Hailing from Encintas, Calif., the Jade Shader brings together parts of popular San Diego bands, Boilermaker, No Knife and Tanner.
Chris Prescott (of No Knife) and Terrin Durfey (Boilermaker) got together in 2003 while on hiatus from their respective bands. That was the genesis of what would be become a seven-song EP released this month: Curse of the Tuatara (out now on Seattle’s Sonic Boom Recordings).

There are traces of the members’ roots in previous bands. But — and I can only compare to my fondness of No Knife — the Jade Shader has a more open-ended feel to it: great tempo shifts, stops and starts and layered guitars. “Dissonant while tuneful,” is how the band’s bio puts it.

Visit the Jade Shader My Space page here to stream two songs. Buy Curse of the Tuatara here for $8 (that’s only 800 pennies, people).

The Jade Shader | Eraser

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By the way, thank you to all who took part in the sound test for me. You all were correct: The No. 1 tracks were recorded using the M-Audio device. In other words, Griffin’s iMic is shoddy at best, although I see now it has been updated.Whatever, I did some more digging and bought this precious piece of machinery from XPSound through Blaze Audio. RIAA-calibrated preamp? USB? With Bias SoundSoap software? Sold. I’m eagerly awaiting shipment, and I’m predicting much better sound quality on the vinyl-to-digital conversions.