Natural endowment or ability of a superior quality.

Last year, I briefly met an artist who, in passing, mentioned that he did artwork for a NorCal band named Tera Melos. With fairly limited knowledge of the Sacramento music scene, not only had I not heard them, I hadn't ever heard of them. I began scouring around the internet to get a glimpse of the artwork, which in turn led to me to discovering the band's music (that just so happened to be on the stellar indie music label Sargent House.) Let me assure you, no matter your taste in music, it's absolutely impossible to deny the talent that lies within Tera Melos. (Watch their cover of Hey Sandy here.)

Recently, one of the members of Tera Melos, Nick Reinhart (one of the yummiest creatures I've ever laid eyes on) paired up with Zach Hill (of Hella and The Ladies) to form their side project, Bygones. (Fun fact : Bygones' 2009 'By-' album features Amber Coffman from Dirty Projectors on the cover.) Anyone with any interest in the math rock scene, and even those with no interest, would do themselves a disservice by not immediately dipping their feet into Bygones.

My personal fave of their recent album release : Click on That (Smash the Plastic Death): LISTEN HERE

Between Zach Hill's mind-numbing rhythms and Nick "the bod" Reinhart's insane start-then-stop-then-start guitar riffs, I honestly can't believe my eyes when I watch these two play. (Besides, I'm a total sucker for a hardcore talent-crush.)

What's even better? The art doesn't stop there. Apparently, a group of Reinhart's friends pulled together recently to write, produce, shoot and star in a movie entitled Snakeville. From IMDB.com, "Snakeville is a town in the middle of wherever you are and wherever it is you are going. Its denizens are odd, their hopes and dreams are small and big. This is a day in their lives." A look into the ridiculous minds of it's creators, Snakeville leaves me feeling that I'm not the only one who's enamoured with all things wonderfully strange.

-C.

Watch Snakeville now :