The Band: The Drums
The Buzz: Surf music from New York? Believe it: this Brooklyn combo combines the starry-eyed wonder of the Wilsons with the pout of the 80s New Romantics, generating the kind of buzz that's going to make them regret having a name that's impossible to Google.
Listen If: No matter what it's like outside, the date on the calendar in your mind is always the middle of July.
Key Track: The hyperactive "Let's Go Surfing," which features breathy vocals, a palpitating bass line and the savviest use of whistling since "Young Folks."
The Band: Helado Negro
The Buzz: Helado Negro is the nom de pop of New York musician Roberto Carlos Lange, a South Florida ex-pat who combines traditional instrumentation with samples and homemade noisemakers to create a kind of nouveaux Tropicalia -- Os Mutantes by way of James Chance.
Listen If: Your record collection goes from As Mercenarias to Tom Ze
Key Track: The soft, subtle "Deja," where Lange's whispered croon winds its lazy way through a thicket of acoustic guitar.
The Band: Ducktails
The Buzz: Not pony tails or cotton tails -- Ducktails is one guy, New Jersey's Matt Mondanile (also of Hype Monitor faves Real Estate), and his instrumental compositions combine the haze of psychedelia with electronic rhythms and the , managing a million different sounds in the space of a single record.
Listen If: The two bands above weren't out-there enough for you, and you're looking for the guy who can cram together Flying Saucer Attack and Strawberry Alarm Clock.
Key Track: The austere "Landrunner," where a single searing guitar line slices its way through the neon-like psych clouds.
