Kevin Bronson on October 22nd, 2015

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For all their cult of fans knows, James Supercave have been holed up in a basement working on an algorithm predicting crowd movements between Echo Park taco trucks. Mastermind Joaquin Pastor and friends have been mixing pop and glam intoxicants for three years now, having birthed only last spring’s “The Afternoon” EP as a memento of the dozens of live shows they’ve played around town. But now comes the new single “Better Strange,” which the band describes as “a sweat-drenched handshake on a warehouse dancefloor.” It’s the most straight-ahead song they’ve done, but of course that’s all relative with these psych-pop agitators — there are the typically drunken synth lines, seemingly yanked upright by an insistent bass groove, and Pastor’s helium vocals declaring, only partially convincingly, “You’re so much better strange / You’re so much better when you make mistakes with me.” The song is the title track on James Supercave’s long-awaited debut album, which will be out early next year via Fairfax Recordings. “We spent a long time recording this record,” Pastor says, “… due to self-imposed madness mainly. Perfectionism.” OK, maybe it’ll be the perfect soundtrack to getting strange and making mistakes.

||| Stream: “Better Strange”

||| Live: James Supercave plays Nov. 11 at the Echo.

||| Previously: “The Right Thing”