Album: Mt St Helens Vietnam Band, Where the Messengers Meet (Dead Oceans)

Something stirs over on the West Coast of the US... Until recently, it seemed that the indie-rocking youth looked no further back musically than to Animal Collective.

Now, bands such as the exceptional Sleepy Sun and Seattle's MSHVB are giving up the clever-clever (or as critics would have it "angular") in favour of a rawer, rockier approach that nods to the 1960s (Jefferson Airplane), the 1970s (Pink Floyd) and even the blues the whole shebang was built on. Exciting times, then. The next move will prove decisive.