The young’uns discovered the gritty yet slick sound of early Nineties alternative rock over a decade ago, but so much of their take gets the style right without much substance. Enter L.A. quartet Rocket: Fronted by singer/bassist Alithea Tuttle, whose silvery voice strikes just the right balance between cooing and aggressive, the band has clearly grokked not only the luscious sonics of shoegaze, grunge, and power-pop, but has the songwriting chops to make best use of that elemental meld. Give their recently released debut R Is for Rocket a spin, and spend your Halloween consuming aural instead of edible candy. – Michael Toland
