Admiral Radley is a new group comprised of old friends. Specifically, members of Grandaddy and Earlimart. I was fortunate enough to catch them this past year at SXSW and thought their set was a nice blend - the two bands styles certainly complete each other in a load of ways. They managed to maintain a nice balance between the lulling ballad style and super upbeat and somewhat stupid songs (intentionally stupid).

So, when I saw that the album, I Heart California, was available to stream on NPR I was curious if the record would hope up to the live performance. Turns out, it is the exact blend of the live show - melancholy songs blended right in with rawkus stupid songs but always mixing together just right. Add to that the fact that I'm a lifelong sucker for Jason Lytles voice and it's an undeniable appeal.

The album isn't officially out until next Tuesday (July 13th) but you can snag it on iTunes now or just hit up that NPR Stream.