Does It Offend You, Yeah?

As a good grammarian, punctuation gets me hot in the pants. I counted—and this band has not one, but two punctuation marks in its name. There's that comma to give you pause. Then there's the question mark at the end to really wham it home. Does It Offend You, Yeah? have a really good command of the English language, which is, of course, essential in rock 'n' roll. Even better, the band seems to be the best export from England's NME-branded "New Rave" scene. Let's face it, the Klaxons' snootiness got annoying after a while. But where the Klaxons got lost in their J.G. Ballard-reading intellectualism, Does It Offend You, Yeah? continue to pop out stellar, unimposing club hits. Sometimes a trouser-dropping romp like "Let's Make Out" is way more effective—as long as there's a well-placed apostrophe in there somewhere. With Dr. Manhattan. 18+.
Thu., Sept. 11, 8 p.m., 2008