The Mae Shi/So Many Dynamos

With buzz-saw guitars borrowed from Thunderbirds are Now! and the keyboard-fueled, candy-coated madness last heard on the Unicorns' first record, the Mae Shi gives twisted pop a spasmodic kick to the pants. The LA sextet is affiliated with the über-hip arts and music space the Smell (the spiritual home to No Age and others), and Mae Shi's love of big riffs and layered harmonies meshes well with the art collective's kitchen-sink/all-for-one mentality. Co-founder Ezra Buchla (son of synthesizer pioneer Don) left the band in 2006, but a few new additions to the lineup produced last year's HLLLYH, an album stuffed with glistening eight-bit arpeggios, fuzzy bass lines and pinched, nasally vocals. Fellow spazz-rockers So Many Dynamos open the show.