Junior Senior: D-D-Don't Don't Stop The Beat

The idea of rock music being danceable wasn't much of a novelty until scores of indie-rock bands mistook funklessness for a reasonable ideology. Honky-tonk, '60s frat-rock, go-go beach tunes, revved-up soul, even punk and arena rock brimming with drum solos—this was all music with rhythm on its mind, and all these styles are touched on in one way or another by Junior Senior, a Danish band with equal love for The B-52's and shout-along oldies like "Devil With A Blue Dress On." D-D-Don't Don't Stop The Beat couldn't be more hokey or empty-headed on its surface, but it would require an unfortunate mind to take such ostensible lowlights to task for their mindlessness. Junior Senior plays pop music, pure and simple, and the abundant joys on D-D-Don't should make even the most hopeless cynic reevaluate priorities that don't allow for pop's fleeting glories. The singles "Move Your Feet" and "Rhythm Bandits" soar and shake like party anthems suited for both Nickelodeon and VH1, all crystalline Jackson 5 guitar clips and choruses so infectious they're almost comical. "Shake Your Coconuts" mixes candy bop with a steely, sleazy swagger that signals Nuggets-era garage-rock airs blowing through already-breezy climes. A few songs sag beneath their timeworn style grabs, but at its best, the album makes an art of recalling the days before rock became consumed with the idea of art. It's not necessarily worth hanging a movement on, but even the weakest songs on D-D-Don't Don't Stop The Beat make a case for the posterity-jamming virtues of innocuousness.