If you're trying to avoid all the Twilight hullabaloo, you don't have to shun this album. Any knowledge of the absurdly lucrative teen-vampire saga is not necessary to enjoy one of the best soundtracks of 2009. Featuring an all-star cast of alt and indie rockers, the compilation is all quite innocuous given the blood-sucking context. But a dark, melancholic undercurrent swells through each track, reminding us that this is just another love story gone awry. Highlights include tracks by Lykke Li, Anya Marina, Bon Iver & St. Vincent, and Grizzly Bear with Victoria Legrand.

It's a shame John Hughes didn't live to hear the New Moon soundtrack — it's a Pretty in Pink
for our vampire-crazed times. Indeed, if Hughes were making a Breakfast Club 2010, Molly
Ringwald's detention buddies would have to include a vampire, a zombie, a werewolf and
whatever Judd Nelson was. As any goth girl can tell you, undead dudes are way cooler
than the flesh-and-blood kind. The genius of the Twilight saga is the way it celeb... More >