Pitchfork

Amazing what you can overlook for a good riff. Neither junk mail band name, nor suspect new-rave associations, nor the execrably trendy haircuts the two (turns out, wrongly) conjured in my mind could keep me from latching onto the dumb slab of monotone guitar at the foundation of UK band Does It Offend You, Yeah?'s-- sorry, overlook this, too-- "With a Heavy Heart (I Regret to Inform You)", from the forthcoming You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into. There's also an equally rudimentary bass line, some handclaps, electronic screeches, sub-"House of Jealous Lovers" shouts, and other party favors, but that tangle of six-string distortion is the warm center of gravity that keeps the whole thing from shaking off into the electro-punk void-- tireless and insistent, the guitar takes on a vocoder-like touch in places, and turns up the volume to change the dancing into moshing in other places. There's a quick break where the track lunges into Klaxons-like harmonies, too, a direction I'd be interested in hearing explored more. "I loved her," the track begins, and then I stop noticing the actual words for a while, just the timbres and throat-scratching vocal tics. But when the track ends, any love still sounds pretty much past-tense. And the riff (spoiler alert!) collapses into feedback. That offends me, you bet, yeah.

MP3:> Does It Offend You, Yeah?: "With a Heavy Heart (I Regret to Inform You)"
[from You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into; due 04/15/08 on Almost Gold]