1. Brainstorm
Robbie Moncrieff, a sound engineer for both the Dirty Projectors and Youth Lagoon, helped this experimental duo bring out their inner weirdness. One of the motto's of the Northwest's stalwart scion city has been "Keep Portland Weird" and Brainstorm are certainly contributing to that mantra with grace and fervor. Which isn't to say they've wandered entirely off the beaten path into some sort of avant-garde playground—it's little touches here and there that lend a bit of the manic to their artful pop-rock. The two-track She Moves EP reveals the trio's enormous ability to write and perform innovatively within a saturated musical market.
