The Fresh & Onlys may steep their songs in reverb, tape hiss, and recorder grot, but the frayed production is just a smokescreen. Deep down the San Francisco-quartet has a sweet tooth for melody. "Diamond in the Dark", from the August in My Mind EP, is loud enough to pin the VU meters on the band's beloved 4-track, but each blast of feedback is brought forth on the back of a hazy psych-rock hooks. It's a formula that The Fresh & Onlys largely worked out on tape. Avid home-recording enthusiasts, most of the band's existence has been documented and released. In a little over two years the group-- lead by songwriters Tim Cohen and Shayde Sartin-- has released two full-length records, a handful of 7" singles, and a cassette. They've got a pretty good sense of humor, too. "Dude's Got a Tender Heart", from Grey-Eyed Girls, is the most convincing piece of Spector-esque pop ever written about a grown man on roller-skates.

On "Diamond in the Dark", The Fresh & Onlys keep a straight face. "Lets you and I make right again, up in the sky tonight," sings Cohen in an earnest and slightly-gothy baritone. The lead guitarist, at least, is on board. The ensuing solo mirrors the sentiment, ascending into thrashy abandon while the rhythm section ramps back up for the choogling outro.

MP3:> The Fresh & Onlys: "Diamond in the Dark"

[from August in My Mind EP, out now on Captured Tracks]

Earlier this year, Vampire Weekend and Serena-Maneesh both introduced highly anticipated albums by taking ownership of their most divisive qualities and presenting them to their detractors without apology. After an initial listen to minimalist slink of "Sole Brother", I thought Born Ruffians would be the third party needed to elevate this gambit to the status of "trend," but here's the problem: Though a band on a label the size of Warp is certainly at a level to legitimately have haters, Born Ruffians' two best known songs to this point are a remix of "I Need A Life" that almost entirely dismantled its source material and a needling, bothersome cover of Aphex Twin. In other words, without the risk associated with having one's reputation at stake, "Sole Brother" seems less a well-timed middle finger than an unpleasant and uncontrollable tic. The pint-sized funk riffs are catchy enough, but everything else-- from the production to the rhythm section's complete lack of groove to Luke LaLonde yelping about helping out ol' grandpappy in a Jeff Buckley-via-Cold War Kids karaoke-- makes you feel like you've stumbled upon an illicitly leaked demo. I won't totally rule out that their upcoming LP Say It might recast "Sole Brother" as a part of a "lose the battle, win the war" master plan, but at this point, I can't even envision Four Tet being able to swoop in and save this dog.

MP3:> Born Ruffians: "Sole Brother"

[from Say It; out 06/01/10 on Warp and Paper Bag]

Photo by Erez Avissar

Still working the kind of corroded, rave-inflected 90s dance sound heard on Dark Rift, Travis Egedy's Pictureplane returns with new track "Beyond Fantasy". Here Denver's own one-man house party moves out of his comfort zone a little, taking a more energetic approach to his established sound. Egedy is mostly flexing his remix muscle, speeding up a sample of UK one-hit-wonder Baby D's 1992 anthem "Let Me Be Your Fantasy" and augmenting it with a few subtle embellishments, like juicy synth tweaks and crusted drum breaks. While "Fantasy" sounds as cemented in time as the source material it pulls from, it also feels like a hardline campaign for the warehouse set. So breathless and dizzying that it sometimes threatens to trip itself up on its own momentum, "Fantasy" proves that a Pictureplane track can go easy on the sonic detail and still be immediately gratifying.

MP3:> Pictureplane: "Beyond Fantasy"

[self-released]