***Last year BRANDON WELCHEZ and CHUCK ROWELL released their acclaimed debut album as CROCODILES. Straddling vast sonic terrains, throbbing kraut rock, expansive shoegaze and irresistibly danceable disco-punk jams, their previous album Summer Of Hate caught the ear of one JAMES FORD (SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO). Together, all three headed into the desert in early 2010 to create Summer Of Hate’s psychedelic, hypnotic and anthemic followup. Raw it may be, but Sleep Forever is still an unmistakably more refined beast than its predecessor. Drums and organ whirls envelope you on tracks like “Mirrors” and “Sleep Forever,” which nod to Ladies and Gentlemen… era Spiritualized as much as they do Neu! and The Velvet Underground. Meanwhile, Brandon’s tough Cali sneer gives it’s most emotional performance to date in “All My Hate and My Hexes Are For You.” Back with a full five-piece live band and a summer of open roads ahead of them, it seems unlikely that Crocodiles will ever have to do anything more mundane than soundcheck again.