In recent years the UK has supplied an otherwise apathetic American audience with sensational rock bands, of such intensity that one might pronounce this decade the renaissance of New Wave Britrock. Or not. These virile ejaculations so recently spewed forth from the fertile loins of the Queen's Land include The Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, and the Futureheads.

Among those whom we adore, consider British Sea Power: a troupe of five young lads from Brighton, England. They first won acclaim outside of the UK with 2003's The Decline of British Sea Power, an intruigingly titled album that proved these boys were anything but on the way down; their single "Remember Me" rocketed up the UK Top 30 charts. Last month they released Open Season, a smashing follow-up album that finds the band veering away from the dissonance so largely characteristic of Decline and into more popish anthem rock. Their sound is heavily derived from British iconoclasts Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Smiths, but concurrently they've a wholly unique musical signature once you look pass the wicked guitar riffs, throbbing bass line, and lead singer Yan's raspy vocal inflections.

We love them even more now that they're banned from MTV.

While the albums are good, they are pathetically impotent in comparison to the raucous live show these guys put on. Garbed in RAF military attire or, when we last saw them, sporting oddly French wool scarves coiled around their necks and a PETA-scorning full-length white fur coat (in the desert, mind you), they absolutely rock out onstage. Having previously toured with the likes of Interpol, The Strokes, Pulp and The Flaming Lips, they've most recently taken to playing at large music festivals - Reading in 2002, Glastonbury, Fuji Rock, and SXSW in 2004, and Coachella last week. We also hear they have a penchant for winged animals, but we really don't know what that's all about.

In a relatively tiny space like Emo's, expect to be enveloped by the dizzying aural spectacle of this band's stadium-shaking set.

British Sea Power
Saturday, May 7th
Emo's
Doors 8, Show 10

Tickets online, at Waterloo or at the door.