Hikes - Shepards Clock (2012)

First off...take a moment...breath.... now click on the bandcamp link below and listen to the track Hikes has on for display. Come back when you are done I'll wait here.
















WTF?@!  THAT OPENING RIFF IS DEVASTATINGLY GORGEOUS. OMFLIP.

Seriously it could open a portal into another dimension. The rest of the song? equally gorgeous. These cats have something truly special brewing and I need more of whatever they are currently dishing out. Math Rock? yea sure but that guitar has clear Folk finger picking down home goodness baked in. harmonies? check. Sweet memorable melodies? check. Soaring boy/girl vocals? check. If this was part of an album and every song was this arresting I would dare say I'd need to block off some time to digest it. Can't say enough good things about this other than "I NEED MORE"


hikes

Yeah Great Fine - Yeah Great Fine (2010)

Portland boys always seem to know how to mix the genre's into a delicious slurry of awesome. Yeah Great Fine continue this general position by angling themselves in a fairly unique way.  Lets cheat and at the fore front say guitar led indie rock. On top of this is a healthy dollop of sweet sweet pop music. This is mostly evident in the vocals and harmonies...kinda summery beach boys type progressions (the simple ones that is)  I can hear you thinking already  "jesus dude this sounds like your describing 100,000 bands" but wait theres more.  This is where the Math Rock steps in. A lot of it is yes the drums being awesome and all over the place but there is certainly some rhythmic complexity weaving in and out with the guitars.  Some of the songs do come off a bit generic when they dont try and stick their head above water to soak in the math rock rays of the sun as much as they should. Thankfully the EP rectifies this issue and injects some seriously saucy rhythmic jaunts. Makes me all the more excited for a full length.   

ps. im catching like a sun shiny maps and atlases with a less tap happy bent.

Yeah Great Fine (2010)
Circadian EP (2011)

The Most Serene Republic - Population

Population is the sophomore effort from Canada's The Most Serene Republic. Signed to revolving door super group Broken Social Scene's label arts and crafts you may be able to piece together the sonic puzzle of this band. Boy girl vocals, horn section, indie pop rock with dynamic song structures....sound familiar? Well yes and no.  You'd have to be in a lot of denial to say that they don't sound even a little bit like BSS. But it would be doing this group a disservice to dismiss them on these charges. Its a very enjoyable outing and actually pushes things a bit more than even their influences do.  Also as another feather in their cap the drums are top notch running amok. Just check out  album highlight "compliance" where they are front and center tearing up the earth around them. Its worth the time to check but wont be sneaking on anyone's top 20.

Population