Idolator

We get roughly 37 e-mails per week from struggling, unknown indie bands with some RIYL-ish "if you like Wilco, you'll like us" in the first paragraph. To date, not one single band has actually come through on this promise. But Merge has managed to find and sign the LA quintet The Broken West, one of the few existing bands able to summon the best moments of Being There and Summerteeth. Their debut, I Can't Go On, I'll Go On, has been on near-constant repeat for the last month or so, and we've yet to tire of its endless optimism and omnipresent pop signposts. Album opener "On the Bubble" blends effervescent Spectorisms with handclaps and sunny falsettos, and the screaming, Revolver-like lead-break of "Brass Ring" only temporarily interrupts the song's pitch-perfect dBs pastiche:

The Broken West - On the Bubble [MP3, link expired]
The Broken West - Brass Ring [MP3, link expired]
The Broken West [MySpace]