I hate to make trite "sounds-like" associations as much as the next guy, but I honestly think that if My Bloody Valentine had been around to join the Elephant 6 Collective (or vice versa), they'd have produced something very much like Pacifico. The Lassie Foundation is one of those bands you only want to tell a select few friends about, as if the intimacy of their recordings will somehow be spoilt when the band makes it big. It's a wonderful sound -- timeless pop harmonies hidden beneath layer upon layer of brittle flaky-pastry feedback, with Wayne Everett's dubious falsetto surfing along the crest of the tune. An endearing assortment of analog electronic fiddling creeps crazily through nearly every song, as if someone had wandered into the studio during recording and proceeded to send faxes and repair police scanners within earshot of a live mic. Cuts like "Dive Bomber" and "Come On, Let Your Lime Light Show" combine overdriven sonic architecture with a core of pure Beach Boys simplicity, and the results are invariably, inevitably gorgeous. Indeed, when the feedback trappings suddenly dropped away for the unembellished "Kisses as Bounties", it was only that familiar pop footprint that convinced me I was still listening to the same disc.

Things are clearly happening for The Lassie Foundation. "El Rey" has supposedly been co-opted for an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," so it's only a matter of time before everyone's all over them. You have a narrow window in which to secure "I Was Into Them Before..." rights, and I strongly urge you to use it right away.