100 Broken Windows
Edinburgh's noise merchants have stepped through the looking glass with this newest release. While harmony and traditional song structure used to play second fiddle to their anguished cries and hearty gusts of guitar squall,100 Broken Windowsdisplays a more mature quartet: still edgy but wonderfully tuneful. It's a formula that's less "Sex Pistolsfor students," as they've been previously described, and more "R.E.M.for street punks." That comparison seems inevitable, given lead vocalist Roddy Woomble's passionate delivery of cloudy-clever lyrics, but plenty of other influences come to mind throughout as well: exhilarating, throatyNirvana-esque sing-a-longs ("Roseability," "Idea Track," "Actually It's Darkness") and emotiveFugazi-like stormers ("Listen to What You've Got," "Rusty"). But these 12 tracks are thoroughly the band's own and ultimately live well beyond any easy points of reference.--Bob Michaels