Consumer Guide Album

Franz Ferdinand: You Could Have It So Much Better [Domino, 2005]
They've gotten unmistakably louder and unmistakably gayer--or perhaps I mean, hate the term, more metrosexual, given that the most affecting song here is a plea to a Brooklyn girl to rush her ass to Scotland. Small shows of force are all this ex-alt unit needs to achieve the meaning curmudgeons demand of rudderless guitar bands. They define themselves when they declare--not howl, not brag, declare--"I'm evil and a heathen." Firmly secular on their shaky pop pinnacle, they're a beacon. A-