Fergus & Geronimo

The Denton, Texas pair Fergus & Geronimo takes its name from the opposing gang leaders among Irish youths featured in the film War of the Buttons. The duo fuses psychedelia from Mothers of Invention, Motown R&B, Nuggets garage sounds, and indie rock. Jason Kelly and Andrew Savage first connected after Kelly began mixing a Teenage Coolkids album for Savage. On their own, the two began creating music together in 2008 and issued three singles the following year. Their third release, Harder Than It's Ever Been, appeared on Woodsist Records, the same imprint that housed the comparably loose lo-fi acts Wavves, Woods, and Blank Dogs. Once the pair moved to Brooklyn, they assembled a live touring ensemble featuring musicians who rotated in and out, yet Kelly and Savage returned to working strictly as a duo when preparing their debut full-length in 2010. Hardly Art issued that album, Unlearn, in January 2011. Funky Was the State of Affairs arrived the next summer. The second album functioned as a concept piece centered on an imaginary intergalactic dating service and moved between Devo-informed punk and gleaming disco rhythms.