In Los Angeles, the five-piece outfit Sumack enjoyed only a brief existence, with critics of their two albums repeatedly drawing apt parallels to the Beck period spanning Mellow Gold through Odelay. Their mix of alternative rock, folk-pop, seventies-style new wave, hip-hop, and electronica nevertheless remains consistently engaging and at times outstanding.
The group formed in Los Angeles during 1997, built around singer-songwriters Mark McAdam and Daniel Bernath, who played guitar and bass respectively, together with singer-percussionist Kit Pongetti, keyboardist Rod Sherwood, and drummer Pete McNeal. Their opening release, LP1: This Is Junk Rock, surfaced on the regional independent Tainted Records in 1999. That recording earned the band a contract with V2 Records, which issued Now Hear This in March 2000, incorporating roughly one-third of the tracks from LP1: This Is Junk Rock in slightly remixed versions. The album drew moderate critical notice yet failed to achieve sales, leading V2 to drop Sumack before the year concluded and prompting the band's dissolution in late 2000.
