Lovemakers, Riff Tiffs

Like with Spoon, being dropped from a major label might be the best thing that ever happened to the Lovemakers. The Bay Area group, anchored around ex-couple Scott Blond and Lisa Light — who were kicked out of their previous band for making out during practice — released 2005's Times of Romance on Interscope, but it ironically dropped off the radar just before the Killers' slow-building Hot Fuss reawakened the dormant mass appetite for glossy, synthy, '80s-indebted pop/rock. This time around, they're back in the indies with the Misery Loves Company EP (Fuzz): more sticky-sweet hooks and hefty dance beats (Blondie, Scissor Sisters), and one captivatingly lush ballad in "Naturally Lonely." Their new circumstances inspired an open invitation to DJs to remix new single "Whine & Dine," and they liked what Houston's Cuba Gooding Jr. did so much it's now the version they play live. Local experimental/pop four-piece Riff Tiffs open with selections from their brand-new Afflictinnitus LP.