Nickasaur!

If you wanted to catch next-generation pop music at its origins, Nickasaur! would be a good place to focus your attention. With a MySpace page proudly announcing, "Hi, I'm Nick. Eighteen/Straightedge/Christian," the shaggy-haired L.A. musician is a walking example of the new kids on the block. (Within a year, of course, he'll need to change at least one of those self-descriptors.) Technologically empowered and shamelessly self-promotional, the new breed is DIY to the extreme. Or as Nick puts it, "I make, record and produce all my music from my room. And to be completely honest, I've never been in a studio." The Postal Service's upbeat, emo-tinged electro-pop might be the most obvious influence behind Nickasaur!'s music, but he also borrows at least one technique from a more unexpected source: chart pop. On virtually every song, he slathers his vocals in pitch-correction software, giving it the unmistakable warble of Cher or T-Pain. The effect? A kind of giddiness that lies beyond irony, where the only thing that matters is your heart on your sleeve.