There's a certain dimension of Crocodiles' sound that's been handed down through generations of buzzworthy indie bands, underground legends, art-rock pariahs, and cult idols: it's the sound of pop music gone awry, and it's informed the music of, at various times, The Velvet Underground, Television, Pixies, The White Stripes, and, most recently, Crocodiles. You may have noticed that the common denominator for all of these trailblazers is their American nationality, which, naturally, places Crocodiles as heir apparent to the throne of infectious American indie rock. Hyperbole? Yeah, probably. After all, crush-worthy indie bands come and go like the seasons. But there's something undeniably familiar about Crocodiles, which is all the more puzzling since it sounds so refreshing. Punk it ain't, nor is it garage rock, 60's retro-pop, new wave, or any other cultish subgenre you might come up with. Rather, it sounds like a conglomerate of all of the aforementioned, all filtered through a post-millennial prism: 50's teen balladry shacks up with post-rock sonic textures on "Here Comes The Sky", anthemic Ramones-style punk boogies with 80's synth-pop on "I Wanna Kill", and fuzzy electronica warmly burbles with vintage psychedelic goodness on the appropriately titled "Young Drugs". American art-rock legends in the making, or just the most promising new band of 2009?
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