CHRISTMAS ISLAND: BLACKOUT SUMMER (IN THE RED, 2009)

Lo-fi garage pop from San Diego. I've started listening to this one in the morning; it goes well with the day's first cup of coffee. Highlights: "My Baby," a sad, jilted-lover song that descends from 60s girl group laments, and "I Don't Care," a catchy, jangly number about tunnel-vision obsession.

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PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT: SHITGAZE ANTHEMS EP (WOODSIST, 2009)

Everyone seems to hate these guys. Is it because they call themselves shitgaze but more often than not, aren't? Is it because frontman Matt Whitehurst made us all feel kind of bad about liking Wavves?

I'm not sure, but either way, there is something really appealing to me about Psychedelic Horseshit just in theory; it's not that there is a swear in both the name of their band and the name of this EP, and it's not that this EP was released by my favorite label of the moment, Woodsist. It's that they're the weird, bad kids in the back of the class causing trouble. I can't help but identify.

They deliver in practice, too. Shitgaze Anthems, a self-proclaimed "nice, safe compilation of B-sides" boasts some of the catchiest songs I've heard this year (Are You On Glass is especially monstrous) delivered through a fun, textured mess of lazy vocals, handclaps, and distortion.

In a recent interview, Whitehurst proclaimed that everything sucks, including his own band. When the interviewer came back at him with the question "Then why should anyone listen to you?" he replied, "Because we're FUN, duh." Indeed.

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THE MAYFAIR SET: YOUNG ONE EP (WOODSIST/CAPTURED TRACKS, 2009)

The Mayfair Set is Mike Sniper of Blank Dogs and Kristen Gundred of Dum Dum Girls. On this Woodsist/Captured Tracks co-release, Gundred's sweet, 60s vocals effortlessly float among Sniper's eerie shitgaze distortions to create something different from (and at times, better than) any Blank Dogs or Dum Dum Girls releases. Sniper and Gundred are undoubtedly best when they sing together on Dark House, a haunting take on the classic boy/girl duet that conjures images of a crazed Sniper chasing Gundred through a house full of ghosts.

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