Pitchfork

Some records sound timeless by sounding dated. This first offering from the forthcoming Matador debut by Melbourne-based noisemakers Love of Diagrams first appeared on the Australian band's 2003 EP, The Target Is You. But if this track wasn't recorded between '77 and '81, it could have been recorded any year after.

Not to say that "No Way Out" is imitative-- the band sounds like they're trying to force their way out of the song. The prickly guitar lines feel their way down dark hallways, stumbling over furniture and tripping over floorboards. The boy/girl vocals (each line is sung by bassist Luke Horton, then repeated by guitarist Antonia Sellbach) are tentative, unsteady, and flat as hell, but still manage moments of expression: "I got a weak heart," Horton uptones, leading Sellbach to respond in a dead, defeated drone before she suddenly shouts "I can, I can, I can!" like she's just found the doorknob.