Rock Beat

Art Brut
Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Downtown Records/ADA

Art Brut just did a few shows here in New York - at the Knitting Factory in Manhattan and SoundFix in Brooklyn. If you follow alt-rock at all, you’ve heard some of the hype on this band. And the hype is deserved, for the most part. Art Brut are a kind of throwback to the post-punk sound of New York and England c. 1980. The songs are simple and streamlined, bouncy and energetic. The guitars jangle and the rhythm section rumbles along at a steady pace that your body wants to shake along to. The lyrics are simple, quirky and sometimes funny, especially with the lead singer’s talk-singing delivery. Seeing them live is quite a spectacle - they interact with the audience constantly, jumping into the crowd & encouraging them to chant along. And then there’s the mustache. The lead singer (Eddie Argos) has a classic bad junior high style mustache. At its fullest it’s a great-looking chester. You could watch that thing wiggle on his upper lip as he sings, and be entertained all night. It’s like a caterpillar.

The two things you have to watch out for is this: They tend to perform the same set lists at every live show, and they tend to tell the same jokes in between songs. But as well-rehearsed as it is, it’s never really boring, and when Eddie Argos talk-sings to the crowd about how he wants all of them to form a band, he really seems to mean it - even if he has said it a million times before.

We Are Scientists
With Love And Squalor
Virgin US/EMD

Brooklyn’s own We Are Scientists has a chance at hitting big, where other bands don’t. Around 2000, New York saw an explosion of bands that mixed disco & funk beats with punk rock guitar sounds. The style was called “dance-punk” and produced a few undergound favorites (The Rapture, Liars, Radio 4) before spreading out to the rest of the country. We Are Scientists come from that mold, but they emphasize the rock over the dance beats. The disco influence is muted, but you can still hear it in the buoyant basslines and four-on-the-floor beats. The guitar work is noisy but warm, sometimes angular. In their best songs, the guitar slashes through the bass and the bass responds with more energy, building into a frenzy like the better hardcore songs. They do tend to repeat some of the same ideas across multiple songs, but when they sound this good, you don’t mind too much. And hey, the kid who plays Harry Potter said that We Are Scientists are one of his favorite bands. That alone caused a spike of English interest in the band; there’s no reason for you to be unfamiliar with one of New York’s better rock groups, when even the Brits know about them.

While you’re at it, you may want to check out a few of the other bands mentioned, too. Radio 4, The Rapture, and Liars albums can all be bought at their respective links. Go on, listen to them & see what was really going on in New York, while you were busy watching “Friends” or “Sex In The City.”

If you’d prefer someone with that classic jangly guitar sound, but with a more mellow & laid-back feel, then maybe you should check out Tapes ‘n Tapes. This Minneapolis band are getting a lot of attention for their relaxed, jazzy sound mixed with Pavement-style guitar playing. The band is tight, with a jumpy energy and a lot of quick tempo changes. The melodies are catchy and the volume can go from a blast to a hush in a single song. Mellow, jangly, catchy rock — it’s a good soundtrack for a night of drinking at your friend’s house.

You can catch both Tapes ‘n Tapes and Art Brut playing at the Siren Music Festival in Coney Island on July 15th.

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