Album: Githead

With Art Pop, the avant-rock supergroup Githead finally delivers, in abundance, on the promise of 2005's Profile, with a album playing on the strengths of a line-up incorporating members of Wire, Scanner and Minimal Compact. Moving between space-rock, electro-pop, punk, dub and the avant-garde, they have created a tour of virtually every indie development of the last 30 years. With Colin Newman's songcraft operating at its highest level since Wire's heyday, their retro stylings never slip into the cliches of Fountains of Wayne. They've managed to retain the edginess of the various genres, from the punky "Drive By" and the psychedelic electro of "Space Life" to the baggy dance-rock of "Rotterdam" and dub of "Drop". The overriding sense of dislocation is realised in the abstracted mood of "These Days", the musings on porn and post-modernism in "Drive By", and most satisfyingly in the dispassionate analysis of social mores in "All Set Up", whose catchy pop recalls the Wire of Chairs Missing and 154. A fascinating set.