Scotland the Brave

England's northern neighbor has long produced groundbreaking bands. I'm thinking of Simple Minds (when they were truly groundbreaking), Orange Juice, Josef K, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, The Beta Band and Franz Ferdinand... (and not so much Big Country, Del Amitri and the Proclaimers.)

Add another band to the groundbreaking list: Django Django. The similarity with the Beta Band is obvious -- after all, Django's David Maclean is the younger brother of the Beta Band's John Maclean. But add more synths, surf guitars, and Brian Wilsonesque vocal harmonies and you're getting closer. Their self-titled debut album got major critical acclaim from usual suspects like NME and The Guardian, but also on this side of the Atlantic courtesy of Rolling Stone, which voted it the 26th best album of 2012. I'm not sure how I missed it last year, but I'm happy I found it now.