Emerging: The Airborne Toxic Event

West coast-bred rockers The Airborne Toxic Event have once and for all proven that taking a band name from a reference in a Don DeLillo book may just be the most indie thing an upstart band could do (also, Bret Easton Ellis or Paul Auster, natch).  It seems like much of the opposite side of the country has been sleeping hard on these guys for over a year now, and that's got to stop.  So of course, here we are, adding these guys to our illustrious (?) list of "emerging" artists we want you all to know about.

With the help of multi-tracked instruments (a ton of them), soaring guitar melodies, nearly too enunciated vocals and spacey lyrical content courtesy of former novelist and lead Mikel Jollett, The Airborne Toxic Event don't waste any time with making the listener guess what they're all about.  And that's making wonderfully complex indie rock music that's comprised of a healthy diet of sing-along anthems, a dance your shit tired rhythm section and earnest, no bullshit promise.  If there's any hope in the future of modern music, it's on the shoulders of bands like this.  We dare you to try and listen to "Sometime Around Midnight" without wanting to repeat the song's coda, "you just have to see her", directly after the music stops.  The band play Mercury Lounge on July 31 and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" the day after.

(mp3)    The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight

(mp3)    The Airborne Toxic Event - The Girls In Their Summer Dresses

Godspeed!