Ravens & Chimes

Most of the members of Ravens and Chimes met while students at NYU. Not surprisingly, their album "Reichenbach Falls" is filled with nods to New York (General Lafayette, 11th Street, and the Village Voice, to name a few). We'll find out if there's life -- and rock -- after college. Plus, the band performs live in the Soundcheck studio. - WNYC

Led by New York City native Asher Lack, Ravens &Chimes released their debut full-length all the way back in 2007. In the five years since, lots has changed: there’ve been lineup changes, yes, but more importantly, Lack, who always seemed to have his influences (all the greats, especially the NYC-identified greats, plus Arcade Fire) has come into his own as a songwriter with a unique perspective. Their new album, Holiday Life, was released earlier this year via Better Looking Records, and it’s as intense and demanding as it is delicate and plainly pretty. There’s a sense of refinement that occasionally recalls The Sea and Cake, and there’s definitely a focus on clearly fussed-over lyrics, all of which is softened by a pervasive peppiness. - The L Magazine

In deepest Bedford brew countless graduates of the John Steinbeck school of exposition: bright-eyed Calebs and Cathys with long, wheedling lyrics of plain professions, hyper-verbose imagery of rolling pastures and their deep fathoms of possibility, and lotsa screaming at the parentals. And, hell, some of them are actually fantastic—Ravens & Chimes, notably, create leftist, broad folk-pop with the intelligent furor of the Arcade Fire or Wolf Parade. The sextet's '07 debut, Reichenbach Falls, had foreshadowing in spades—in both their slightly sinister acoustic metes and also the wealth of ideas they clearly possess. Don't miss their cheeky, chattering cover of Leonard Cohen's "So Long, Marianne" - VILLAGE VOICE

Debut full-length Reichenbach Falls details Lower East Side love affairs and second glances on Delancey Street with a wintry pop Montreal flair. Opener "This is Where We Are" melds dramatic sprinkles of piano, tortured boy/girl harmonies and an echoing bass line that are both eerie and danceable. Pop song "St. Jude in the Village Voice" creates a Vampire Weekend-style bossanova structure with big bursts of keyboard and '60s garage band drums. And token ballad "Eleventh St." is as much an ode to summer love as it is to the F Train, with vocalist Asher Lack's plaintive lyrics matched by psychedelic synthesizer wails. Best of all, you don't have to know Brooklyn from Bushwick to get it. - SPIN