Give the Sadies credit for attempting something new and different — their brand of insurgent country also draws heavily on diverse inspirations ranging from classic surf music to garage rave-ups to murder ballads to spaghetti western soundtracks. Recorded by Steve Albini, Precious Moments doesn’t reinvent alt-country, but neither does it simply recycle the same ideas worn out by other newcomers to the genre; even if everything on this debut LP isn’t successful, at least it refuses to play it safe. – Jason Ankeny