Despite their name, Boston’s Aberdeen City don’t sound British, or try to sound British, and for that, I thank them. Well, bits of them sound British, but bits of them sound like everything – I don’t remember the last time I heard a band that reminded me of so many things at once, and yet managed not to sound like a slavish imitator or fashion chaser. Drums flirt with post-punk disco beats, guitars echo, buzz and bubble with shoegazey textures, the vocals are earnest in that sorta-emo way and everything has a modern rock-esque radio-friendly sheen. Brad Parker’s vocals are strong but are somewhat lacking in the melodic sophistication department. However, the overall musicianship and production helps pick up the slack. Overall, The Freezing Atlantic is a pretty slick little debut – especially for their first long-player. There’s room for improvement but if they can fulfill some of that potential, they could be a band to watch. Nice album art, too.

MP3: Aberdeen City – “God Is Gonna Get Sick Of Me”

Aberdeen City @ MySpace

The Twin Atlas are a duo based out of New York and Philadelphia who have been happily churning out albums of folkish indie rock since 2000. Sun Township is their sixth full-length in that time, a prodigious output to be sure, but don’t mistake their prolificness for Pollard-esque (lack of) quality control. While ultra-compact at ten tracks and under half an hour, Sun Township is a lush, sparkling jewel of a record from top to bottom. Sean Byrne and Luke Zaleski’s voices and instrumentation wrap you up like a warm blanket. Sun Township is like a concetrated dose of Summer on a plastic disc, just the thing to fend of the approaching Winter blahs.

MP3: The Twin Atlas – “Roll On”>

The Twin Atlas @ MySpace

I was trying to pick a band randomly from my MySpace friends to listen to, but it turns out that I knew a bit about Atlanta’s Luigi after all. Singer/guitarist Michelle DuBois used to be in Ultrababyfat, who also used to feature one Britta Phillips on bass. Ms Phillips, of course, went on to lay down the low end in the dear, departed Luna and while Ultrababyfat soldiered on a little while longer, they eventually called it a day and DuBois formed Luigi. Based on the three songs up for preview on their MySpace page, Luigi continues to deliver punchy, hook-laden, guitar-driven power-pop not that far removed from UBF. DuBois’ voice has a perfect blend of sweet and ragged, and it makes for some excellent boy-girl harmonies with the singing, Y-chromosone-sporting members of the band (I won’t pretend to know which of Scott Rowe and Johnn McConnell are singing what). The band has just released their second album, Found On The Forest Floor.

MP3: Luigi – “Wash It Down”

Luigi @ MySpace