Let's kick off our Friday nights with some easy-listening Swedish pop. Alpaca Sports is the solo project of Andreas Jonsson, though he credits the work of many friends on his Facebook page

Mykus aka Mikus is an idiosyncratic producer from Leeds who touts a skilled manipulation of sound, particularly with his vocal production. On "Electric Fizz", various vocal layers topple over one another like

“Away’s Away” is a very solid garage-rock track that pays homage to both ’00s indie-rock and early ’90s alternative. Atlanta-based Swank Motel bring a youthful energy to their admiration for past greats,

“Ladders” sounds queasy and bleak, like a fever-induced nightmare accompanied by fog machines and drizzling rain. Mark Lenover’s voice is very similar to a fellow Canadian, Neil Young. His nasally melancholy would

“Young” is a fairly typical electro-pop ballad touching on the longing for youth, though with a sugary-sweet construction and upbeat chorus that gives it an oddly addictive quality. The Minneapolis-based Meme are

Swedish rockers The Amazing are favorable reminders of Jethro Tull, CSNY, and other prog-rock groups originating in the late '60s that balanced jam band aesthetics with swirling psychedelia and blues infusions.

The tightly constructed garage-rock of Young Holidays reminds of early Wolf Parade material, when joyously sloppy guitars, flurries of playful keys, and frenetic percussion resulted in some of the most buzzed-about material

The poppy "Knot in My Heart" is getting some positive early press, perhaps a sign of good things to come for The Zolas' sophomore album Ancient Mars, out October 2nd on Light