CLAP YOUR HANDS AND SAY YEAH - "HYSTERICAL"
"A lot of the record has to do with trying to step back and take the little things as they are. The idea of getting carried away with little things is something that I was definitely prone to over a certain period of my life and other people I know have been fairly dramatic with things they could just let go." - Alec Ounsworth, Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah
BLITZEN TRAPPER - "AMERICAN GOLDWING"
"Writing American Goldwing felt ... like being pinned beneath a giant motorcycle, and its vision is that inescapable past, those feelings of being trapped in a small town, that fine line between the rural and the suburban settings that define much of America, that line between love and loss that occurs when you find yourself 'taking it easy too long / sticking around this lonesome town.'" - Eric Earley, Blitzen Trapper
PETER WOLF CRIER - "GARDEN OF ARMS"
"It’s almost like I had to write a few records and throw them away to get to this one. In that way, it was like a really painful shedding of skin, but it’s a really beautiful thing now to see what was underneath it all." - Peter Pisano, Peter Wolf Crier
BEIRUT - "THE RIP TIDE"
“When I started writing music, I didn’t have peers that wanted to play what I wanted to play, that wanted to share my vision. Even though I wanted an orchestra, I was stuck with only myself. Now I have that orchestra and it would be a shame not to use it.” - Zach Condon, Beirut
MISTER HEAVENLY - "OUT OF LOVE"
"We're not viewing this as a side project and we didn't handle the album like one. Here's a colorful answer. If the album were a t-shirt? Bobby Darin and Frank Booth on jet skis. At night. Nick Cage howling in the distance." - Ryan Kattner, Mister Heavenly
YELLOW OSTRICH - "THE MISTRESS"
"I think The Mistress is definitely somewhat meticulous, in that I took a long time with it and spent a lot of time rearranging or reshaping certain parts to make them fit in better. I think it just came from my sort of perfectionist kind of mood i was in when making it, that I wanted every single part, and every instrument to serve a purpose in the song, and not have anything that was really superfluous or unnecessary." - Alex Schaaf, Yellow Ostrich
PEPPER RABBIT - "RED VELVET SNOW BALL"
“At the root of each song is something simple, whether it be the chord progression, the instrumentation, or the lyrics. But the most important aspect of this record is the freedom we gave ourselves to experiment and construct something that’s easy to get lost in.” - Xander Singh, Pepper Rabbit
FRUIT BATS - "TRIPPER"
"With a spacey lilt, [Eric D.] Johnson shapes his cosmic folk sensibilities into an elegant three- to four-minute pop song. Usually anchored by some tasty chords on a guitar, the Fruit Bats’ tunes are sprinkled throughout with enough effects and noises to add mystery to the simplicity of their core structures." - Eric J. Lawrence, KCRW (CA)
THE HORRORS - "SKYING"
"There’s no fault to be found with Skying – truly, every song here hits its mark, and while The Horrors are evidently a band happy to change its spots from record to record (and steal a few licks, too), only the most ungracious of observers could deny that they’ve now crafted two of the finest British albums of recent years." - Mike Diver, BBC Music
WILLIAM ELLIOTT WHITMORE - "FIELD SONGS"
"[Whitmore's] voice, an increasingly formidable piece of weaponry, reached its apparent apotheosis in 2009’s Animals In The Dark, an apocalyptically bluesy disc that transcends its workmanlike folk template. Field Songs dials back that massiveness: Accompanied by the chirping of crickets or birds, each song reins in Whitmore’s craggy, righteous howl, calming it with gentle strums and the weary plucking of acoustic guitar and banjo." - Jason Heller, AV Club
