This San Diego foursome's rhythm section was in an emo band called Noise Ratchet; as Delta Spirit, they've embraced rootsiness but maintained that gloomy emo urgency: It's no surprise that their second disc opens with a mordant evocation of 9/11. Frontman Matthew Vasquez wraps his harried croak around folk rock that recalls darkest Bright Eyes, raining doom like a black-hatted backwoods preacher with images of blood and chains. The murder-stuffed "Ballad of Vitaly" pushes rustic miserablism to an extreme. But they've kept some of the noise from their youth: "Bushwick Blues" is a great punk-rock addition to the canon of lost-in-NYC songs.

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”