Cartel (2007)

Yup, Cartel are the same Georgia fivesome that wrote this (their second) album in the fishbowl of MTV's Band in a Bubble in May. But don't hold it against them. The group's wistfully anthemic power pop on Cartel goes down so easy — think Gin Blossoms crossed with XTC — that only a card-carrying curmudgeon could deny its uplifting effervescence. For our part, the giddy sing-along ''This Is Who We Are'' has single-handedly forced us to reconsider our ban on the nonword bubblicious.