Ellington

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness—"Fear Is On Our Side" (Secretly Canadian 2006) Growing up on the cerebral goth-psych-shoegaze side of 4AD, "Pornography"-era Cure, "Hey Day"-era Church, and Echo & the Bunnymen ("Ocean Rain"), ILYBICD take me back to that dreampop headspace. This first LP is not as pop as their EP produced by Spoon's lead singer Britt Daniel, but this disc floats intensely alongside Interpol, Calla, Clan of Xymox and Explosions in the Sky. It has the percussion/guitar licks you might find on an early Cure album, and dirge to instrumentals, while the vocals and keyboards add an emotionally expansive and ethereal texture to this great Austin band. They also have a wicked cool logo.