One of my favorite new bands of last year (or, at least, new to me last year) was Port O'Brien and they posted a note on their Facebook page that they didn't think there would be a better album this year than Beach House's "Teen Dream". I wouldn't go that far (actually I would go very far at all) but it's a decent enough listen. None of the songs really grabbed me.

Fool's Gold's self-titled album is a fairly interesting listen. I agree with NME's review, "Fool’s Gold might mine a rich vein, but they rarely forge anything more than mere tourist trinkets." Robert Henke & Monolake might never hit the pop charts but I wouldn't be surprised if they were scoring some indie horror films or thrillers soon. Put those two groups together and you might end up with something like Owen Pallet's Heartland. This album might take some listens to get through. I like most of the songs when they start out but they never take flight. But again, that might be because it's a very different sound and I might just be listening for the wrong things.

The Cold War Kids have a new EP but it's not on Lala so I haven't listen to it yet. I didn't really give Grooms a good listen; might be an acquired taste. If you're looking for something folksier, Langhorne Slim's album is pretty solid.

Since I need to actually start trying to meet some of the New Year's Resolutions, I was going to go with Four Tet's new album as this week's tryout. It's nice ambient music. I tend to like guitar-driven stuff like Mono or Explosions in the Sky more but this seems like it would be a great album for background music.

In the end, I had to go with Surfer Blood's debut which seems like it has the best chance to break out. If Vampire Weekend's Contra can go to #1 and sell a ton of albums, there's no reason that this album couldn't follow suit. BOAT might actually be a little poppier but that album came out a while ago and it didn't really catch on. Granted, neither album is as good as Vampire Weekend's debut album but they are albums that I think fans of Vampire Weekend would appreciate. (And to be fair, the best band in this vein might be Japandroids.) I wouldn't call myself a fan of this brand of indie rock but it's good enough and probably the best thing that I encountered this week.