Wampire – ‘Bazaar’

Based around songwriting duo Rocky Tinder (who, with that name, could probably pursue a career in porn) and Eric Phipps, Portland’s Wampire match careening organs and guitars with endearing goofiness. Their name is inspired by an exchange student named Manuel that the pair met in high school, but their tunes are as robust as their sharp edge of silliness. There’s a fun Scooby Doo grizzle to single ‘The Amazing Heart Attack’; ‘Wizard Staff’ is twanging Unknown Mortal Orchestra-matching psych (UMO bassist Jacob Portrait produced the album); and ‘Millennials’, with its smudgy synth bursts, mirrors Ariel Pink at his poppiest. ‘Bazaar’ elevates Wampire alongside those bands, while retaining the skewed oddness that made them so likeable in the first place.