4KNOTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: “THE DOVE” BY HELIOTROPES

The key thing about the 4Knots Music Festival at the South Street Seaport, which was formerly known as the Siren Festival in Coney Island, is that you get to see — for free — a whole bunch of bands you’ve either never heard of or who are just beginning to catch some buzz. Over the years, the lineup has featured such groups as Black Lips, Sleater-Kinney, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, TV on the Radio, M.I.A., Superchunk, Guided by Voices, Matt and Kim, Oberhofer, Eleanor Friedberger, Titus Andronicus, and so many more, not all of whom were well known at the time. One of this year’s big surprises is likely to be Brooklyn’s Heliotropes, who blew people away recently at SXSW and CMJ and have now released the best album of the summer so far, their stunning debut LP, A Constant Sea (Manimal, June 18), which you can stream here. On the record, bassist Nya Abudu, drummer Cici Harrison, vocalist and tambourine player Amber Myers, and lead singer and guitarist Jessica Numsuwankijkul take listeners on an awesome sonic journey through psychedelic indie rock and punk, from the fuzz blast of the opening track, “Early in the Morning,” to the sweet harmonies of “Unadorned,” from the propulsive “Good and Evil” and “Ribbons” to “I Walk upon the Water,” which ends with a supersonic freakout. “One of these days I’m gonna jump right outta my skin,” Jess sings on “Quatto” — yes, it’s named for the creature in Total Recall — and Heliotropes is liable to have the crowd jumping out of its skin when they take the stage at 4Knots, which also includes Kurt Vile & the Violators, Marnie Stern, the Men, Parquet Courts, White Lung, Hunters, Reigning Sound, the Babies, Fat Tony, and Steve Gunn. And be on the lookout for Heliotropes’ killer cover of Roky Erickson & the Aliens’ “I Walked with a Zombie.”