Looper

Sure, Stuart David is the bassist for Scottish Indie faves Belle and Sebastian, but that doesn't mean he's strictly tied to that band's love of acoustic instruments and skewed, intelligent sweetness. Looper, David's lo-fi electronica project, finds the bassist singing, arranging and creating music that's more in line with Beck's DIY-but-keep-it-funky aesthetic. He's possessed of a wry and unique wit: spoken-word ramblings about television's best detective, Columbo, are backed by sparse and jazzy accompaniment. Restless in his compositional style, he's just as likely to create breakbeat rave-ups such as "Ballad Of Ray Suzuki." David's an intriguing songwriter, and his mix of the acoustic and electronic worlds is genuinely charming and fairly successful. Vintage keyboards dance around with samples of typewriters, pretty melodica parts, and David's own heavily accented brogue. Of course, he hasn't left his bass behind.