Pitchfork

Radiation goes wherever it damn well pleases, so a nuclear-free city starts with a nuclear-free Pitchfork HQ (I refuse to give up my three-Atomic FireBall lunches). Manchester quartet Working for a Nuclear Free City have shown their own lack of regard for boundaries by blurring dance and psych-rock like the Stone Roses or Primal Scream in their heydays, with a bit of Teutonic pulse for good measure. And WFANFC's very good self-titled debut came a year ahead of the full-length debuts by 2007's less head-y crop of dance-rock hybrids, such as Klaxons, Justice, and Simian Mobile Disco.

If anything, WFANFC's take on psych-dance has grown more expansive, as evidenced by their recent Rocket EP. The group's first U.S. release, double album Businessmen & Ghosts, will compile the debut and the EP, plus rare and unreleased tracks, via the same label as the likeminded Fujiya & Miyagi. From the Businessmen disc, "Asleep at the Wheel" shows WFANFC at work within the pop song format. Processed acoustic guitars spar with distorted shoegaze whines beside echoey whispers about secret lovers. "Will you deliver my soul?" comes singer/bassist Ed Hulme's cry. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow could stop the rhythm section's tumult.

MP3:> Working for a Nuclear Free City: "All American Taste"

From the Ghosts camp, "Asleep at the Wheel" is a thundering instrumental that illustrates WFANFC's strength as architects of sound. A trebly guitar riff out of "Where the Streets Have No Name" gets lost in massive bass and pitch-bending electronic whorls. As the track evolves, new electronic textures come into play, but the production is never less than stadium-sized-- less indie-dance than tidal wave. You can hear other new songs at the band's MySpace page and stream both new discs at the Deaf Dumb + Blind website.