Kevin Bronson on February 24th, 2012

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Allah-Las sound like four guys who just clambered out of a 1968 Volkswagen van to play in front of your Saturday night campfire at the beach – revelatory if you weren’t around in 1968 but a little samey if like your garage-pop with guts and hooks. Without a doubt, though, Miles Michaud, Pedrum Siadatian, Spencer Dunham and Matt Correia have the aesthetic down to its last fuzzy lick, a the-past-is-the-future mien embraced by new-ish Innovative Leisure Records. The L.A. imprint has already introduced us to Hanni El Khatib and his savage garage-blues; Nick Waterhouse, who smugly plunders 1950s R&B, has an album on the way in April; and young-but-still-rough Orange Countians Feeding People are working on their throwback psychedelia. Songs from those artists – along with the mysterious Rhye (one of those secret-identity things), Lazer Sword, Machinedrum, Mexican With Guns and Freddie Gibbs – are available for free download as part of the “Innovative Leisure Spring 2012 Sampler.” Consider it a digital introduction to a lot of music you’ll probably want on vinyl.

||| Download: Allah-Las, “Catamaran” (available as a 7-inch single)

||| Also: Get the whole Innovative Leisure sampler in return for your email address.