The Airborne Toxic Event, an indie five-piece from Los Angeles, has drawn favorable comparisons to Arcade Fire, Blur, and Echo & The Bunnymen. Led by singer/guitarist Mikel Jollett, the band takes its rather disconcerting name from a section of Don DeLillo’s novel, White Noise. (Jollett’s original full-time gig was as a freelance writer; his short story, “The Crack,” was published in McSweeney’s last May.)

Though TATE was unsigned at the start of 2008, their song “Sometime Around Midnight” received exposure on hometown station (and hugely influential) KROQ-FM. By the end of April, the band had joined the roster of Majordomo Records (alongside The Von Bondies and Earlimart) and appeared on Last Call With Carson Daly. That spring visit went unnoticed by me, as did an August showcase on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, just prior to release of TATE’s self-titled debut.

But thanks to such tube time and tireless touring here and abroad, more and more folks were paying attention to TATE (and paying for the single), as “Sometime Around Midnight” ended 2008 as the top alternative rock song on iTunes. That’s a phenomenal feat for any band, let alone one so relatively young (TATE formed in 2006), and Jollett still doesn’t quite understand the track’s popularity: “It’s a song that has no chorus, that’s just a story about a bad night. It’s very sad, and there’s no little thing you can bop your head to.”

A couple of weeks ago, it was finally my turn to fall for this epic breakup song. TATE had a January date with David Letterman, performing “Sometime Around Midnight” with The Calder Quartet on The Late Show:

While The Airborne Toxic Event has received a great deal of positive press, Pitchfork weighed in with a less-than-glowing assessment. The band responded to that harsh critique with this thoughtfully written missive.

As someone who can’t always stomach Pitchfork’s knowier-than-thou approach to music, major kudos to TATE. I look forward to listening to (and reading) more from them in 2009.

Purchase “Sometime After Midnight” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.