Mixtapes live in a weird intersection between well-produced pop-punk and lo-fi indie pop. On the one hand they have a fatter drum sound than I expect from low-budget indies; on the other, the co-ed vocals sometimes have just enough unsteadiness to be endearing (not grating). They write insanely hooky tunes about stuff like sexual frustration, classic Metallica, coping with life, feeling sour grapes-y about an ex, and guilt over not wanting to go to a party. They tackle these subjects with keen observation and sharp humor. If they have a flaw it might be a little too much self-awareness; I could give them a song-about-writing-songs penalty flag, but it’s waived on account of general awesomeness. So far they favor frequent, short releases, which I am totally down with. The recent “Hope is For People,” is as a fine starting place; the title track is for sure on my year’s best shortlist. mixtapesohio will help get you hooked up with almost the whole enchilada. You’ll need to hit up Death to False Hope records to score the “Castle Songs” single (while you’re at DtFH, check out the Candy Hearts release, too). Most of Mixtapes’ releases are Creative Commons licensed, so you can download ‘em legit for free, then kick a donation to the band if you love their music like I do, and want more, more, more.

The Ackleys (2005); Forget Forget, Derive Derive (EP, 2006)
Indie-power-pop. Splashy drums, some keyboards give it a slightly new-wave sheen.

as King Everything:

The Drought (2008)
Mostly acoustic guitar/vocal

with P.S. Eliot:

The Bike Wreck Demo (2008, read about Bike Wreck demo here), Introverted Romance in Our Troubled Minds (2009), Living in Squalor (EP, 2010, pay-what-you-want download), Sadie (2011)

Except for the demo, which is crazy blissed out fuzzerific, this is straight up pop-punk. If you have to play the sounds-like game, maybe try Sarge, but since you can at least sample some guilt-free, don’t bother playing sounds-like; just listen & decide for yerself.

with Bad Banana:

Crushfield (2010; artist-approved download (mediafire))

Treble and sugar overdose low-fi buzz saw pop-punk. Yum.

as Waxahatchee:

Split release with Operation Cliff Clavin (2010)

Severely-traumatized-microphone-style acoustic guitar/vocal record. If not for the Internets, I’d still be wondering if “Clumsy” was a tune on one of the KRS Elliott Smith albums that I’d somehow overlooked due to its proximity to all the other awesome songs on those records. A thing about Crutchfield’s singing and production: it hasn’t, ’specially lately, fetishized clarity or anything, so a thing that happens a lot is I’ll be digging a tune basically just because it’s catchy and a really good lyric line will just jump out and floor me. So it’s helpful that the lyrics for the Waxahatchee split are available.

(Also on the read-the-words tip: Introverted Romance in Our Troubled Minds)

Except for Sadie, which is not out yet and now near the top of my “most anticipated releases” list, I think I listened to everything on this list as least twice this week. So, yeah, I endorse this.

h/t I Could Die Tomorrow, without whom my week woulda been a little duller

The upshot of all this is that The Dollyrots’ Because I’m Awesome has gotten lots of play this year, and I keep upgrading the ratings of individual tracks. First I crushed on the title song, which I think exemplifies the band’s core strength, Kelly Ogden’s nuanced vocals. Uptop she’s all bluster and bravado, but there’s a subtext of vulnerability. It’s as if somewhere inside this strong, confident personality there’s an element of the nervous gas-masked rabbit from the slightly creepy cover art, and that provides the depth that I think separates The Dollyrots from the rest of the pop-punk pack. Of course, there’s also the slamming production team of John Fields, Jacques Wait and Kenny Laguna, who collectively pull off an everything louder than everything else hat-trick: massive drums, huge guitars, and powerful vocals.

“On Our Way Out of L.A.” also caught my ear early on, not least because it mentions “the Abbey Lounge in Boston,” a locale dear to my heart. Then “My Best Friend’s Hot” and “Cat Calling” took their turn. Together they’re the flip side of the title tune; the insecurity expressed by their lyrics is belied by the exuberance of the performances. Most recently, the lion’s share of spins have been going to “A Desparate S.O.S.” a super-kinetic, paranoiac rant that’s a bit like R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” on speedballs.

So basically, nearly half the disc consists of year’s-best list candidates. And the year isn’t over yet, either.