Saint Annes Place is the musical brainchild of Jacob Cole, who truly steers the band with these leads and his easy to digest songwriting. Joining him in this lofi rock trio is his brother sam, and joel martin, all of which are more central coast california locals. Hearing their full live sound you would not think that this is only a three piece. These guys have an amazing energy live and these recordings are superb.

Happening Now by Grrrl Friend

Vent Somewhere Else by Public Dims

Dionneing it by Stable Boys

The mysterious and enigmatic environments in this song hold true to the eccentric name choice. Wu Lyf, is a post punk garage act who fit into the realm of  bands likeThe Birthday Party, Einstürzende Neubauten, & Bauhaus. Their songs drenched in crunchy guitar with ethereal overtones seem to capture a nice aesthetic. On a personal note, I immediatley added this to my playlist with Zola Jesus & Tearist. Be sure to check out their video above, and dig those skeletal vibes…

The Feeling of Love may call France home, but their warm, jangly sound recalls more Velvet Underground than Daft Punk. Since 2005 the group’s feedback, strong guitars, and a smug tenor have time traveled the listener back to the heyday of 60’s garage rock and it continually feels good. Beyond the Dirt off of 2010’s OK JUDGE REVIVAL LP evokes a Patti Smith feel as the guitar reverb and jingly drums kick the song off and the drawn out vocals keep pace with the fuzz. Beyond the Dirt focuses more on the solid instrumentals that are foot tapping worthy. Young Jesus (also off of their LP) has more of a bluesy feel from the guitar and high-octane vocals that fit along perfectly with the more up-tempo drums creating a durable vintage-tinged sound. Currently The Feeling of Love is staying across the Atlantic, but perhaps they’ll bring their American sound over yonder sooner rather then later.

TROGONS,  mix the psychedelic rock of Jefferson Airplane with shades of 60s garage punk. Brandishing a pastoral aesthetic with song titles like “Heavy Dragoon,” the lyrics aren’t so much surreal as they are whimsical, ripped from the pages of a Dungeons &Dragons handbook. The lead guitar on “Rare Earth Metals” sounds like a trumpet heralding the arrival of a medieval king.

Brain Idea-The Heat

Brain Idea-One More Time

Outside of throwing back a couple of rich and full bodied Busch Beers, Chicago’s Brain Idea, enjoy long walks on the beach, whispered sweet nothings, and playing rock music.

According to their MySpace, Brain Idea sounds like “three dudes hanging out.” Nevertheless, from only sampling two tracks on their MySpace page, the band seems to be onto something. Fusing inebriated garage rock with some shoegaze tendencies, Brain Idea’s slacker take on the rock trio somehow manages to be fresh while retaining all the hooks we have come to love from this genre.

There’s straight-ahead rock going on in über-hip Berlin? Yeah, I was surprised too. TV Buddhas, originally from Tel-Aviv, are on the last leg of their first U.S. tour, bringing with them the remnants of punk and garage rock: distorted guitars, grungy solos, and a badass female drummer. Don’t be fooled by the greasy hair and fuzzy guitars; their power trio exteriors hide sophisticated riffs and a penchant for trailing off into sublime noise. I hope we get them back soon.

From Pitchfork to venues across America to their hit single, “Boyfriend”, becoming a hit music video on MTVU, Best Coast has become America’s Indie Scene sweethearts, with their girl-next-door looks, love and dumped lyrics, and progressive fuzzy dream-pop distortions. Yet for all of their recent acclaim and attention, very little feels undeserving, except perhaps with these praises’ timing. After all, nothing about Best Coast’s formula has necessarily changed, rather it only has taken some pretentious reviewers some time to realize that simple is not bad: rather it is using your available resources wisely for the biggest bang for your buck. And with this thought in mind then, I would like to redirect all those readers in cyber space to Best Coast’s new music video, “Boyfriend”, directed by the very same Taylor Cohen of Matt & Kim fame. Depicting a girl’s Quinceañera, it depicts love, regret, and anticipation in such a unique way that you cannot help but to feel some appreciation for noticing a culture that is frankly, right under our noses. So check out their album, look for the music video, and feel the love/coldness of young love: it’s not like it’s all that new of a feeling anyways.

Brooklyn’s Gross Relations’ myspace page lists Richard Hell and the Voids, The Ramones, and other quintessential punk/garage rock bands as influences. Those bands’ impact clearly echoes in Gross Relations’ fuzzy, lo-fi sound. But Gross Relations also add a surprise electric pop element via singer Joey’s upbeat keyboard melodies.

Austin’s Woven Bones display potential for sure on their debut album In and Out and Back Again , but they still have a few kinks to work out. Mainly the repeative nature of their songs.  Despite this hiccup their album shows  a wealth of promise thanks to some really great and catchy songs.

What if The Ventures did drank alot of Four-Loko and played through an old McDonalds drive through intercom? Well you can stop tossing and turning at night thinking about these deep questions because Vichy Water have the answer. Not afraid to lay down sloppy and wet surf jams, Vichy Water play an infectious mix of garage and surf. The band delivers on” the rock” while indulging in a sound so unpolished it could be called no-fi. Vichy Water hasnt played any shows in the last year, but theres word that they plan on re-grouping , according to their guitarist Dylan.

If you look up the word “God” in the dictionary, there is a picture of Sacramento dreamboat and epic beer-chugger DylDawg. I’ve known DylDawg for years, but have no real concept of him. Despite this, though, I refuse to delve; his mystery is precious, awe-inspiring, totally fucking awesome. He is a bit of an anomaly, but I like that. He talks of Fleetwood Mac and hot bitches. He loves sensitive films like Chocolat but also chuggs vodka out of hollowed-out deer skulls. The man, the myth, the legend: DylDawg. I received the extensive privilege of talking to Sacramento’s biggest teen heart-throb/radio personality/guitar-shredder regarding his epic existence and his fuckin’ radio show, goddamnit.

Texas’s offerings in recent years have become mainstays on the independent scene, and, somewhere inside its precious musical biome, there is Fungi Girls. The trio of teenage heart throbs (Skyler Salinas, Jacob Bruce, and Deryck Barrera) recently signed to HoZac records and will be bringing their impressive pscyh/gaze/garage sound to the West Coast for the first time this July. I talked to drummer Skyler Salinas about the tour and their new 7″ (available here).