Sam Hunt is the co-editor of Dusted Magazine and the sole owner of Velocirecords.

It’s relatively late on Saturday night and yeah, I’ve been out with some friends. I realize that this may not be the most coherent or well-spoken Stypod that I could offer, but in a lot of ways it is also the most sincere and the most passionate that I could hope to provide. I could wax poetic for, oh, a few sentences at least about the merits of appreciating (or even creating) art while somehow inebriated, but…uumm. Yeah. While I admit that the human mind can certainly experience different states of lucidity and pleasure while under external influence I don’t usually believe that such states should be induced specifically for this purpose. Nonetheless, here I am, having consumed a few drinks and ready to listen to and be excited about whatever I can pick out from my iTunes library. Shameless? Brutally honest? Annoying? Yes. All of these things. Here you are; three songs:

Sean Booth– Fuel, [Carbon]

I accidentally downloaded this EP a few months ago thinking that it was a secret Autechre solo record. Little did I know that it was the singer-songwriter hidden gem for which I am always looking. Booth, a session vet from the Canadian outskirts, clearly knows his 16HP as well as his Rutili, but also knows well enough to emote, rather than emulate. This may be the least-known album to be released all year (that’s right—Google it/him and see what you find), but also one of the most sorely overlooked. The dude is GREAT. His electric slide guitar and songwriting is second to none, and while his voice may be a bit over-rasped for some, it certainly achieves exactly what it sets out to capture. A brief conversation with Booth revealed a charmingly sincere musician just waiting for a leg up. It also revealed that he could only afford a drummer for a few hours so most of the drums on this EP are looped. If you can find this, buy it immediately. If not, email me!

[For full disclosure, Sam will be releasing Sean’s EP on his label, Velocirecords very soon.]

Narbotic– Indie Rock Bottom

This is turning into a “things that I wish I could release” article. This is fine with me. If I can’t afford to put it out myself the least that I can do is tell as many people as I can about the songs that I love. Hell, if the band let me this whole thing would be about the Parts & Labor demos that I just got - anyone who declines the chance to release those is a complete fool. Where was I? Right, Narbotic, AKA Collin Cunningham (of Breaker! Breaker!, whose record I released last year). I actually don’t know much about his solo doings other than a CDthat he gave me the one time I met him and what I have gleaned from Google (sorry, Collin). His lo-fi rock is as charming and catchy as anything from the GBV catalog, but without the pretentiousness of the whole Pollard experience. A friend of mine called this song “wannabe Silver Jews,” but I think it is one of the most brilliant (and catchy) send-ups of the Williamsburg scene I’ve ever heard. The opening line, “Once you become too independent / There’s no one left to ignore’ really says it all. And whatever it doesn’t say, Collin covers later on in the song. Really, it is amazing.

[visit Collin’s website here]

Boom Bip– Dos and Don’ts, [Blue Eyed in the Red Room]

I have tried to like Boom Bip many times. Every time he releases an album I listen to it many, many times, and I have never found much satisfaction in the experience. I really tried hard with Circles, and tried not quite as hard with Corymd. With this album, though, he really seems to have made exactly the changes that I had in mind for him (I warned you that this would be shameless, remember?). Clearly it was mean to be, right? This song is just WEIRD…but in an amazing way. His semi-operatic refrain of “Thou shall not do this…thou shall not do that,” is just offbeat enough to draw one’s full attention, but also catchy and well-orchestrated enough to really stick in the most magnetic part of the brain. Combined with the prog-ish mid-section, Boom Bip has really out-done himself here. Would you believe this guy’s records were once filed under ‘hip hop?!’

[visit Boom Bip’s website here]