Vampire Weekend looms huge in the sun-kissed indie-pop that young Californian Zach Yudin makes as Cayucas. But even if you can trace the dazed quicksilver guitar leads and deadpan vocals back to their source, it’s still impressive what Yudin does with them, the way he uses them to make starry-eyed pop anthems. “High School Lover,” in particular, could be the theme song to The O.C. if The O.C. went on the air today. And on the rest of his album Bigfoot, Yudin projects an open-hearted sincerity that brings Buddy Holly to mind. – Tom

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BUY: Bigfoot is available via Secretly Canadian.