Love it or hate it (and you probably hate it), Pitchfork Media has become something of a tastemaker in the last few years, wielding their powerful influence over the indie-rock scene with little regard for potential backlash. So when they recently declared Local Natives’ debut album, Gorilla Manor, this year’s “Best New Music,” other critics took two routes: wholehearted agreement or complete rejection.

I’m a big fan of British bands making it big in the States. Music from the UK has done great things for our own music traditions in America, starting, of course, with Beatlemania and then continuing to the punk rock end of the British Invasion. So naturally, I was especially excited to see the local buzz being generated by London rockers Mumford & Sons, already popular across the pond for their emotionally charged, breathlessly redemptive debut album, Sigh No More.

For a while, much of rock ‘n’ roll had been a boys’ club, with only a few ladies bearing the torch from Billie to Joni to Janis. Luckily, these days women have become a fixture in the rock-music scene, and organizations like Girls Rock! DC intend to keep it that way. On Thursday, March 11, local M Street boutique Annie Creamcheese will host a benefit shopping party for Girls Rock! DC, with music provided by local folk-pop duo The Sweater Set. There are even gifts for the first 20 attendees, as well as 30 percent off all merchandise, so come get some vintage gear, hear the tunes by The Sweater

Trevor Hall is a calming presence. This is immediately apparent from his reggae-acoustic tunes, his earnest, distinct voice and his eyes-on-the-cosmos lyrics that imply wisdom beyond his young years. Though he’s been making music since he was a teenager, his career took off this summer with the release of his self-titled album, featuring 13 easy, breezy tracks about his philosophy, world unity and personal salvation.

Pitchfork Media gave it the hefty title of “Best New Music.” Prefix Magazine calls it “the best thing the band has done.” And nearly every review of Beach House’s third album, Teen Dream, uses the word “gorgeous.”

Indeed, Teen Dream is nothing less than impressive for longtime Beach House fans and newcomers alike. The Baltimore-based duo has crafted an elegant collection of 11 songs, all of which are operatic, expansive and jingle-jangly.

According to common societal standards of what is aesthetically appealing, no one should like Tom Waits. By all means, his raspy, raw voice — the defining feature of his music — should be a deterrent to any listener. Instead, it has become the very reason his songs are so compelling; some tried-and-true combinations of Gospel honesty, New Orleans grit, Scotch-Irish coarseness, Southern gentility and Cajun-swing phrasing gives his voice some primordial power, demanding quiet attention.

To be clear, Spoon is no Bruce Springsteen. Where the Boss relies on passionate renditions of Americana tunes and charming lyrics about familiar characters to tug on your heartstrings, this Austin-based indie rock band is much less concerned with toying with your emotions than on attaining the sound — the perfect sound.

We started off the last decade firmly in the compact disc zone, with the indie-rock scene just beginning to crossover into the mainstream, and the last bit of ’90s pop and grunge fading into the background. We ended it with a vast array of miniature MP3 players, the ability to download nearly any artist’s catalogue for free in the nooks and crannies of the Internet and more new genres of music than I care to count. Looking ahead to the next six months of album releases, there are already some very exciting records on the horizon from artists we already know. If these few notable releases give

Rock documentaries are tricky, caught somewhere between rendering a biopic-style story of an artist’s life and unveiling both their creative genius and sometimes unsavory personality aspects. The Carter, the recent documentary on rapper Lil Wayne, succeeds in all these categories and more, illuminating the complex image he has created for himself as well as the strained relationships he holds with the world around him.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are more like a collective than a band. Fronted by L.A. rocker Alex Ebert, who is the former frontman for the punky pop band Ima Robot, and Jade Castrinos, the original American Apparel “It” girl, the band took stage at the Black Cat Monday night, with at least seven other people on stage.