Like so many bands of the current era, Chicago foursome Smith Westerns emerged from the smoky murk of their parent’s garage, releasing a sound that oozed with youthful arrogance and lofty dreams. Dynamic and rebellious, they delivered a noisy percussion driven self-titled debut that often sounded like Wavves-covering-Harlem with evident Beatles/Bowie influences.

Two years later and two years older, the boys have cleaned up their sound and maybe even grown up a bit. With their follow-up album Dye It Blonde, the band has been audibly refurbished, clearing up most of the dizzy scuzz of their debut meanwhile clinging onto the Brit-pop inspiration. Though it can be easy to compare it to Oasis circa Heathen Chemistry and T. Rex, Smith Westerns have certainly concocted something deliciously psychedelic of their own.

Their mastered synergy is evident from the get go with addictive and contagious pop jam “Weekend.” The lyricism is enough to make an angsty teenage girl blush with sweetly flirtatious lines such as “Weekends are never fun unless you’re around here too” (Weekend) and “All of my time should have been, in the end/ with you with you “ (Smile). Perhaps the cornerstone of the album, “All Die Young” is a tumbling tribute to John Lennon with muffled organs and “Something”-esque wails.

Overall, the album is a complete success. It’s got that timeless edge that suits nearly everyday with something to offer nearly every emotion. Even with a clearly established territory, Smith Westerns are eclectic and random enough to keep us wondering what’s next from them. I have nothing but optimism for their future.

Tracklist

1. Weekend
2. Still New
3. Imagine Pt. 3
4. All Die Young
5. Fallen In Love
6. End of the Night
7. Only One
8. Smile
9. Dance Away
10. Dye the World

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Girl In Love

From the ruble of yet another broken relationship (recall Stu McLamb’s The Love Language) comes the sophomore album of one-man-show, Telekinesis. A year following his debut, Telekinesis!, Michael Benjamin Lerner has dusted the dirt off his back to deliver 12 equally catchy pop jams in 12 Desperate Straight Lines. Yet the acrimony lingers.

As you’d expect from any band formed in the wake of an ugly breakup, this album like the last is heaving with bitterness and a sort of despondency that echoes through the lyrics and is ever present in tracks like “50 Ways” and “Fever Chill.” The melodies are consistently hooky and sunny in a way that ironically makes a beautiful contrast with the lyrics. “We fell in love in the summer/by the spring time we were done/is it any wonder that I didn’t run?/and though I’m out of equations to tell you what when wrong/ I can see straight through you/you turn clear in the sun” open the album and establish its territory; Lerner isn’t over it and probably won’t be for some time.

The highlights of the album are easily “Please Ask For Help,” “Dirty Thing,” and “Car Crash.” Despite lyrics embittered lyrics like “Love comes and goes/and everything flows till you feel so lonely/you still feel so broken/it’s a chemical reaction/based on attraction,” 12 Desperate Straight Lines has the same kind of worriless atmosphere as a poolside day in the ‘90s. It’s got just enough pop and fizz to catch your attention and just enough rough-edge and fuzz to keep you from going crazy.

-Witler

Tracklist

1. You Turn Clear In the Sun
2. Please Ask For Help
3. 50 Ways
4. I Cannot Love You
5. Dirty Thing
6. Car Crash
7. Palm of Your Hand
8. I Got You
9. Fever Chill
10. Country Lane
11. Patterns
12. Gotta Get It Right Now

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Tokyo

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I know this is from a couple lists ago, but I’ve been dying to lay down my two cents on this mysteriously-eccentric supergroup’s eighth studio album. With a majority of their former albums hitting platinum album sales throughout the planet, and some even 3x platinum, Radiohead had some Shaquille O’neal sized shoes to fill with King of Limbs. Getting platinum album sales entails getting over a million sales in that country, a feat most artists can only dream of achieving. Although, none of that has ever kept Radiohead from consistently producing equally amazing and unique albums.

First off, the announcement of this album came out of butt-fuck nowhere, but couldn’t have been released at a more significant time. Arcade Fire had just won album of the year, and it was almost eerily coordinated that Radiohead would shower themselves with the indie spotlight. The album enters a new realm of sound that none of their former albums had dared to travel. They take a dream like approach and fill it with a bunch of electronic samples, while Thom Yorke’s voice catches us off guard a minute into the album on “Bloom.” An acid jazzy intro that seems perfect for a rainy car ride through the city. The album gets a more structured feel with “Morning Mr. Magpie” and “Lotus Flower,” both of which could have been singles in my opinion. The album weaves every track together much like a sine graph (uh oh math reference) and ends peacefully on “Separator.”

King of Limbs is a beautiful compilation of talent that captures Radiohead’s evolution of sound in a way that none of their previous albums ever could. The first run-through is intriguing, but the kind of intriguing that questions your initial opinion. It’s bound to grow on you with every listen. A sound you won’t hear anywhere else that only Radiohead could manage to pull off.

-Skinny Genes

King of Limbs

1. Bloom
2. Morning Mr Magpie
3. Little By Little
4. Feral
5. Lotus Flower
6. Codex
7. Give Up The Ghost
8. Separator

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

It’s called “classic” rock for a reason. There’s something fundamental that generations of listeners can all identify with and a pure sound that can be appreciated no matter the decade—and it’s made it this far for a reason. Los Angeles rockers The Colour possess that timeless edge that might confuse them with early rock classics like The Rolling Stones, The Smiths or The Clash, meanwhile busting the eardrums of today’s Arctic Monkeys listening youth with its Anglo-inspired qualities. The Colour is one those undeniably awesome, consistently brilliant bands you can rock out to anytime of the year, no matter the current musical trends. And you can expect to be listening to it for a long time.

After releasing an EP in 2006, The Colour graced the world with its first full-length album Between Earth and Sky in 2007. Four years on the market, this album is anything but old; in fact, it only gets better with age. It’s got the same retro-rock appeal of contemporaries Razorlight and Wolfmother with hefty guitar lines backed by piano. While these guys obviously did their classic rock homework, what drives them isn’t solely their throwback appeal but rather frontman Wyatt Hull’s emotion-infused vocals.

The album commands respect in a way that most indie rock bands today fail to, attributable to the band’s complete well-roundedness. It’s rhythmically addicting, vocally strong and lyrically smart. Not only do they manage to capture a sound lost over the decades, but they do it while somehow remaining relevant to the times. There is no point in locating the best songs of the album because any track would be difficult to argue with. With vocals that clearly distinguish them from every other ‘70s cover band and rhythms that will literally stay in your head all day (case in point: “Save Yourself”) The Colour is not a band you want to miss out on—it’s never too late to become a fan.

-Witler

Tracklist

1. Can’t You Hear It Call
2. Devil’s Got A Holda Me
3. Save Yourself
4. Silver Meadows
5. Our Children Were the Stars
6. Black Summer
7. Just a Taste
8. You’re a Treasure
9. Kill the Lights
10. Salt the Earth
11. Bearded Lady
12. Dirge to Earth and Sky

Two years following the release of sophomoric slump album Loyalty to Loyalty, Long Beach quartet Cold War Kids have released their third album Mine is Yours. In dire need of a comeback from the previous flop, Cold War Kids has returned with an entirely new sound, a result of working with producer Jacquire King. King’s influence is evident as Mine is Yours fits right in with a shuffle playlist of Kings of Leon and Modest Mouse—the major difference being that you can actually sing along with CWK without looking/sounding like a complete idiot.

CWK have completely revamped their aesthetic, gleaning the original raw, rough edge sound that distinguished them and placed them in the same class as Spoon, The White Stripes and The Black Keys. Mine is Yours expands the band’s horizons with iridescent guitars and pummeling drums. Even the content is different, straying from the storytelling lyrics of earlier albums, turning to stokedonlife yet sometimes bruised lyrics that focus more on the love and hurt of relationships than alcoholism and hospitalization.

Mine is Yours requires a few runs through before you can really decide how you feel about it, simply because it deviates so much from the band’s previously established sound. Ultimately, the album is a success because though the band has masked much of what made it awesome in the first place, CWK did not lose its impact. The album is full-bodied as any with tracks like “Finally Begin, “Skip the Charades” and “Bulldozer” as potential singles.

The album’s namesake track is the kind of epically inspirational tune you’d picture in the turn of the third act of a romantic comedy (you know, when the main character charges down a busy street in Manhattan after his jilted lover, amidst honking taxis) but in a shockingly good way. Terrible analogy aside, the album is a testament of the band’s maturity. And though the sound may be quite different from anything CWK has put out thus far, this change should not be held against them. It’s polished and intentional without straying from the honesty that makes Cold War Kids, well, Cold War Kids.

-Witler

Tracklist

1. Mine is Yours
2. Louder Than Ever
3. Royal Blue
4. Finally Begin
5. Out of the Wilderness
6. Skip the Charades
7. Sensitive Kid
8.Bulldozer
9. Broken Open
10. Cold Toes On the Cold Floor
11. Flying Upside Down
12. Don’t Look Down On Me (Bonus Track)
13. Fashionable (Bonus Track)

Portland elctro-pop band Starfucker has a reputation of pushing the proverbial envelope with an explicit title, a knack for wearing women’s clothing on stage and annoyingly changing its name several times. Over the past three years the public has known them as PYRAMID, Pyramiddd and Strfkr. Finally settling on a title—officially Starfucker, but touring as STRFKR—the four-piece has released a pre-orderable/downloadable album, scheduled to officially release in March. While the band’s title might make your parents shake their heads, they get away with it by delivering music that is consistently and undeniably catchy. And with the early release of Reptilians critics can’t help but drop all charges. This is music. And it’s good.

Reptilians has you instantly hooked with its opener “Born,” a cheery acoustic jam with high pitched vocals akin to Passion Pit and more enjoyable than MGMT. Meanwhile, the record as a whole is solid and innovative enough to exceed the reputation of bands Starfucker has been compared to. The album is glossed to synthtastic perfection, suited for any basement dance party and the ideal soundtrack for a sunny day. “Julius” and “Bury Us Alive” are equally addictive, providing a firm skeleton for the album. By track 5, nostalgic pop jam “Death as a Fetish,” listeners are completely hooked. This album is likely to shake your speakers all year.

Reptilians rolls over smoothly with 12 consistently hooky tracks and two bonus tracks (do the math, that’s 14 total). It’s a feat nowadays for a band to put out a solid 6-track album, let alone 14. Reptilians succeeds in delivering beats that are both danceable and philosophically rich, with quotes from British philosopher Alan Watts interspersed in songs such as “Hungry Ghost” and “Quality Time.” This synth-strong, pop-heavy record is not one to be ignored, with songs you wouldn’t mind crawling into and floating around in for a little while, most notably “The White of Noon.” Starfucker/STRFKR is a Ping-Pong ball in mercury, now all we can do is sit back and watch it float swiftly to the top.

-Witler

Tracklist

1. Born
2. Julius
3. Bury Us Alive
4. Mystery Cloud
5. Death as a Fetish
6. Astoria
7. Reptilians
8. The White of Noon
9. Hungry Ghost
10. Mona Vegas
11. Millions
12. Quality Time
13. Slow Dance (Bonus Track)
14. Recess Time (Bonus Track)