The first release I received of Br’er in the mail from Edible Onion was shocking. On vinyl, the album was tucked into a nice, hand-made cover featuring the nether-region of a nude male body with large garden clippers hiding the member. To be honest, I’m kind of glad Of Shemales & Kissaboos is similar in nature.

Keith Birthday’s voice possesses a quivering vibrato that plays well with Norwegian Arms‘ lo-fi experimental folk-pop. That being said, this band features a similar uncivilized nature as that of Animal Collective and tUnE-YarDs. There’s something wild and earthly about them, organic and unrefined. And that’s what makes a band like Norwegian Arms good — they’re a bit unexpected.

For a concept album about a post-apocalyptic world, Home Church Road sure does have the erratic presence you’d expect. Folklore, not surprisingly, seems quite comfortable in the realm of folk songs. But they do throw in plenty of wild, borderline punk ones to match. All of it lo-fi.

Edible Onion always provides the most unique cover art, be it on CD or vinyl. One of their latest is from a band called Snow Caps, the release: Moonbreak. Snow Caps creates light, playful bedroom folk-pop. The band is Andrew Keller of Hermit Thrushes, and Moonbreak is the result of more than two years of recording by Keller, spanning several rooms in a Philadelphia home. The album flickers between full folk-pop songs and instrumental ones. It is intricate, beautiful, a little odd at times, but …

Bardo Pond is somewhat of a mystery. “Don’t Know About You” features epic soundscapes ringing with loud guitars and borderline grunge female vocals, a sound that is stunning at the very least. Then there are songs like “Sleeping” which dive into more minimal, loopy instrumentation, focusing on echoing soundscapes and flute melodies.

Fuzzy, dreamy guitars and harmonic female vocals may lead you to think of some pretty notable bands of late, specifically Best Coast, Vivian Girls, and Dum Dum Girls. Others too. Add another one to the list, with Reading Rainbow‘s chill, fuzzed-out pop song “Wasting Time”. Take a gander at “Always On My Mind” and you still get the chill and dreamy nature of the previous song, but things are a bit slower and feature a monotonous, surreal drone that flirts with both instrumentation and vocals.

A little dose of pretty soundscape pop can be a wonderful thing to have in your life. Finding that perfect background music for the gentlest of moments in your life can be absolutely exhilarating. Clean Equations might just be the perfect indie pop group you can find right now for such an experience. Their debut album People/Variables has a lot to say as far as lyrical content, but not likely enough to deter your attention away from the mass of organs, splendid guitar work, and wonderfully out-of-sync …

The Asteroid #4 are masters at psychedelic pop. It was rampant on the band’s fifth album, These Flowers Of Ours…, and you’ll hear them continue the same musical traits on their new one, Hail To The Clear Figurines. Being their sixth album, Figurines, the band expands this psychedelic sound to be more encompassing; the sounds fill more space, drowning out the world with epic reverb and dreamy words.
“Ignition Slated for Eight” is the final track off the new album and it is an easy favorite. …

Everything that I have seen and heard from Philadelphia group Golden Ages has been very cutting edge. This band has influences, yes, but they pick apart the good pieces and expand on them for a sound both entrancing and captivating. There is something entirely dream-like about everything this band touches, yet it is vivid and clear. This trait is blatant in their video for “Everything Will Be Alright”; traffic signs and light posts split apart and drift away. In the beginning, a bizarre triangle appears, like …

When I first checked out Netherfriends last year, I may have noted that they reminded me a bit of Animal Collective. That, maybe, and perhaps The Dodos. But, in actuality, they’re somewhere between. Gone are AC’s tribal shrieks and gone are The Dodos’ acoustic strums. When it comes down to it, Netherfriends really are their own beast. They may fit that same string of genres — folk, pop, experimental, psychedelic, and eccentric as all hell, to name a few — but their sound is really …