MCII

If you only know Mikal Cronin as a member of Ty Segall's band, you might be in for a shock on his debut album for Merge, 2013's MCII. But then, if you picked up Cronin's self-titled 2011 album on Trouble in Mind, you might also be in for a bit of a surprise. See, Cronin doesn't go in for noise freakouts or skuzzy garage rock, as you might expect, he's more of a power popper with an ear for a pretty melody. He's also cleaned up his sound quite a bit on this record with far less reverb and surface noise scuffing up his songs.