Greg Laswell + Harper Blynn

Cali songman Greg Laswell has a grizzled tone to his voice that can imbue even the cheeriest song with a note of world-weariness—his cover of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" being a fine example of this. His sweet, folk-rockin' arrangements veer toward the maudlin at times, but retain a certain charm. Peter Harper and Jason Blynn—formerly known as Pete and J—make supertight, supercatchy pop music that draws on Simon and Garfunkel's ’60s folk-pop one moment, and Jellyfish in wig-out mode the next.