Starfucker is now Pyramid. Final Fantasy is now Owen Pallett. Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head are encouraging the use of the acronym NPSH. Have we entered a new era of heightened sensitivity over band names that are legally or commercially dicey? If so, what does that mean for emerging DIY acts like California’s Philip Seymour Hoffman and Nicole Kidman?

PSH’s moniker ostensibly serves as the same kind of loving homage that now-defunct Santa Cruz punks Yaphet Kotto aimed for when they christened themselves after the star of Homicide: Life on the Street and Alien. Conversely, Nicole Kidman is a project named for different reasons—solo artist Jon Barba writes material based predominantly on the premises of Kidman films, making him more or less wedded to the Kidman name. The miracle of his music is that it doesn’t sound gimmicky. In fact, Barba’s lyrics, performance, and deliberately crackle-drenched aesthetic come across as deeply honest and personal. The distance afforded him by his project’s high concept just barely keeps his lo-fi compositions from being totally devastating.

Philip Seymour Hoffman are another story. PSH may embody the quiet complexity of Hoffman’s Capote performance more than any other entry in that weighty actor’s weighty filmography. Their rich and elemental pop is totally hypnotic, despite not demonstrating much of the coiled ferocity or uncomfortable tenderness that Hoffman The Actor trades in. The ingredients typical of many Paw Tracks-inspired DIY acts (verbed-out and slightly tribal vocals, aquatic ambience, riddums that thump and rattle) flavor their songs, but PSH have too much talent to slip into imitation or generic mediocrity.

While sonically distinct, it’s maybe unsurprising that Nicole Kidman and Philip Seymour Hoffman both hail from the same booming all-ages SoCal scene, where cassettes and zines flow like water in the scorched, post-No Age hypescape. Of course there’s probably also some esoteric argument to made about these Hollywood bands and the acceleration of modern culture, the vulnerability of identity in the digital age, and the whole “free media” ethos writ large but…ugh. No thanks. Not right now.

In the meantime, you can grab Philip Seymour Hoffman’s lovely Fire Island collection for free here, and Obeast Tapes are currently pushing the “Ports O Call Promo Bundle” (named for Barba’s incredible backyard venue space), which includes Nicole Kidman’s Teen Worship cassette and City of Industry soundscaper Kevin Greenspon’s Bracing cassette, with free mp3 downloads included for both.