Hooray for Earth

Add Date: June 28 

Artist: Hooray for Earth 

Album: True Loves 

Label: Dovecote 

Genre: Rock, electropop 

Comments: True Loves was released three weeks ago, and the critical praise has already poured in: a 9/10 from PopMatters, a 7.9 from Pitchfork and an A- from The Onion's A.V. Club, among other favorable reviews. That kind of adoration for a debut LP is remarkable enough, but it's even more impressive considering that Hooray for Earth has been generating buzz for quite some time--in other words, the expectations have been building almost exponentially--and that, well, this is one of the most ambitious pop records that you'll hear in 2011.

But one listen to True Loves is all you'll need to determine that it lives up to the hype. While it may be premature to call Hooray for Earth mastermind Noel Heroux a musical genius, he's able to delve into New Wave, electropop, shoegaze, and what PopMatters calls "maximalist indie hip hop"--or what I might describe as Passion Pit meets The Go! Team, as on the excellent "No Love"--all while creating a consistently good and interesting album.

This is excellent stuff indeed. Check out tracks 2, 4, 7, 6 and 3.