Chad Vangaalen

Just when you think you've fallen for your last bedroom Banhart with bats in his belfry, someone comes along who once again seems truly nuts, and suddenly you're smitten again. So enter Chad Van Gaalan. On his second Sub Pop LP, dude psyches you out with '70s fuzz rock ("Flower Gardens"), then serves up a really poignant, really ghostly synth ballad ("Red Hot Drops"). But lest any of this cosmic jalopy pop get too coherent for you, there's always a line like, "The chickadees/ Sitting next to me/ Say, 'Many televisions hang like bats in the trees.'" Shine on you crazy indie rocker.