Boyskout

Boyskout, a San Francisco rock act with a taste for melodramatic European Union exports and American underground twee pop, invoke touchstones as varied as Go Sailor; the Smiths; Kim Deal's tattered, short-lived Amps project; and postpunk. The group even offers a twangy cover of Kraftwerk's "The Model." The detached, lasses-in-emotional-turmoil preoccupations of lead singer Leslie Satterfield befit the icy, mashed notes and the band's coy reluctance to cover more immediate melodic ground. There's a narcissistic, disinterested air about Boyskout's pinpoint riffage, exclamation-mark keyboards and pouty violins, as though Boyskout is daring listeners to care. — Ray Cummings