It's 2014 and high time you got some new music into your playlist -- seriously. And that's doubly true when it comes local music, of which there's an overabundance of in Metro Phoenix. The Valley's music scene is gifted with burgeoning bands and emerging artists who will be making waves and getting attention this year. And starting today, Up on the Sun will highlight more than a dozen such acts for our series 14 Bands You Need to Hear in 2014. First off is writer Jason P. Woodbury's piece on Tempe's mad scientist of sound Brain A.

William Currier has a knack for putting things together. The Tempe resident records as Brain A, piecing bits of lo-fi bedroom pop, hip-hop, and experimental noise, uniting the elements with a psychedelic haze. The fusion is seamless, made all the more impressive by Currier's production techniques.

"I have never used a computer yet for any of my pieces," he says.