It wasn’t until I wrote about ACME‘s “We Got The Love” that band co-leader Cheakaity Brown alerted me to the presence of his other act, The Cubs, which seems to exist in the same happy/trippy, all-grooves-considered headspace. There isn’t much Cubs music available, but the one song with a Bandcamp presence, “Ashlei,” has two evocative chunks: a steady-building intro that might not be out of place on a Panda Bear tribute, and a slightly cacophonous climax that has whiffs of Beck (or is it Jagger?). Brown’s falsetto is endearing; there’s no way he’s singing with his eyes open. And if the song contains any commentary on R&B ecstasy, it’s definitely not parody. It’s more like a statement of freedom, because not just anybody can pull off this kind of thing.