NYC (and sometimes NC) band Arizona play sun-drenched psych-pop that sonically falls somewhere between Band of Horses, Big Star, Cold War Kids and Neil Young. The music has an overall happy, if not wistful, vibe: kind of like watching an under-attended kite festival at a run-down city beach. There are guitars, pianos, percussion, some tech tricks, horns and hooks when Arizona takes the stage to play their finely orchestrated songs.

These five guys also currently record and distribute all of their albums (three, as of this writing) themselves. It's not like they can't get signed to a label (their songs are as catchy as catch can be, and singer Ben Wigler has a very nice voice), it's just that right now they prefer the D.I.Y. approach. So far, so good. Anyway, everyone knows labels are so 2004, anyway.

Arizona play Spaceland, on Monday, November 19th.