Hailing from London, England. A dizzyingly swirly trip with highly affected drowsy vocals and woozy reverbed guitars both courtesy of Alasdair MacLean, fluttering piano and languid bass all keep things wonderfully reeling and quite reminiscent of '60s psychedelic pop. Often very Donovan-esque. The only thing to keep you grounded is Keen's steady tick-tock drumming. Merge Records.

Vetiver is named for an aromatic East Indian grass that grows in California, and their music delivers on the sunny, hazy sweetness the band's name suggests. Singer Andy Cabic has--with some help from Devendra Banhart--written a set of songs that at their best are strange, subdued and otherworldly, a quality you can't fake... Cabic's voice lures you in, like a less showy Jeff Buckley, and the rest of the songs unfold like a dream.