Hippies

Young, emerging guitar rock bands are lately investing a lot of thought and time into ensuring that their pop music is as steeped in fuzz and scuzz as possible. Harlem are an Austin three-piece that opt out of messing with fuzz pedals and wear their grime on their sleeve instead. You might say they rub some people the wrong way. Their first record's title, Free Drugs, was punctuated with the following, ironically placed emoticon: ;-) Their band name doesn't do them a ny favors with the more politically correct. Their current press bio reads as though it came to its author on PCP, nonsense slapped together solely to give hapless music journalists migraines. :-( Their live set is comprised of as much on-stage, intra-band ribbing as their jukebox rock'n'roll. But they do seem to care deeply about one thing, and that's their songwriting.

If you’re into lo-fi garage rock, well then you are just sitting pretty these days. There’s plenty of it out there, and it’s getting all kinds of attention. But while the attention will eventually fade, shifting to another fleeting interest in some other sound, you’ve got to admit that a lot of bands—Black Lips, Happy Birthday, Golden Triangle, Girls, and plenty others—have made the most of their time in the sun, releasing solid records that, at their best, sound earnest and succeed on their own terms, even if they happen to fall in line with a trend.