Black Moth Super Rainbow: Dandelion Gum

A lot of neo-psych bands get the trippiness right, but can't find that magical mix of tunefulness and sonic invention that makes listeners want to take their trip more than once. On Black Moth Super Rainbow's third album, Dandelion Gum, the mysterious Pennsylvania combo builds songs out of scratched fragments of roller-disco, sunshine-pop, and what sounds like intercepted interstellar broadcasts. Songs like "Jump Into My Mouth And Breathe The Stardust" are dense and fuzzy, with layers of vocoder, shrill synthesizers, and twangy guitar, but they also maintain a basic structural integrity. Even though Dandelion Gum opens with "Forever Heavy"—one of the best mind-bending album-starters since My Bloody Valentine's "Only Shallow"—Black Moth Super Rainbow is effective because it isn't afraid to let songs float off like brightly colored balloons.