Tilly and the Wall bring a certain kookiness to the indie music scene. With vibrant harmonies and equally colorful ensembles, I like to think of their music as regurgitated sunshine; they extract a honey-like sweetness from nostalgic, bitter themes. Their sound, strongest in "Fell Down the Stairs," "Sing Songs Along," and "Lost Girls," communicates the lost feeling of unembittered youth and love, while comforting the listener. And to top it all off, they have a tap dancer for a percussionist!

I've been following San Francisco-based band Little Teeth for around 3 years now, and coincidentally, they've been touring with Tilly and the Wall. While their common thread is their cacophony of sounds, their styles are far from similar. If Animal Collective and Devendra Banhart are classified as freak folk, I'd say that Little Teeth falls into the circus freak folk category. 

Frontwoman Dannie Murrie coos, howls, screams, belts, and cockle-doodle-doos very much like a deranged rooster. True, she's not always on-key, but her voice is emotionally on target. Employing a stream of consciousness lyrical process, her fearlessness is commendable. Dannie Murrie and company are firecrackers possessed by something not entirely human. It was "Japanese Candy" that first reeled me in. Other stand-outs from recently released Childbearing Man include "Between My Ears" and "Sideways."

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