Futureheads

No matter the guise, successful pop depends on sticky hooks and UK combo the Futureheads specialize in them. Past singles like "The Beginning of the Twist" and a watershed cover of "Hounds of Love" turned cockney accents, cheeky posturing and proudly worn influences (XTC, Gang of Four, um, Kate Bush) into catchy, guitar-driven concoctions full of wit and knowing winks. The band's fourth LP is still more infectious than chickenpox in a kindergarten classroom, but it is fleshed out by aggression and quickening BPMs. While single "Heartbeat Song" is a familiar, concise amalgam of cascading guitars, steady percussion and baritone backing vocals, the record's best cuts ("Struck Dumb" and "Stop the Noise") rely on sheer bombast. Nevertheless, the album still features the four-piece's trademark humour (see the fantastically ridiculous coda on "Jupiter") and that's what ultimately separates the new new wave, post-post-punk survivors from many of their contemporaries.