Portland's The Joggers have rhythms and quirky guitar interplay that's all over the place. Basically, they are what you used to think of when you thought of indie rock (assuming you used to think of indie rock in the year 1994 and were thinking of Built to Spill).

The Joggers have a "sloppy" sound that in actuality is very much calculated and tremendously executed. The collective notes of these four guys, on the surface, appear to be competing with one another for attention (often with four-part harmonies thrown into the mix to make things even more interesting). But just as former labelmates The Walkmen can stray far away from the traditional song spine just fine, The Joggers, too, can make a "loose" structure work wonderfully in their compositions.

There is no doubt that The Joggers and their off-kilter pop melodies should appeal to fans of the aforementioned bands, as well as Spoon... yeah, definitely Spoon.

Joggers play Schubas, Friday, March 31st.