The self titled album from Bad Veins is one of the best records I have received all year. I was bummed after listening to it because there are no Austin dates on their calendar yet. The album overall is solid and I have nothing bad to say about it really. It is danceable, well written and sounds like it picked apart the best pieces from other great bands.

Their song “Falling Tide” sounds like Brandon Flowers (Killers vocalist) playing with Franz Ferdinand. It is hard to believe when listening to “Falling Tide” that there are only two people in the band. Ben Davis (vocals, guitar, keys) and Sebastian Schulz (drums) do an amazing job at fooling you. It is pop enough for average listeners to enjoy but with enough indie rock sensibility for even the most pretentious of hipster to love. “Gold and Warm” is what The Killers should be making in terms of music, but currently aren’t. Unlike the Killers, Bad Veins experiment with a little more sounds and have more emotional lyrics.

Songs like “This Ending”, about a relationship coming to a painful end, and “Afraid” prove emotion can still be done without being cheesy or winey. “Go Home” sounds like something out of The Arcade Fire playbook, only slightly more electronic. “Cross Eyed” has Bad Veins experimenting with the synthesizers more than any other track on the album and I loved it. It was very Cars meets The Killers. Bad Veins is easily going to be on many “best of” lists as one of the best indie albums of the year. It will be on mine for sure. The album comes out July 21st, so for now check out this video performance from Bad Veins for their song, “Falling Tide”: