Crystallized Psych

Just when you sorted out all the different "wolf" and "diamond" bands, along comes the attack of the "crystal" acts to stir up even more confusion. Here's how to tell Crystal Antlers — the Long Beach quintet signed to venerable Touch & Go Records — from the others with similar monikers. It does psych-rock as aggressively as possible without becoming a full-fledged "noise band." Like obvious antecedents Comets on Fire, Crystal Antlers build fuzz on top of fuzz. Screams and howls meet waves of nitroglycerin guitars, and just when the Antlers' tornados threaten to tear off the top of your skull, the clouds part and the band retreats into some lovely, organ-laced acid-rock akin to early Pink Floyd or the Bevis Frond.