Art Brut, June 18 at Spaceland

I have no idea how Tana and Jamin got into Art Brut but the first time I was at their house they were playing them on their stereo and it was at that moment that I knew we would be friends. Art Brut were playing a residency at Spaceland and the Echo so we went, along with Vanessa. Rumspringa and Voxhaul Broadcast, both, I think, local bands, opened, and they didn't mean much but Spaceland is always a good value, packing in a lot of bands into one night, and you never know where one of them might go (or if you have to see them again, or if you become a friend with someone in the band by accident). Art Brut aren't for everybody -- their sound is loud and fast and somehow beyond pop and punk and yet maybe closer to what both of those genres will be in the future. Eddie, the singer, forgoes singing for talking, which would be disconcerting or even off-putting for some, until you realize that rap music has the same mode of vocal delivery, and sometimes it's more about what's being said rather than how it's being said, here talking about comic books and awkwardly getting with girls like he's still a teenager. And once you get over the speak-singing, it's pretty easy to enjoy the band, though doing that is generally asking a lot of an unadventurous listener these days. The band is tight and fidgety, British kids as punk it gets in England anymore. Drinking at the show is dangerous since the music moves so fast, you may find yourself clocked upside the head by neo-British punk (an approach from the same direction that the Streets took American hip-hop) that is moving way too fast and too loud for anyone to follow with any precision. Agreeing with Spin: one of the best live bands touring currently. Ready, Art Brut?