Gardens and Villa + Palehound

Too groove-y to be punk, too dance to be rock, too Santa Barbara to be L.A. Gardens & Villa have dropped a few members and a moved a few miles south down the California coast, but you'd never know it from the sound of their new album Music for Dogs, one of our best of the year so far. They still bang out modern, bouncy Nuggets gems with the greatest of ease. Support comes from young Boston songwriter Ellen Kempner's Palehound project and Burger Records' Cotillon.