Coyote Bones

After their former band Jet By Day called it quits, David Matysiak and Mason Brown wasted no time forming Coyote Bones. Following a move from Athens, Georgia, to the band's current home base of Omaha, Nebraska, Matysiak and Brown joined forces with several of the town's well-established musicians (from bands such as Tilly and the Wall, Bright Eyes and the Faint) to record 2007's Gentleman on the Rocks. But Coyote Bones avoids sounding like a clichéd, perfectly pre-meditated indie-rock collective by fearlessly juxtaposing the wide-ranging contributions of its members. What emerges is a very fresh take on a somewhat tired musical sub-genre: Rocks moves swiftly from the jangly, acoustic indie-folk of "Living Breathing Demons" to the dark, synth-driven moodiness of "Grand Eclipse" — and more important, shows that a certain amount of experimentation in a pop song is always refreshing.