San Francisco's Maus Haus sounds like a confection of Kraftwerk, the Beach Boys, and Sonic Youth, ground up and re-formed into a filet of raw cool. Amid bursts of glitchy noise, dirty drums, and buzzy synthesizers, the band keeps the whole thing fun--with catchy vocals and hypnotic rhythms. The resulting sound is startlingly unique yet strangely familiar.

Since the release of 2009’s sprawlingly strange Lark Marvels, the live band has refocused from a 7-person stage-filling ensemble, to a powerful 4-piece stripped down to the essentials. The upcoming seven-song Light Noise, slated for fall 2012 release by Om Records’ new imprint Lavish Habits, features an instrument previously rejected by the band — the guitar.

"Their full-length debut, Lark Marvels, [is] packed with fuzzed-out trippy gems and surprising patches of indie-inspired melody. While Maus Haus have previously garnered comparisons to Silver Apples and Captain Beefheart, Lark Marvels reveals additional influences from Add N to (X), Kraftwerk, and Nuggets-era pop." --Flavorpill

"San Francisco’s Group Rhoda is pop in the same way that Kate Bush is pop: perfectly. Gorgeously enunciated vocals over deceptively simple but giddy arrangements: check. "Concrete Jungle" takes what sounds like the end of a run-out groove and turns it into a rolling heartbeat; in comes some foggy hiss, a simple keyboard melody over subdued synth chords. Group Rhoda foregrounds her vocals as much as Fever Ray masks them behind demonic layers of sound; they are beautifully clear, naked, precise. This is folk abducted from Newport, dragged through cold wave, and left in a mist-filled scrapyard for once commoditized and slightly damaged electronics." --20 Jazz Funk Greats