Happy Birthday, Residual Echoes, Fungi Girls

The Vermont trio Happy Birthday has been one of 2010's bands to watch thanks to its fusion of lukewarm punk with raw, twee pop and the occasional '60s harmony. Its ramshackle brand of lo-fi pop is less straightforward than it sounds, however, thanks to towering power chords and scorching drums...

By Diana Benanti

August 5, 2010

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The Vermont trio Happy Birthday has been one of 2010's bands to watch thanks to its fusion of lukewarm punk with raw, twee pop and the occasional '60s harmony. Its ramshackle brand of lo-fi pop is less straightforward than it sounds, however, thanks to towering power chords and scorching drums (see: "Zit").

Kyle Thomas, Ruth Garbus (sister of tUnE-yArDs' wonderwoman Merrill Garbus) and Chris Weisman began playing together in 2008, and Sub Pop snapped them up after the group had only played four gigs. On Happy Birthday's self-titled 2010 debut, Thomas' voice grates while Garbus' soothes; their sound lies in the nexus between labelmates No Age and chillwave poster girl Best Coast. "Girls FM" is the quintessential.

Los Angeles' Residual Echoes and North Texas' own lo-fi (and low-age) kings, Fungi Girls, open.

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