The Rassle is a recently-formed New York City rock/post-punk band composed of former band members from two other great NYC rock bands, The Virgins and the The Young Lords.

So naturally, when The Rassle's Erik Ratensperger (and ex-Virgins member) sent us a couple of songs, we had hightened expectations, and what we heard in those two songs, and a couple of other tracks via the band's MySpace page, were enough to make it clear to us that we were hearing a terrific new band.

Ratsenperger joined with Mark Solomich and two brothers, Blair and Reed Van Nort, of the now-defunct band The Young Lords in January to form The Rassle. The guys must have had some idea that their new band would be something special, after all they had pretty much known each other for a couple of years from playing shows at various New York rock clubs.

The band's disciplined, yet adventurous, rock sound is edgy and catchy at the same time, and has somewhat of a post punk-pop rock revivalist charm heard clearly on songs like "Celebrate The Days" and "Wild Ones," conjuring up comparisons to legendary bands like Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy and Big Star. But more people are likely to compare The Rassle with one of the biggest "indie" bands of the past year, Philadelphia's Free Energy.

"Celebrate The Days" - The Rassle

Since we've been playing these songs from The Rassle over and over again, it wasn't a stretch to put them near the top of the Bands to Watch in 2010 list. It wouldn't be a surprise to us one bit if you're reading about The Rassle on Pitchfork, and even The New York Times, in the next few weeks. The band's unofficial EP has summer time written all over it.

Ratensperger told IRC that the band have been offered residency at New York's Pianos next month, are talking to some labels, planning to tour and working on material for a debut LP that is expected to drop later this year. We say that if they're ready to do Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, or any other big best fest this summer, organizers might just want to give the band a call. That's a bit ballsy with only four songs to go on, but we just have a good feeling about this band.

"Wild Ones" - The Rassle

"Born Free" - The Rassle

The Rassle on MySpace, TheRassle.com, Twitter and Facebook

A little background: The Virgins formed in 2006 and within a matter of a year opened for Sonic Youth and Patti Smith, performed at big music festivals, and even made it on to Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008 for the track, "Rich Girls." Although things have been pretty quiet for the band since their widely acclaimed debut, self-titled EP (2007) and LP (2008), The Virgins have not announced any plans for a new album.

Labels: Bands to Watch 2010, Indie Artist/Group Profiles, New York City Bands, The Rassle