Artist The Wildbirds

Wisconsin-based band The Wildbirds offers a near-perfect update of The Rolling Stones’ raw garage rock, careening through absorbingly rowdy—yet structurally tight—riffs that are naturally influenced, as opposed to studiously imitated. The band’s 2007 debut, Golden Daze, slinks and bounces from the brash dueling-guitar blaze of “421 (Everybody Loves You)” to the throwback indie pop-rock hop of “Shake Shake” to the country-tinged soft thump of “Suzanna”—all with the swagger, self-assurance, and playful rebelliousness of the Stones and other pioneering rockers of yore. Earlier this year, The Wildbirds released the similarly excellent When I’m With My Friends.

Updated 12/15/2011