DD/MM/YYYY

Rating: NNNN

When a band can redeem titles like Cancer Boy On Hash and Welcome To The Fortress Of The Fluffy Love Cloud, you know you’re onto something special. Don’t even get me started on the band’s name. But when a group effortlessly runs through 25 tunes that recall Modest Mouse, Devo, Mr. Bungle and Zappa all at the same time, it only reinforces the old adage about judging a book by its cover. Blue Screen, then, has a little of everything: guitar skronk with plaintive vocals, carnivalesque keyboard goof-offs, wonky jazzbo interludes and enough ambient noise sketches to make Brian Eno blush. While one particular song won’t win you over, as a whole this one’s pretty hard to resist.

DD/MM/YYYY play Sneaky Dee’s Sunday (December 11).