Portland's retro-loving Blitzen Trapper certainly isn't a band that you'll hear referred to as "Interpol meets Fugazi." When I first listened to this wonderfully strange band, I thought that their arena-bluegrass-classic-rock rush of scattered pop sounded like The Doobie Brothers on crack (if you don't remember those dudes, ask your dad). But spending more time with them, I thought there's also some Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles going on, plenty of Grateful Dead, and some Big Star, too. Give me more time, and I'm sure I can come up with some more long-gone bands Blitzen Trapper remind me of.

And though these guys love all things 70's retro, if you really want some modern reference points, I'll try to throw some out. Sometimes they are straight-up sunshine pop like The Shins, other times they delve into hootenanny country like O'Death, and often they'll decide to get playfully fanciful like Panda Bear. But really, these unsigned guys (for now) march to their own merry beats that were created some 35 years ago.

Blitzen Trapper play The Empty Bottle, on Saturday, July 28th.