One of the best, and most overlooked (amid all the hubbub on social commentary generation epochs) aspects of the Arctic Monkey’s Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006) is the almighty, Franz-consuming sense of groove and dynamic that propels Alex Turner’s nifty melodies. Songwriting talent aside, the band knew how to take a good hook and keep it from going stale, close-wrapping the tunes around mutating rhythms both elegant and not, always running the gamut between nervous propensity and sloppy swagger.

Whilst the cloying NME hype machine has done its all to taint this band with tags of "nu-Beatles," the life-affirming, exuberant dance of their music cannot be denied. And that’s more than you can say of Bloc Party, at least these days. “Brianstorm,” first single and opening track from their upcoming Favourite Worst Nightmare, takes the rhythmic dexterity of the group and places it well to the fore -- the joy more in the blasé riff, but in Matt Helder’s unrelenting kickdrum assault and herky-jerky switch-ups. Not so much a "song" as an exercise in group charisma, “Brianstorm” wisely avoids the first-single showman’s gambit of effecting innovation, instead succeeding in concentrating, and emphasising the key elements of the Arctic’s sound. In doing so, it lends the band what so many other up-start press-baiting acts would record Kula Shakur covers for: an identity.

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