Wild Beasts

Strutting from preening castrato to bestial growl, singer Hayden Thorpe sets out to explain the modern masculine dilemma on this British quartet's debut. "Men, to be men, must love and pity so deeply and secretly," he yodels over a backdrop that could fairly be described as island baroque. Later, he swears on his own "cock and balls" and then chastises Aristotle. Regardless of whether the dance-punk grooves and elusive, histrionic hooks resonate, Thorpe has a point he's determined to make: Even the most sensitive fop can be a hormonal horndog.

By Spencer Kornhaber