Our neighbors have been filling us with ionized water and enthusiasm, which is promoting a general high around our house and stirring up late-night sprees on dark chocolate desserts and Junk Culture.

West Coast [mp3] - Junk Culture

Fuzzy and crackly, Junk Culture's Deepak Mantena lays down a funky beat adorned with gold brocade samples of ambrosial delight. Expressive and emotion-jerking, the songs on the album pulse and breathe and flap their wings with throbbing diversity. Twenty-nine seconds of Watson's Glassy Stare overdrive lead into a tinkly, hair-standing-on-end rainy adventure in For Elise. A couple of epic sampler's samplers jump all over the mood map, confusing and entertaining. My fave for continuously hypnotic groove is My Two Hands, full of writhing bounce and involuntary full-body engagement, followed closely by City Side, which cleverly ends with the happy-birthday-to-you ditty. The fresh, 9-track album, West Coast (10/27/09, Illegal Art), leaves you high and says goodbye with a healthy 35 seconds of final, shiny disco.

More Junk Culture. Junk Culture's Blogspot. Buy West Coast.