It’s a story sappier than a Turkish soap opera but realer than Jersey Shore: messy breakup leads to heartbreak, leads to drinking binge, leads to epiphany. In the case of Capulets frontman Stuart McLamb, such an epiphany lead to the formation of a kickass band. The agonizing honesty of McLamb’s lyrics is probably how The Love Language managed to avoid the sophomore slump with “Libraries”, the followup of their 2009 debut “The Love Language.” Despite the heartbreak of McLamb’s lyrics, The Love Language offers a of 1960s-eque sort of energy you can’t help but wiggle to.
Ch-ch-check it out.

Appeals to fans of: Dinosaur Feathers, Arcade Fire, Surfer Blood , Small Black, Harlem

-Witler

Tracklist

1. Pedals
2. Brittany’s Back
3. This Blood Is Our Own
4. Summer Dust
5. Blue Angle
6. Heart to Tell
7. Anthophobia
8. Horophones
9. Willmont
10. This Room

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Lalita

Were there a melody for every beautifully solitary moment in your life that you wished you could slip into a jar and come back to someday, it is Sean Carey (S. Carey) of Bon Iver side project album “All We Grow”. Tucked inside nine delicately woven tracks are the snap shots from life that mostly go by unnoticed and without meditation. It’s a rain-streaked window, a footprint in the forest and a splinter of blue sky through the trees. The album is earthy and raw; it’s music stripped to its most basic elements—ghostlike vocals accompanied by piano. Though many comparisons will be (and have been) made between this and Bon Iver’s “For Emma Forever Ago,” “All We Grow” manages to develop wings of its own. While this isn’t music for every day, it is the perfect accompaniment for solitude or just a melancholy afternoon.

Appeals to fans of: Bon Iver, Iron and Wine, Fleet Foxes

-Witler

Tracklist

1. Move
2. We Fell
3. In The Dirt
4. Rothko Fields
5. Mothers
6. Action
7. In The Stream
8. All We Grow
9. Broken

Fresh on the scene from the UK, British Rock four piece The Vaccines are hardly reinventing the wheel. Basically, they’re taking the sounds from your long-time favorite bands and putting them in a blender to create a delicious smoothie of pop rock jams. They released their first EP last month, and in just three short tracks they’ve managed to hook listeners with an intensity that channels Arctic Monkeys with an old school rock twist and an energy reminiscent of Cut Copy. The songs may be a tad short, but if anything they’ve hooked us with just a small taste of what’s to come.

-Witler

Tracklist

1. Post Break-Up Sex
2. Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
3. Blow It Up

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4. If You Wanna

Perhaps the first thing to come out of New Zealand since The Lord of the Rings films, The Naked and Famous are likely to be the next big thing not only in their native country, but in the UK and US as well. Their debut album Passive Me, Aggressive You has yet to release in the US, though when it does you won’t want to miss it. The album delivers a sound fresh to the music scene—a marriage of lo-fi synth and poppy rock; it may sound like an awkward mix but they’re able to pull it off with a kickass vocal duo, Alisa Xaylaith and Thom Powers. And their teamwork is powerful. The Naked and Famous brings to the scene a sound full of freedom and energy like a youthful summer’s day, but not the kind of day you simply lounge in. This is life and life is awesome. Keep on the look out for this album. In the meantime, indulge in some free samples.

-Witler

Tracklist

1. All of This
2. Punching in a Dream
3. Frayed
4. The Source
5. The Sun
6. Eyes
7. Young Blood
8. No Way
9. Spank
10. Jilted Lover
11. A Wolf in Geek’s Clothing
12. The Ends
13. Girls Like You

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Bells

Frontman of Mason Proper, Jonathan Visger has been producing music on his own in a side project called Absofacto, releasing singles and EPs since late 2008. Recently, he released his first 7″ vinyl with 10k Cities. His sound as a whole is difficult to sum up—it’s different with every bite. It’s experimental, it’s edgy, it’s rebellious and it’s worth your time. Check it out.

Appeals to fans of: Yeasayer, Coconut Records, Ra Ra Riot, The xx

-Witler

Samples

1. Kiko (103 Words)
2. 80844264@81 (Love Song)
3. No Power
4. Safari
5. Pigeon Toes
6. Synthesocietal

Nearly everyone in the English speaking world can recall being told at some point or another to “never judge a book by its cover” or that “it’s what’s on the inside that counts,” and while there certainly are exceptions to these mantras, London-based quartet-but-sometimes-quintet Yuck certainly is not. Beneath the surrealist and somewhat grotesque album art of the band’s self-titled debut is an absolute gem of an album.

Based in London, Hiroshima and New Jersey, the album itself is as eclectic as the band members. “Yuck” ranges from 1990’s-esque indie pop jams, with buoyant and breezy tracks like “Sunday” and “Georgia,” to lo-fi ethereal acoustics like “Stutter” and “Suicide Policeman.”

The emotion behind the songs vary as well, with the youthful declaration of freewill in “Sunday” saying “I’ve got a choice now, I’ve got a voice now” to the distorted repetition of “Should I fit in?” in lo-fi crush “Rubber.” While the album offers a broad range of sound and style, it is consistent in its retro appeal, meanwhile avoiding sounding like just-another-indie-throwback band.

Despite their age (backup vocalist Ilana is still in high school and frontman Daniel is 20), they’ve clearly developed their own unique sound. And their pure talent is evident—“Yuck” was recorded on a Dictaphone in guitarist Max Bloom’s home. With so much promise, Yuck is likely to generate a lot of hype over the next few months, and deservedly so. It will be exciting to see what the future holds for them.

-Witler

Tracklist

1. Get Away
2. The Wall
3. Shook Down
4. Holing Out
5. Suicide Policeman
6. Georgia
7. Suck
8. Stutter
9. Operation
10. Sunday
11. Rose Gives A Lily
12. Rubber

Armed with a slew of unconventional instruments and raw talent, New York’s Freelance Whales offer a quirky, youthful freshness that is nearly impossible not to fall in love with. Their debut album Weathervanes strikes a perfect balance between melodic/instrumental innovation and general eccentricity to produce an album that you can’t help but smile while listening to. It’s optimistic without being too poppy and charming without being cheesy. With sweetly idiosyncratic lyrics (i.e., “Shut me up with your long tubesocks/they don’t scream ‘Hey, let’s just be friends’”) and a folksy vibe, Weathervanes manages to fit in with the indie greats of the past decade.

Appeals to fans of: The Postal Service, Arcade Fire, Dawes, Local Natives, Frightened Rabbit

-Witler

Tracklist

1. Generator (First Floor)
2. Hannah
3. Location
4. Channels
5. Starring
6. Kilojoules
7. Broken Horse
8. Danse Flat
9. Ghosting
10. We Could Be Friends
11. Vessels
12. Generator (Second Floor)
13. The Great Estates