What deprogramming? Oh, for the days when NorCal alt-rock ruled the airwaves, or rather, brain waves – if these lovable Cubby Creatures could speak directly rather than playfully, that's what they would yelp, between sweet, dense (but brainy) spasms of generally exuberant indie psych. The S.F. four-piece dial into an almost lost channel of tuneful NorCal musical surrealism – imagine 24-7 Pavement, Camper Van Beethoven, and maybe even Cake – that never quite inveigled its way into the minds of every listener in the country, although it gave it a damn good college(-rock) try. After a backward masking-tinged interlude, "Electric Goat" does everything short of name-checking Camper, with Bill Fisher's sarcasto-aggro vocals and Emily Davis's violin action. Restless, smarty-pants minds want to know, as Fisher muses on "Song for the Secret," "Where did you get your indie credibility? / Is it the style of the clothes you wear / Or is it your amazing ability / To buy the greatest records ever pressed to vinyl." Fiddling as the center fell away, post-'90s rock, these poster kids haven't been completely deprogrammed – although their saving grace might be their ability to find beauty amid all us cynics ("Antenna"). Cubby Creatures play June 17, Hotel Utah Saloon, S.F. (415) 546-6300. (Kimberly Chun)

Mezmetic
A Handful of Sand (... and a Distant Wave) (self-released)

Sean Mason, a.k.a. Mezmetic, lived in the mic booth of a Tenderloin recording studio for two years, mulling over technical manuals and crafting beats between day jobs. A Handful of Sand (... and a Distant Wave) is his debut album, a genre-bending collection of downtempo mixed with distorted rasta, Valium-influenced electro, and heavy dollops of hip-hop. Several tracks nod toward the darkish, slightly paranoid moods of DJ Krush, but humor that is absent in most heady trip-hop also lies beneath Mezmetic's beats. Tongue-in-cheek ballads like "For a Dime" feature sped-up vocals crooning over heavily distorted, clownish rhythms. "A Strange and Distant Wave" starts off like a gloomy soundtrack until a pleasantly corny theramin riff kicks in, balancing the backbeat and somber motifs. "Life According to In" strays from standard four-count beats. The accordion and harpsichord on this piece are tragicomic, or, as a friend put it, "like watching a drunk stumble through the 11th arrondissement, looking for a circus sideshow." Inapt metaphors aside, it's exciting to review local, do-it-yourself electronica with the depth and original orchestration of A Handful of Sand. Mezmetic's experimental tendencies set him apart from most beatsmiths, and hopefully it won't be long before we hear from him again. (Dave Kim)

Mail stuff for review to Sarah Han, Bay Guardian Building, 135 Mississippi St., S.F. CA 94107.