Black Bananas

Black Bananas are a Sunset Beach-based rock-pop-experimental noise band best known for its co-founder and lead singer Jennifer Herrema, whose scratchy, fearless yowl has come to define her groups Royal Trux and RTX. "Electric Brick Wall" was just released by her longtime label Drag City, and it's an odd, curiously magnificent record unlike anything else you'll hear this year.

Rife with old-school synthetic beats, squiggles of analog synth tones, rap beats time-traveled from 1984, wailing, distorted guitar solos courtesy Brian McKinley, and a fearless way of beaming pop and rock music tropes through kaleidoscopes of hiss and aural graffiti, "Electric Brick Wall" is a record that takes work to translate. "Physical Emotions" is a cockeyed, strange funk song that has the feel of Rick James — except it sounds oblong, confused. "Dig Deep" is a stumper of a sex song, but once it clicks, it's captivating.