Just when you thought that college campuses would be unable to handle any more scourges to their populations, with meningitis and date-rape rampant, a new scourge has reared its ugly head: severe, humorless sobriety. Last night we found ourselves in the midst of a sedate and calm crowd of clean-cut, upstanding young college students at a co-ed mixer held in the HUB Ballroom, featuring the touring acts of the NME Rock 'n' Roll Riot......

For a guy who's nearly tone deaf, Eddie Argos has done pretty well for himself in the world of rock music. When his band Art Brut broke a couple years ago, their sound--spoken-word lyrics over choppy punk rhythms and AC/DC-inspired riffs--stood out in the London indie scene, amongst Britpop redux bands like Babyshambles and Bloc Party. Their debut album, Bang, Bang, Rock & Roll was a Pitchfork and KEXP fave, and the first time......

Seattlest had the chance to take in quite a few good shows over the past week. Saturday night was no exception. It was just last March when we first saw Art Brut here in Seattle. They were still relatively unknown at the time, having just released their debut album Bang Bang Rock & Roll in the States. After hearing their album, we weren't sure then they could pull off the live show. After their......

While some members of Seattlest spent their Saturday night listening to a bunch of twee pussies, we were enjoying one of the punkest bands to emerge in many-a year (assuming the term "punk" still means something and/or can be used to describe an ethos). Art Brut put on one of the most entertaining shows we've seen in recent memory, thanks in large part to energetic, charismatic frontman Eddie Argos, who manages to be utterly......

Back in 2003, when Art Brut formed, the British music scene was dominated by power pop outfits like The Libertines, who were better as celebrities than musicians. Today, we have similarly over-hyped bands like The Arctic Monkeys and The Subways, who release albums that NME fawns over for six months until the next big thing comes along. Thank God for Art Brut. Their first single "Formed a Band," purportedly written in the first 15 minutes......