ETTA

Edmond Dantes

• • •

The freshest sound to hit Boise's music scene so far in 2013 comes from a couple of music teachers who understand that old can be new - especially if you do it well, and nobody else does it quite this way at all.

Local duo Edmond Dantes - aka Boise Rock School faculty Andrew Stensaas and Ryan Peck - uncork sassy-soulful vocals, swaggering '80s synths and lip-curling, laid-back bass lines.

The standout tracks among these five dance-floor winners are "I Don't Like You" and "No Good So Good." Both showcase Stensaas' cocky-cat vocals and Edmond Dantes' gift for layering shimmering atmosphere atop delicious grooves. The former finds a way to work trumpet into the mix. The latter is somehow both cool and hot - smoldering like Dantes' inferno.

Michael Deeds