While Devil is perhaps a little more folk than the Paisley Underground influenced dream pop of Sandoval’s yesteryear, longtime fans need not worry that she is heading in any radical new direction. The new material is a long overdue continuation of her very distinct slow-fuzz sound.

The big surprise isn’t that it is good, it’s that it is actually good enough to rival the strongest work on Alela Diane’s To Be Still.

If the Dirty Projectors’ The Getty Address (2005) is their Brothers Karamazov, then Orca is their Crime and Punishment: it should be required listening in all American schools.

Andorra is a blissful trip from beginning to end, successfully melding electronica with sunshine-psychedelia into a soaring soundscape of sonic peaks and valleys.

Photo and video coverage of Megafaun and Happy Apple at Minneapolis’ Cedar Cultural Center.

Backstage photo coverage of Megafaun at Minneapolis’ Cedar Cultural Center.

Going into the night I was wondering how Woods brittle, lo-fi music would hold up in the live setting, but the band played an amazing set that showed why they have become a pillar in the lo-fi folk scene.

Sure, Distortion may be the conventionally better album, but as far as I am concerned I am sticking with this one…

Photo and video coverage of Datarock and Esser performing at Minneapolis’ 7th St. Entry.

While I think I was initially disappointed that the songs were more straightforward and less wildly chaotic than Menomena’s work (especially their last album), I found myself enjoying the set more and more as it went along.

“Postcards” was not only one of the band’s greatest achievements, but also a marker of where they would go with Flying Cup Club, the band’s next (and even better critically received) full length.

…It’s a savage critique of music and culture, all to the tune of a Dropkick Murphys-esque drinking anthem.