Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Aside from David Bowie sightings at this band's concerts, is the hype for real? With its pulsating, processed guitar melodies meeting somewhere between Wilco and the Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands Say Yeahproduces a flamboyant, driving sound that, like the name of the band itself, leaves you at first repelled, then seduced. Band members Lee Sargent, Robbie Guertin, Tyler Sargent, Sean Greenhalgh and Alec Ounsworth fashion shimmering music every bit as exciting as that of the Cure. But what may be even more impressive is that the band self-released its first album and garnered unprecedented industry buzz by mailing CDs out from Tyler Sargent's Brooklyn apartment. From Ounsworth's rolling vocals, combined with the band's searing harmonies, explodes music that has been making audiences bounce around on the balls of their feet. It's a sound pleasantly reminiscent of Talking Heads, with maybe a little Bowie on the side. Pay no mind to the large hipster contingent and get your place in line outside the Bottleneck early.