One thing is clear about Bradford Cox: the man is a music obsessive. Whether promoting artists through his self-released mixes, churning out tracks of his own with bands Deerhunter and Atlas Sound, or playing countless shows each year, Cox’s life is one immersed in sound. His energy is abundant and infectious, resulting most recently in Logos, perhaps his most interesting artifact yet.

Athens-born Bradford Cox is a freak of a man, often eccentrically-costumed and always preternaturally thin (as the result of Marfan syndrome). He’s also a gifted and prolific songwriter, whose output cannot be contained by one band alone. Atlas Sound is his “solo gig”—a project born in the wake of a self-imposed hiatus from his experimental noise band, Deerhunter.

Atlas Sound’s second album, Logos, was almost abandoned after an unfinished version prematurely leaked from Cox’s MediaFire account. Now, Cox has been known to willfully release exclusive songs through his blog, but this was an accidental—and devastating—ooze. Luckily, he soldiered on to complete the work, buoyed by excellent vocal contributions from Stereolab’s Laetita Sadler and Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear).

Logos is full of lucid, joyful concoctions: a culmination of a lifetime spent culling LPs from dusty stacks. Its tracks gleefully pile up layers of electronics and guitars and hazy vocals, meandering from dreamy shoegaze to rock bliss. Standout cuts like “Walkabout” and “Sheila” marry 60s pop confection with Lilys-inspired indie psychedelia. With Logos, Cox has artfully constructed one of 2009’s best listens: a heart-felt tribute to the music he loves.

Atlas Sound plays the Noise Pop Festival on Friday February 26th at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.  Tickets are on sale HERE

Why You Should Check Them Out:

The xx is a band that you reflexively want to dislike based solely on age: the group formed just last year, when its four members were still in high school. Yet this quartet of English indie rockers is quickly winning listeners and critics over with an excellent debut that has catapulted them to the top of early year-end best-of lists.

Background Check:

The xx manages to pull off something rare on their 2009-released debut: coalesce their disparate influences – pop, indie rock, electronica – into a cohesive whole that is neither derivative nor over-the-top. The music is understated and pared-down, filled with groovy bass lines and reverb-y guitar leads coupled with exceptional and complementary boy/girl vocals.

The group combines traditional elements like drums, bass, keys, guitars and voices in both familiar and new ways to deliver a languid, dreamy album that digs into your brain with each successive listen. Add in a few programmed beats and some tasteful percussion and the resulting artifact is a moody, often pensive group of modern love songs that incorporates the best bits of great bands like The Cocteau Twins, Love and Rockets, and Yo La Tengo.

The xx is currently on a world-wide tour that will span the next several months. Here’s hoping they will be able to maintain momentum and come out the other side with a batch of brand new songs to lay on us.

Where you can find them in cyberspace:

The XX.com

MySpace

On Tour:

JamBase