The Caribbean features members of DC bands Stuart Went Crazy and the Townies. While the band has been described as “the architects of pop music,” the Caribbean are more comfortable with deconstruction than construction. Mixing found sounds, samples, keyboards and piano with the usual guitar, bass and drums, the Caribbean make albums filled with profound little pop sketches. Nonlinear pop sketches to be sure, but hidden inside every song is the Caribbean’s relentless gift for melody.

Genre: Art-pop, Experimental pop

Sounds Like: The Pixies meet New Order and hang out with DJ Shadow

“On the receiving end, however, the pop wreckages of “History’s First Know-It-All” are quite easy to enter. Most are loaded with all-purpose catharsis, ready to be nodded to on the way to a blind date, or just as things are getting serious, or a few weeks after the break-up. They’re taut with a kind of pointless frankness, but the point is just to be taut. And they are.” - Pitchfork 7.7 

Check Kiting

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In House

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Homepage

Formed in 1999 from the charred remains of two relatively obscure Washington-area groups (townies, smart went crazy), the Caribbean re-located to CD proper before taking a correspondence course degree in pillbox hat design from the Bissinger College of Reflexology (Altoona, PA). They continue to commute, send e-mails, Fedex zip discs and argue about counter-melody, song titles and the death penalty.

Genre: Art-pop, Experimental pop

Sounds Like: The Pixies meet New Order and hang out with DJ Shadow

“…the ‘new lounge’ — would be perfect for the bulk of a record like this…. for you have witnessed the coining of a phrase that will be widely acceptable in our elite musical lexicon in no time at all…. Oh, and thanks to the Caribbean for being the effective catalyst. Nice album you got there.” - Pitchfork 7.8 

Verse By Verse

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Help Would Only Confuse Me

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Homepage

After forming in the mid-90′s from the remains of winnipeg bands cheerleader, banned from atlantis, and the garage people, The Bonaduces (now defunct) recorded two CDs, two 7″s, a number of compilation tracks, a casette, and a casette single. The band toured across Canada several times throughout their lifespan with bands such as ninetynine, the weakerthans, b’ehl and cheerleader. The Democracy of Sleep features the band’s primary lineup of mike, doug, bob and chris, and was recorded by john sutton of the Weakerthans.

Genre: Pop-punk

Sounds Like: The Weakerthans, Superchunk, Built To Spill

Sara’s Black Pyjamas

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A Seperate Lid Behind Closed Eyes

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Carmen

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Myspace

The album (Unity Gain) has been a work in progress over the past three years and has seen Sinewave trade in the drum & bass beats for a more mellowed-out, songwriting based approach and some of the sweetest vocoders this side of Air’s Moon Safari.

Genre: Down-tempo Electronic, Electropop

Sounds Like: Air, Boards of Canada, Mogwai

Wizard Of Ahhhs

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A Ton Of Automatons

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Dodecahedron

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Myspace Homepage

Take A Walk Outside in episode 207 of Kyle XY.