Good Technology

On only their second full-length release in nearly a decade together, Sacramento noise pop trio the Electro Group scale back on the neo-prog conceptualism of 2001's A New Pacifica in favor of a more concise form of buzzy guitar pop triangulated somewhere between early Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine's oceans of feedback, and Dirty-era Sonic Youth. Only three of the album's 11 songs reach the three-minute mark, and the overall effect of perfect little nuggets like the hurtling "Bikini States" and the druggy haze of "Two Course March" is like finding a great lost shoegazer album that's been lying hidden since 1990 or so. Muffled, artless lead vocals buried in a miasma of drones and choppy single-note rhythm lines, Peter Hook-like melodic basslines under shambolic, thudding drums, and a tactile atmosphere so retro you can almost see the anoraks and bowl haircuts, Good Technology is certainly a throwback, but it's the best possible sort of throwback, one that simply pays tribute to a favorite musical time and place.