is uplifting and fun, and it’s injected with a cool — even hip — dose of pop.

It hasn’t been all that long since reviewing Jean On Jean‘s self-titled release. Despite a mass of great songs, there was still a clear winner: “Tonight”. The ex-Out Hud cellist now has a video for the single; it’s fitting, filled with leaves and colors masterfully added to compliment her sometimes folky style of soft, soothing pop.

Indie-pop tends to be static and homogenous, but Jean On Jean utilizes the genre’s core traits in such unique ways that it becomes quite fresh. Lead by Molly Schnick (Out Hud), Jean On Jean is an excellent recipe of indie-pop sub-genres, from minimal to experimental, and bedroom to orchestral.

Written by Fense
Chairlift (MySpace) is an 80s-influenced synth-pop trio from Brooklyn and their eerily dark pop will surely take the states by storm when they release Does You Inspire You, their debut LP, on Kanine Records this fall.