There is something to be said for the adage “The sum is greater than its parts.” But there’s also something to be said about having the right parts. Last year Los Angeles musician Axel Steuerwald began searching for a collaborator for a new project. After a chance meeting with Sha Sabi, a recent transplant from the Bay Area, the pair clicked immediately. Sha was enraptured with Axel’s Silverlake garage studio, a seemingly remote locale at the end of a cul-de-sac. On her first visit, the pair laid down vocals on one of Axel’s tracks and immediately, hearing the fusing of their voices, knew they should write together.

The duo culled their disparate musical backgrounds and predilections into cohesive, compelling new songs in Axel’s studio. For the first few months the musicians didn’t even know each other’s last names; they just got together and wrote and played. Sha’s indie electro stylings merged with Axel’s pulsating, psychedelic tendencies, seamlessly fusing into complex numbers that bring in varied elements of shoegazy alt-rock, lo-fi electronica and soundscape-driven psychedelia.

“It's unpredictable,” Axel says of the band’s songwriting process. “Ideas can come from anywhere. Songs can start with a voicemail or iPad app. Sometimes it's just a lyrical image with a little melody snippet. If one of us can't fill the space, the other steps in with something cool. We definitely spur each other on. I think it opened up a whole dream-like, atmospheric side to my writing and playing that was always there but I couldn't reach before.”

Axel and Sha added guitarist Jason O, who also writes with the duo, and drummer Sean Burgess to the mix by 2011, both of whom Axel had worked with in his previous band Mere Mortals. The instrumentation is often unusual, originating away from birthplaces of typical guitar-based rock. United Ghosts employ instruments like a 12-string electric guitar, vintage organs and synths, a Glockenspiel and even an iPad to generate their droning, propulsive sound.

The group’s first release, a 7-inch single, will be out in early fall. The first offering, a vinyl- and digital-only release, features “Holes In the Night,” an explorative Kraut-rock number propelled by a beat-driven forward motion, as its A-side and soaring, hazy companion track “Mainline To the Sun” as its B-Side. Much of the tracks were laid down in Axel’s garage, but the band partnered with producer Scott Gilman to work on parts in his Eagle Rock studio The Hobby Shop, where they also did the final mixing.

A full-length album will likely arrive in early 2012 and United Ghosts recently brought their visceral sound to the stage, performing live around the West Coast. The goal, as it’s always been for the band, is to allow the music to develop naturally, an evolution that’s allowed Axel and Sha to create songs that both embody their vision for the group and have organic life.

I know a couple of things about Colleen Green.

One thing that's for sure: she's a songwriting phenomenon. She sings lovely, catchy, fuzzy songs that range from 80s pop goulash to psychedelic drone; from 90s power punk to homemade Sebadoh-style songs of heartache. Think of her as a sort of female Daniel Johnston, with her at home making comics, armed with a seemingly unlimited amount of well-composed songs, her lamentations on out-of-reach love, her self-medication, her bedroom recordings. She proudly displays her musical heroes' influences on her sleeve. She plays live shows alone on stage with only an electric guitar and a drum machine to accompany her.

Is she a genius? Who knows.

So let's get down to the bare bone facts. These are the things I know about Colleen Green to be true: Colleen Green sprouted up some years ago in Massachusetts, deep within the forests of the Merrimack Valley. She was raised by a loving family that brought her up on a steady diet of delicious oldies and sugary cereals. Colleen Green went to school, learned how to speak the language of the streets, and by second grade was rapping on school grounds. By the age of 11 she had discovered punk rock and never looked back. From that point on she was obsessed with music.

Green moved to Oakland, California in 2008 in search of hot sun, good bud, good buds, and nice boys. Fortunately, five of her best friends decided to join her, the best of which being Kayla. Along with their friend Steve O, Green and Kayla created the Full House House in West Oakland and invited countless great bands from across the nation and world to play in their living room. Kayla can be seen on the front cover of the "Green One" 7", and is also one of two main characters in Green's comic strip, "Real Shit Daily".

Recently, Green retreated to a cave in Los Angeles, where she can now be found sleeping, smoking, baking magical treats, and staring at the wall. Within two lonely months, Colleen had written and recorded Milo Goes to Compton; within five she had released both that tape and the 4 Loko 2 Kayla CD-R EP as well. Both of these albums have been in heavy rotation since the day they arrived in my mailbox.

Anyway, that is just the beginning of the Colleen Green story. If you can, get to know her. And text her. You will love her
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"A brutal gem for the real indie club bound to blow up speakers and inspire many bands out there to get way more creative (or violent) with their re-appropriation of 1960s Girls in the Garage tropes." --20 Jazz Funk Greats

"Like coffee for your ears." --Pitchfork

"Slightly snotty but totally cool fuzz pop music." --Neu Magazine