The Stills

The Stills are a quartet from Montreal who play pointy post-punk pop of the same ilk as any of the cocaine-haircut and suit-jacketed hipsters from New York City. If you're a twentysomething urbanite who has donned a white belt and grooved down to the sounds of Interpol, the Rapture, Franz Ferdinand, Hot Hot Heat or the Walkmen, you probably are already quite familiar with the Stills. But you don't have to be a metrosexual youngster to dig them. Anyone who grew up with Joy Division or Echo and the Bunnymen records will delight in the angular, herky-jerky 1980s-inspired pop that these young men play so well. Although it may not be surprising to learn that these lads formed the band while attending art school, you can't help but notice a solid chemistry in the communication of their playing which may very well owe much to the fact that they are all childhood friends.