#18
Though it's tempting to call this The Essex Green Preservation Society- the Brooklyn trio's lazy-meadow pop and familiar bass-line bounce can't help but conjure late-'60s Kinks- it really is something else. The Cannibal Sea is rhapsodic about everything and warmer than a lamb's-wool blanket. When Sasha Bell and Chris Ziter trade vocals on musical-theater mock-up "Penny & Jack," the Essex Green makes the sing-song seem extraordinary.