Editors "The Back Room"

Though I'm a pretty hardcore Anglophile I haven't been blown away by many British bands in recent years. I just don't get Franz Ferdinand and don't get me started on the Arctic Monkeys. That said, I dig Birmingham's Editors a lot. Their debut The Back Room is pretty damn great. Lazy journalists have been calling these guys the English Interpol, a copy of Interpol's copy of Joy Division. Well, I never thought Interpol sounded that much like Joy Division -- more like The Chameleons and early Psych Furs to my ears -- and while Editors vocalist Tom Smith has a similar delivery to Interpol frontman Paul Banks, his band's sound is much more urgent, quite reminiscent of the first three Echo and the Bunnymen albums. Songs like "Fall," "Lights," "Munich," "All Sparks" and "Bullets" explode out of your speakers with the same kind of intensity that Bunnymen classics like "Villiers Terrace," "All That Jazz" and "Do It Clean" did. Check out the band's website for more info, MP3s and videos.

http://www.editorsofficial.com