DIRTY BEACHES

Mastermind Alex Zhang Hungtai was born in Taiwan, but he doesn't have a home. Moving from place to place throughout his life due to a fractured family, the 30-year-old singer-songwriter sometimes felt adrift. In a recent phone interview, he described a stint selling real estate in China during his mid-twenties as "a weird displacement upon displacement." And that same feeling can be ascribed to his music, which layers coats of lo-fi grime over tracks that sound like relics from the early days of rock 'n' roll. Many of his songs come off like Elvis Presley relics recorded through the wall of a skeezy motel. Hungtai started pursuing music seriously about five years ago after moving to Montreal, and has released a few 7" singles leading up to his debut LP, Badlands, out March 29 on Zoo Music. (Listen to album highlight "Sweet 17" above.) Click on to read our Q&A with the singer, who talked about connecting with David Lynch, not connecting with Facebook, and rude interviewers: