Any band that takes on -- and conquers -- Julian Cope's "Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed" says a lot about itself. The Sand Pebbles bounce, grind and float through a collection of songs that recall moments as divergent as Spacemen 3 and Prince. The guitars have an aggressive jangle, not unlike the Verlaine/Lloyd battles of Television past, while swirling amidst oceans of mellotron magic. The instrumental moments of the record never lapse into ambient snoozing or trance/hip-hop. This is modern age psychedelic music, aimed perhaps for the Ptolemaic Terrascope crowd, but not so in love with itself that it backslides into hipster sludge, and wouldn't sound out of place in your basic indie rock store.

- James Mann