rogue wave and black keys

Fun with math! And two music recommendations heading into the weekend:
– The Shins + (pastoral feel * 2) + (Brian Wilson’s slow moments) – Albuquerque = Rogue Wave, the Shins’ Sub Pop labelmates and one of my favorite bands of the moment. Their specialty appears to be the slow-building acoustic track, with sunny ’60s harmonies and instrumentation. Really gorgeous, hummable melodies. Try “Every Moment” (not one of my favorite tracks, but it gives the general impression) and “Endless Shovel” (the one really upbeat song on the album).
– The White Stripes – (gimmicky hype x 2) + (3 * Mississippi Delta) = The Black Keys, a great Akron duo that produces a less childlike (and less childish) version of the Stripes’ blues stomp.
Their last album Thickfreakness was solid, but the new Rubber Factory (an ode to the main industry of their hometown) is damned terrific — a little more diverse but no less, er, stomp-y. Plus, the singer sounds a bit like a young Bob Seger.
Listen to this RealAudio stream of a recent in-studio at KEXP. (At 6:05 in, you can hear the band laugh as the host getting the album title wrong.) Also, here’s the David Cross-directed video for their new single.