Trails and Ways
In recent years, there have been a handful of bands from Oakland who incorporate disparate global influences into a pop template (see: Tune-Yards, Waterstrider, Bells Atlas). In the case of Trails and Ways, their influences (bossa nova, Afrobeat, jazz) get channeled into breezy, upbeat dance tracks that obliterate any barrier you might have erected toward movement. KATHLEEN RICHARDS