Art Brut

Although this crudely hooky three-chord guitar band are working on a concept EP about a Red Brigade spinoff, their debut album is the kind that brooks no follow-up. Beginning with "Formed a Band" ("Dye your hair black/Never look back"), it really should end with "Stand Down" ("Some of us want to go back to our families") rather than the one about the 18,000-lira bank robbery. Young love, impotence, older love, charging head down at a stray Matisse, and being bored with the Velvet Underground: this is the stuff of one-shot art-punk. Mike Skinner, meet Eddie Argos--the perfect collaborator, and he'll be looking for work. (Grade: A-)