Does It Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into... (Virgin, 2008)

Mebbe I'm just a sucker for a big fat midtempo tech-disco style break, but this is great. It's punky, it's funky, it's retro, it's futuristic: yes it's another Daft Punk-influenced rock-dance act.

The reference points are all too bleedin' obvious - in fact half of these tracks could be slipped in as bonus dealies on other discs and not get picked out of a line-up. There are flashes of Klaxons, LCD Soundsystem, even Phoenix and Sweden's most funtastic The Sounds in the poppier numbers, and of course there's plenty that'll slip seamlessly in amongst the "indie boys do dance" of MSTRKRFT, Simian Mobile Disco et al...

That's not to suggest this isn't like y'know GOOD. Because it's an immediate hit of sugary tunes and tasty, crunchy beats. In fact, this is shorely going to be an iPod staple for the rest of the year: not just for you, but your friends, and their friends' friends, and those people's slight acquaintances... you get the idea. (I'm already wondering whether to pencil in a week in May to be Officially Offended by Does It Offend You, Yeah?)

BUT! AGAIN this is not meant to suggest that the ablum's anything other than ace (until May at least). "Battle Royale", "Weird Science", and especially "With a Heavy Heart (I Regret to Inform You)" are dancefloor sizzlers, all dirty fuzz, nerve-tingling acid squeals and thumping beats. "Let's Make Out" shows the depth of their desire to be LCD Soundsystem... and brings in DFA1979's Sebastian Grainger on vocal yelps. These dancefloor stormers come off sparky and joyous through their real band approach, where yer Digitalisms can wear me down with the airlessness of their productions.

It's a rare and groovy thing to a dance-rock album where the slower numbers don't drag and the bangers don't disturb the mood. While plenty of the good stuff here bears comparison with Justice in particular, the 'real songs' are equally compelling. "Dawn of the Dead" is the most desperately infectious cut here, an 80's anthem so pitch-perfect it really shoulda been written by Alphaville. Seriously, they could use the chorus as a methadone replacement.

5 Battles Royale out of 5:


Buy it/pre-order it here. (Release date: 17th March '08.)

Audiovisual presentation of "Let's Make Out":