Get Ready For Time Distortions!

Deerhoof “Snoopy Waves”

In another world, John Dieterich is playing guitar in a much more mainstream band than Deerhoof, but I suppose that world is also a bit more dull. Dieterich’s playing is loose, slick, melodic, and restless, and serves as a fine counterpoint to the trio’s more child-like and/or abrasive impulses. The guitar parts throughout Offend Maggie are exceptionally crisp and vibrant, but I’m most partial to the way his grooves and leads fall together in “Snoopy Waves,” a composition that briskly moves through several phases, as if to compress an entire day’s worth of emotions into a two minute song.

Buy it from Kill Rock Stars.

Julia Holter “Moto Perpetuo”

Holter’s composition sounds like a cross between a music box and a video game, and implies a tiny, delicate, finite world, like a snow globe or a level within a game. It’s pretty and sweet, but obviously artificial in a way that reminds us of the messy reality of our own world, but also that it’s necessary to imagine and invent these alternate realities. Also: Hey, look! This song’s title is very similar to my given name.

Buy it from Amazon. Go here for more information about Julia Holter.