Aggressor

Super-dancey synthpop. And One's eighth full-length album is more outright poppy than their earlier efforts, but features all-German lyrics and a few dissonant notes thrown in just to reassure you that you're still rivet. The songs (about dead flowers, television sets, and the color black) sound little different from each other -- the better to dance to, my dear -- and
the music, though catchy, is nothing new or innovative overall. Brethren: Melotron, Iris, Covenant. Rumor has it that the album is in German because the group's leader, Steve Naghavi, refuses to sing in the language of the
"Aggressors" Bush and Blair. If true, such politik would serve only to weigh down a competent but essentially bubblegum disc. Touch up your colored hair extensions, toss back a Cosmo and start stomping. Clean, natuerlich! Bonus Entertainment: Check out the disc tray's bleeding-heart plea to the kids to stop with the downloadin'.

Suggested tracks: 1, 2, 10 (pick any, really) Harder tracks: 6, 9

-riana