Bang Bang Rock & Roll

The songs on Art Brut's debut, BANG BANG ROCK & ROLL, sound like they were tossed off in ten minutes; of course, the band is the first to admit that fact, even reveling in it, and therein lies the record's appeal. Naïve, bratty, insouciant, and wild, Art Brut celebrate both the glory of rocking out and the disposable nature of the genre with tongues planted firmly in cheeks. The album's lead-off single, "Formed a Band," is a case in point, inviting listeners, with an air of faux amazement, to "look at us/ we formed a band," and the sludgy, riffalicious anthem "Modern Art" may be the lowest highbrow song ever written. In all, Art Brut manage to balance postmodern irony with something altogether genuine: the sheer human joy of making noise.