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.

Paladino is a Los Angeles-based band that creates a blend of Americana, old-time country and psychedelic folk. Their blend is an interesting one that incorporates playful, intricate guitar riffs with mopey, downtrodden vocals. It’s precisely what you want from such a band; “Ode to Misery” is plenty upbeat. Enough to make you dance. Their video is proof.

Andrew McAllister has a few albums under his belt, but listening to his recordings under Conrad Ford might set you on a path for differing expectations. You see, Conrad Ford was a country music outfit, and his new project under the moniker Vanish Valley is far from that earlier style.

PAPA is the side project of Girls’ drummer Darren Weiss and their music fits well with the chill California sound of Weiss’ other band. “I Am The Lion King” is a track off the band’s new EP, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find. You can hear the track below; it has an edge to it, but it’s laid back. Laid back like you’d expect from a late August/early September anthem. It hints of the beach and summer. And, after listening to the entirety of the …

I really dug Letting Up Despite Great Faults‘ debut self-titled LP. In fact, “Our Younger Noise” was one of my favorite videos of 2009. So getting wind of a new EP in the mix was pretty exciting. “Teenage Tide” is off that EP and it finds the band picking up where their debut left off. The song maintains that perfect dream-pop sound, with consistent guitar riffs draped softly in a fuzzy reverb and fronted by airy vocals.

It’s been a few years since we’ve heard anything from Los Angeles circa Vienna band Sugarplum Fairies. The duo of Silvia Ryder and Ben Bohm are back with a new album called The Images We Get, featuring the signature airy vocals of Ryder and light southern-tinged Americana folk pop. As found on the band’s prior releases, this one is dreamy and filled with accompanying stringed orchestration.

Dream-pop is often best when it has a sleepy bedroom sound to it, casual and relaxed, and that’s precisely how Young Hunting like it. The A-side (“Into Your Mind”) off their new 7″ single, distributed by K Records, hints of The Beach Boys-like harmonies backed by soft, dreamy, borderline psychedelic pop. Their old-time pop sound has also been likened Harry Nilsson, which is more apparent in “Sonata”, the single’s b-side. A more modern reference could be the romantic silhouette vocals of Sweden’s Moto Boy. However you …

Of the two videos I’ve covered by director Chris Ewing, both have featured multi-media of sorts; he does it again with “Stupidland” by Family Of The Year, a folk-pop band from Los Angeles. What makes this video so interesting is that it was shot on a still camera, one frame at a time. That’s an impressive feat.

One of my favorite recent videos is that of Letting Up Despite Great Faults’ dreamy fuzz-pop tune “Our Younger Noise”. That video was directed by Chris Ewing, who has returned with a new video for the LA band Seasons. Backed by Seasons’ light dreamy pop, the video for “Light, Lost” opposes the song’s pleasantries in the most endearing of ways. In Ewing’s own words, he describes it as a slightly creepy, surreal adventure story about a pretty girl and the monsters that follow her around and it …

It’s interesting to hear the progression No Age has made since Nouns. “Glitter” is an entirely different beast. Sure there are elements of noise that the band so favored on that brilliant debut from 2009, but here it’s contained and restrained. They’ve tamed the beast. No longer do they shout to be heard amidst overwhelming, clever guitar riffs. No, here they focus on a consistent drum beat and actually… wait for it… sing! Still, the song builds and grows into a noisy little creature, …