Kevin Bronson on April 14th, 2009

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Australian quartet the Drones put on one of the best SXSW sets I witnessed, and now they’re coming to Spaceland on Saturday (mystifyingly, not as the headliner?) for one of the best non-Coachella shows of the weekend. The foursome’s craggly, passionate rock is on full display on their new album, “Havilah,” released on ATP Recordings in February.

||| Download: “The Minotaur” (And another song is available over at RCRDLBL.com)

Brooklyn’s the Naked Hearts will be familiar to many in SoCal; the female half of the duo, Amy Cooper, put out a couple of solo albums (one produced by John Vanderslice, the other by Frank Lenz) on the Leftwing/Retone label that was home to Giant Drag and Monsters Are Waiting. Now writing songs with Noah Wheeler, Cooper has released debut EP of fuzzed-out, Breeders-channeling pop titled “These Knees.” The Naked Hearts play Thursday night at the Silverlake Lounge with Obi Best, among others.

||| Download: “Cat & Mouse”

Settle, an indie-rock quartet from Easton, Pa., cobble together a pretty disarming blast of psychedelia, dance-rock and punk on its debut, “At Home We Are Tourists” (due May 19 on Epitaph). The album bears the fingerprints of local dudes Adam Lasus (who’s produced Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Yo La Tengo and Army Navy, among others) and Ken Andrews (the excellent sonic architect who mixed). No local dates as of now, but when the foursome does hit town, it’ll be loud.

||| Download: “On the Prowl”

Photos: Drones by Tony Mott; Naked Hearts by David Black; Settle via Epitaph