Fleet Foxes
Ragged Wood (Sub Pop)
Like a more rustic Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes uses reverb-saturated vocal
harmonies and a rootsy guitar twang to evoke the sweet exhilaration of running
through a forest at twilight.
Danko Jones
Code of the Road (Aquarius)
Get the Trans Am out of hock and toss away those dusty KISS 8-tracks; this Canuck power
trio revives the spirit of flat-out ’70s boogie rock with serious aplomb.
Wire
One of Us (Pink Flag)
With its gritty, pulsating bass, danceable beat, and sardonic refrain (“One of us will
live to rue the day we met each other”), this is a concrete example of why Wire has
outlasted all of its first-wave punk peers.
The National
“Blank Slate” (Beggars Banquet)
The National doesn’t rock out very often, but when it does—like on this agreeably
thumping number from the band’s new Virginia EP—you can almost forgive
singer-lyricist Matt Berninger for being such a mopey fuck.
