Nettwerk

To describe Katzenjammer is to describe a music critic’s wet dream: four attractive Norwiegian women making music with obscure instrument after obscure instrument that takes elements of everything from Gogol Bordello’s Eastern-European folk-punk to the Derby Dolls retro-cabaret to the upbeat neo-country of Nickel Creek. The surprise? It actually works. “Le Pop,” the band’s debut (recorded in 2008, but just now released stateside) is full of inventive energy, and owes its success to the girls’ vocals as much as the odd arrangements. The raucous “A Bar in Amsterdam” gets oompah’d out but avoids clichés via a sweet, whispery vocal; the ballady “Wading in Deeper” manages its way out of girl-with-piano Lilith Fair hoo-hah thanks to an emotional urgency, and the album’s gimmicky title track yelps and bounces with circus-like, singalong abandon. It all adds up to a contender for debut of the year – only, this band’s already had time for a follow-up. How about it, ladies?