Gliss

Devotion Implosion commences with an unabashed, Jesus and Mary Chain-via-Phil Spector imitation, the kind that every modern shoegaze-influenced band seems required to play. But two things save Gliss from getting lost in the hipster shuffle. First, the LA band does the quasi-Britpop dance better than most — while proving that ripping something off is almost always cool if executed flawlessly. More important is the fact that the rest of the album moves seamlessly through an eclectic mix of psych-rock and guitar-pop that often calls to mind Television. Solid melodies layered just beneath a buzzing surface of guitar reverb further glue Devotion's sound collages together.