Heartless Bastards

An endorsement from The Black Keys' Patrick Carney helped the Cincinnati garage-rock band Heartless Bastards land a home on Fat Possum Records, and though some early praise hovered around the group's first two records for the label, it wasn't until 2009's <I>The Mountain</i> that the band truly came into its sound. Produced by Spoon's Mike McCarthy and recorded with a new lineup that left singer Erika Wennerstrom the sole remaining original member, the album piled massive, psychedelic sounds over wily, bluesy guitar riffs and featured a broadened palette of instrumentation. The group's latest record, <i>Arrow</i>, comes out this February on Partisan Records.