Yesterday Dennis informed me that he's found a couple of my recent music suggestions to, well, suck. I think he was referring to Hot Hot Heat which I'll admit is a bit different than the alt.country sort of ground that he and I usually share. It's with great trepidation, therefore, that I suggest I couple of new things that I've been listening to. They're both odd. Really odd, in fact. I think they're good spring tunes, though.

The new album from Manitoba (Dan Smith) is really strange. "Up In Flames" is a insane hodge-podge of electronic and organic sounds. The result, to my ears, is incredibly fun and hummable. Think of it as Aluminum Group meets Beta Band. Don't take my word for it. Metacritic pretty much loves it, too. The second track, "Skunks," features croaking frogs. Need I say more?

With no new Flaming Lips to get me through the summer I've had to look elsewhere for baroque pop sugar. I've settled very squarely with The Starlight Mints and their new album "Built on Squares." For the uninitiated, the Mints create a jazz-tinged pop that really has to be heard to be understood. From an Insound review (because I couldn't say it any better and I wouldn't want to pull a Jayson Blair)...

An infectious orchestral psych-rock record from the Oklohoma (sic) co-eds that get compared endlessly to The Flaming Lips but really seem to have been spawned from an intociating (sic, again) one-night stand between The Kinks and The Pixies. Recommended.

So there. Two randomness recommendations that come with an outside seal of approval. Enjoy!