Quiet Commotion is a 15-year-old from Malmo. The one in Sweden. This sounds almost exactly like Engine Kid playing stuff from the first Rocket Summer album. The emo pop underpinnings are clear, but the lo-fi production and general meandering spirit heads in the opposite direction.

Quiet Commotion Red Grasshoppers (self-released)

Engine Kid was something of a deconstructionist grunge band (from the Seattle area, of course) back in the mid 90s. Its most interesting work tended to shuttle between barely-audible mumbles and needle-pinning noise. Quiet Commotion doesn't quite commit itself to that level of madness, but it comes close.

The mumbles dominate, but that just sets up the shock of the aggro moments. The lack of a sense of direction will likely turn off most listeners, but that challenge seems to be the point. This album was recorded in a bedroom. It is intensely personal and idiosyncratic.

And compelling. This has the feel of seeing the inside of a person's brain, with all the musings and rage and confusion pinging off the walls of the skull. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but a pretty wild experience for those willing to brave it.

Jon Worley