I just wrote a really long winded review of the forthcoming from Jared Micah and Hats until I realized that no one wants to read long reviews.. so here are the bullet points that you need to know.

• "Jared Micah and Hats" is a terrible band name. No two ways about it, it evokes soft frat rock (Dave Matthews, John Mayer, etc) and it's completely unlike what the band actually sounds like
• The album, T.C.H.T.O.B. will be released on September 11th
• Based out of Nashville / Murfreesboro area - unlike just about any music I've heard come from this area.
• An insane grab bag of instrumentation: xylophones, a variety of horns, guitar, drums, handclap craziness, ambient voice rants, music boxes, piano, occasionally jarring holding tones, fevered vocals, etc. etc.
• The style is hard to nail down in a quick bullet list but it's an album that can be enjoyed on a track-by-track basis or as an entire conceptual piece
• It should be noted that I'm highly enjoying the record - it's a grower but it's got its root in me and growing.

That probably doesn't really do it justice but words rarely summarize sound justly so I'll just let you decide for yourself based on the following...