Brothers Past

Brothers Past is one of those rare bands that defies categorization -- at least, after a few listens of the band's new record, This Feeling's Called Goodbye. What could, at first, be the future of indietronica explores noodly pastures and emerges as heavy singer-songwriter, jazz-rock fusion before revisiting its bloops and bleeps. Of course, that's the nature of experimental music, which this band's been dabbling in for years.

Unlike its Philly compatriots (and closest sound-alikes) the Disco Biscuits, Brothers Past has managed to hold onto its jam roots while exploring the limitless boundaries of the studio. "State Police" is standard-issue indie mope-rock -- that is, if you ignore the background chimes and the double-helix guitars at the song's core. "Year of the Horse" expands on the trance-fusion concept that the Biscuits pioneered, with a summery guitar shimmer and walled-up vocals that may or may not be synthesized. Brothers Past obviously worships both Radiohead and Phish, and if this band can explore its sound onstage as successfully as it does on Goodbye, it may soon emerge as the future of a tired genre.