PubliCola MusicNerd Anand Balasubrahmanyan is counting down his top nine tracks of the year.

[audio:http://www.seattlemet.com/data/publicola-assets/The-Intelligence_09_Thank-You-God-For-Fixing-The-Tape-Machine.mp3]

Former A-Frames drummer Lars Finberg ditched that group's post-punk dirge and formed The Intelligence, a lo-fi janglely group of friends. They don't throw a ton of new elements into a formula that predates the word "indie," but the songs are impeccable. There's a reason they're called The Intelligence instead of The Innovation.

"Thank You God for Fixing the Tape Machine," showcases The Intelligence's knack for the sleek tune. Lars leads with dead pan vocals, stealing as much from British humor as the British invasion, “I don't like looking at trash. You leave a pile of trash.”

Fuzzed out guitars propel the song to nowhere in particular. It's nostalgic sure, but less for a specific time than a stellar hook.

Nos. 8 and 9 here.