The Songs We Can't Escape

BYGONES
"Spray You with Your Own Trip"

Two minutes into "Trip" and Bygones are interpolating the Hill Street Blues theme into their post-Zorn wow 'n' pow. Which isn't surprising unless you consider that this duo is a match made in math-rock heaven: Hella's drummer and Tera Melos's guitarist/howler joined in unholy, more-sudden-time-changes-than-a-Star Trek-DVD matrimony. Which prompts a question: Why do so many not-quite-noisers devote themselves to fake/real '80s video-game musik but not to fake/real '80s sitcom/drama intros?

30H!3
"Don't Trust Me"

Another nail is hammered into Autotune's coffin. Meanwhile, 30H!3's manager can't understand why Helen Keller Services for the Blind isn't keen on enlisting the band as a Facebook friend and—news flash—nothing was ever truly sacred to begin with.

HYPNOSIS RAINBOW
"Canine Island Force"

Hypnosis Rainbow write one-minute synth-punk rants as if they're under extreme duress, tasked to crank out a decade's worth of Day-Glo aggro bangers by sunset or else. One's as life-affirming and raw as the next, even if quoting their screeds on your wall is pretty much impossible.

PEPPERMINT PONY
"Murda Di Green"

Bury a barely recognizable Jamaican rapper in slatherings of chiptune pop, call it a song, and call yourself a Web 2.0 anarchist. Why not, right? Careers have been built on less, have been way less amusing.

PISSED JEANS
"False Jesii Part 2"

Sweet midlife crisis ironies on deck, here. "I could put on a tight black shirt," one verse sneers; another asserts, "I could match you drink for drink." And several other macho statements of fact surface in "Jesii," yet every last one segues into the same impotent caveat: "But I don't bother." Deliciously, these arms-crossed-tight declarations serve a rip-roaring Tazmanian Devil of a trash punk tune—so it's not like Pissed Jeans aren't passionate about anything.