We Are Scientists

This NY-via-Claremont College, CA trio are now a duo, employing hired gun drummers to fill in for the departed Michael Tapper. But not much else has changed. The follow up to 2005 debut With Love and Squalor still leads with its guitar hooks and backs them up with fancy keyboard fills that trigger ’80s flashbacks. Keith Murray and Chris Cain have embraced the strong UK support that met their previous singles and crafted songs that maximise the potential for an NME cover shoot. Their previous tour-mates seem to have rubbed off on them as well — witness the Arctic Monkeys guitar break at the two-minute mark of "Ghouls” or the slightly softened Maximo Park angles in "After Hours.” But when the keyboard jabs of "Lethal Enforcer” do their thing it’s pure OMD/Human League time. Here’s the thing though: fans of this style are not looking to be challenged with genre-bending antics. They want to drink lager, dance badly and, if they’re more bookish, hear their favourite song on an EA Games soundtrack. Done and done.