Best Synth-Pop Answer to Outkast

While Outkast stole this year’s Grammys with its cut-and-paste opus Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, George & Caplin, a much more modest duo, were employing a similar pop-exhuming technique. But instead of funk and hip-hop, the humble twosome of Jason Iselin and Jeffrey Stevens blends vintage synth pop and modern technology to create an atmospheric, hook-suffused sound awash in acoustic guitars and skittish circuitry. Still, if you need proof of the parallels between these seemingly polarized groups, see George & Caplin live and witness their ethereal, ice-cold rendition of “Hey Ya!”