Jaill, Mope Grooves, Surf Stoned & the Sun Drunks
Recommended
When music writers think a band is not just underrated, but super-duper underrated, they'll use the phrase "criminally underrated" to imply that said band is SO underrated, it should be illegal. And that's not only true with Jaill, but it also happens to be a clever little play on words... y'know, because jail is a place you might go if you commit a crime. The point here is that Jaill is a terrific pop-rock combo out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin that has pumped out a ton of great music over the past 15 years, much of it self-released, some on big indies like Sub Pop and Burger Records. Jaill's songs walk a line between prickly pop and jangle-punk, sometimes sounding like a leaner, meaner New Pornographers without the baroque bent. The band's most recent album, 2015's Brain Cream, is another worthy addition to their criminally... umm... outstanding catalog. BEN SALMON