Cold War Kids

Cold War Kids effortlessly jump the fences separating endearing pop and off-kilter indie rock, sonically name checking everyone from Harry Nilsson to the White Stripes in the process. The Fullerton, Calif., group's much anticipated debut lives up to the hype, with prodigiously realized songs-within-songs, genuinely surprising shifts in tempo and theme and, always a favorite, crazy guitar freakouts. Cold War Kids may be newcomers, but they sure don't sound like it.

Like Creedence Clearwater Revival before them, blog-buzz kings Cold War Kids channel
the gothic spirit of the Deep South -- at least as imagined by dudes from California. But this
suburban Los Angeles foursome has some actual holy-roller bona fides. Three of the four
(frontman Nathan Willett, bassist Matt Maust and guitarist Jonathan Bo Russell) met at an
evangelical Christian college, and the spirit of an old-fashioned tent revival infus... More >