The art of noise

The implication of this Guardian article that there is suddenly a "new wave" of noisy, disaffected, leftfield rock bands should be taken with a pinch of salt - they've always been there, it's just that people (or, more specifically, journalists) have only recently taken a renewed interest in looking for them. Equally, it's questionable whether Viet Cong, Metz, Algiers and Spectres really have so much in common for them to be legitimately bracketed together.

But, carping aside, it's great to see Viet Cong getting more attention (their superb debut album certainly merits it) and the article has served as a very useful introduction to the other three bands.