Crocodiles

Up until the middle part of the last decade, Charles Rowell and Brandon Welchez spent time in underground punk and noisy post-punk bands in San Diego, the most noteworthy of which was the Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower. That act dissolved in 2006; two years later, the duo created Crocodiles, which had the same kind of energetic intensity as their previous endeavors. This time, though, they injected it into dreamier soundscapes for a kind of distorted, almost confrontational, psychedelic music, akin to early Tanker-era Bailterspace. The fuzzy expansiveness and emotional fire heard on the group's second album, Sleep Forever, proved to translate even better to the live setting. Expect transporting sounds, along with driving, spiky dynamics and a charismatic frontman who makes you believe that garage rock didn't drown in reverb-drenched surf tunes.