Hurricane Bar
Borrowing the Beatles' haircuts, the Kinks' mod guitar riffs and theSmall Faces'ecstatic tambourine-shaking choruses, Mando Diao isn't exactly making the kind of great artistic strides one might expect from the likes of Bloc Party or the Arcade Fire. In fact, listening to the Swedish quartet's second album it's often hard to tell 2005 from 1965. But Mando Diao plies the well-worn maximum R&B; formula onHurricane Barwith so much excitement and enthusiasm, its creative shortcomings are easy to forgive. Singers Bjorn Dixgard and Gustaf Noren make great counterparts, especially on tracks like "God Knows" and "If I Leave You," where their vocals ricochet off each other and the rolling organs and punchy British Invasion rhythms. Credit also goes to producer Richard Rainey (U2'sAll That You Can't Keep Behind) for making the songs crackle. With theLibertineshaving fallen apart and Oasis nodding off, the time for Mando Diao's retro rock just might be now.--Aidin Vaziri