Miniature Tigers

Who? Like the product of an upbringing heavy on TV dinners and Saturday morning cartoons, creative force Charlie Brand -- with help from Rick Schaier (drums/vocals) and Eli Brandom (guitar) -- exudes a uncanny knack for playful jingle-like melodies just hinting at an under-the-surface melodrama. And with debut Tell it to the Volcano, which follows a pair of EPs dropped this spring, Brand expands the walls of his intimate bedroom ditties to full fledged indie-pop mini-epics, steeped in melodious hooks -- both instrumental and vocal -- and an array of lyrical topics as eclectic as the Tube's frequencies themselves.

Their latest: Tell it to the Volcano, the trio's debut full-length, arrives Aug. 19 via Modern Art Records.

Recommended if you like… Pinkerton-era Weezer, Ben Kweller, the Beach Boys

Now Hear This: "Like or Like Like" (DOWNLOAD MP3)