Infinite Shuffle

I’ve heard a lot of great music this year, but my biggest qualm has been that there have been very few albums that have stood out to me.

In fact, there’s only been about a handful that I’m even currently considering among the best of the year. But after hearing the debut release from Grouplove, I may have to add another one to the list.

The Los Angeles quintet — by way of Brooklyn and Crete (yep, that Crete) — has churned out a rather infectious collection of indie-pop/rock ditties that should help propel the group onto the radar of all the top music blogs and publications.

The rookie effort, titled Never Trust a Happy Song, came out Oct. 4 and was preceded by a self-titled EP last year.

I first discovered the band via the above track, which I heard on NPR’s All Songs Considered podcast. The show’s hosts, Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton, immediately fell in love with the group — and with good reason.

Grouplove have a pretty familiar sound. Think Pixies, but poppier. Or maybe Los Campesinos!, but less annoying, more catchy and not British.

I found a short review from earlier this year that describes their sound better than I ever could.

They are quintessentially indie, with a whiny-voiced male frontman, a female singer who does alt-girl insouciance so faithfully Kim Deal could sue, and a bunch of sloppy-catchy guitar tunes that go, as per the old rule book, either quiet-loud-quiet-loud (the fast ones), or quiet … loud (the slow-build ones).

In addition to the above two songs, other strong tracks include “Colours”, “Lovely Cup”, “Naked Kids”, “Spun”, “Betty’s Bomb Shell”, “Chloe” and “Cruel and Beautiful World”.

The group is coming to Chicago in mid-January, but I almost definitely won’t be able to attend. So, with any luck, they’ll return quickly. Or, perhaps we’ll meet up in Austin for SXSW in a few months.