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"   Photo: Veronica Barra  It&amp;#039;s not easy to have things both ways, but that&amp;#039;s what Xray Eyeballs are going for. The Brooklyn quartet describe themselves as making &amp;quot;moody, catchy songs you can dance to\u2014or cry to,&amp;quot; and the truth is, they&amp;#039;re right. Since guitarist O.J. San Felipe and bassist Carly Rabalais first formed the band (they previously played together in Golden Triangle), they&amp;#039;ve been fine-tuning their blend of `60s garage rock-meets-`80s synth pop. It&amp;#039;s upbeat, downbeat, and everything in between. You can hear it firsthand on the band&amp;#039;s sophomore album, Splendor Squalor, whose title alone epitomizes these contrasts. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t recall what book I was reading, but it referred to New York as having a lot of splendor mixed in with the squalor. I just like the way those two words look together,&amp;quot; San Felipe says of the name, adding, &amp;quot;It perfectly describes us: grime meets glamour.&amp;quot; But while their sonic references\u2014think The Jesus and the Mary Chain, The Velvet Underground, and The Cure\u2014are of the darker variety, the band spent the past year cleaning up a bit. &amp;quot;On the first album I feel like we were still figuring out what we were doing. With this album, we took it more seriously but still wanted it to be loose and fun,&amp;quot; says Rabalais. Those weren&amp;#039;t the only additions; they had electronic drum tracks mixed in with the live percussion and included samples so that, according to San Felipe, listeners &amp;quot;can have their brain pick up secret messages.&amp;quot; They might not be able to have it all, but as Rabalais explains, &amp;quot;I think we found the perfect balance.&amp;quot; The only thing missing from the band&amp;#039;s repertoire? &amp;quot;Maybe a movie where we play a fictional band,&amp;quot; says San Felipe. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve always wanted to be in a zombie movie!&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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