California Dreaming

By no means just another boy-girl guitar-drums duo, Golden Animals is the shaggy-dog, ’60s-damaged project of spouses Tommy Eisner and Linda Beecroft, who met in Europe and lived in Brooklyn before fleeing to California for inspiration. They found it, if their sun-dappled new album, Free Your Mind and Win a Pony, is any indication. Produced by Chris Coady (TV On the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), the bluesy gem mines a wealth of old influences, from the Doors’ cocksure swagger to Creedence’s swampy riffing. Some songs are soaked more in country and folk, while others veer nearer to the Black Lips’ shambling flower-punk revival. Steeped in West Coast imagery and gritty tradition, Golden Animals don’t mind being derivative so long as they’re shooting from the hip.

Thu., Sept. 25, 10 p.m., 2008

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