Tobacco/High Tides/Odonis Odonis

Content with making music mainly for himself and referencing his previous work as his biggest influence, Tobacco’s Thomas Fec much prefers playing intimate shows to performing before massive festival audiences whose devotions are divided between the many bands scrolling before their eyes. Also a member of indie electronica group Black Moth Super Rainbow, Fec released his first album as Tobacco in 2008. His early material, which exploited vintage analog technology, is like a spazzed-out remix of 16-bit video game music with a touch of psychedelic musings, simultaneously intriguing followers of Beck, Kraftwerk and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Instead of implementing traditional electronica techniques like sampling and sequencing, Fec records all his sounds live on a tape deck. In his four-album history, which includes 2016’s Sweatbox Dynasty, Fec manages to make his music sound like a rehearsal session from the making of the Beatles’ Revolver on one track and a rave-like mix of synth tidal waves and waterfalls on the next. (Bethany Kaufman)