It’s great to have a gimmick, especially if you’re a part of Broods. Already existing as a sister-brother duo, and then making snap-crackle-electro-pop together? What a world. With their first album, Evergreen, Broods throw nothing new into the void, yet they manage to eke by with a generically enjoyable record of enough boom-claps to keep your whole post–Bumbershoot summer vibe going for a few days. Their recent effort, Conscious, begins triumphantly with tracks proclaiming the exhilaration of freedom, the age of innocence, the glow of youth—thereby cementing their status as a Nicholas Sparks novel set to a discarded Charli XCX backing track. Real talk: There are so many other pop-electronica groups with dance music foundations and R&B influences out there in the world to listen to than Broods. Go spend time on one of them instead. by Kim Selling