The common knock against the White Rabbits? "They're derivative." My retort? "So what?" The Walkmen may have mined this territory first, but White Rabbits are the ones coming away with more gold. On their second outing, It's Frightening, White Rabbits wear their influences on their album sleeve�that the record was produced ...

The Walkmen's distinctly moody take on fashionable, New York guitar rock is at turns blissful and brutal, a dynamic best captured on their 2004 album Bows Arrows and its seething single "The Rat." Although stock in the band has fallen a bit since then, they . . .