Cut Off Your Hands - Oh Girl

With its choppy, poppy guitars fused with supremely anodyne lyrics about what seems to be a first-time romance between a couple of kids, New Zealand's Cut Off Your Hands have managed to top their ridiculous name with Oh Girl, their second single. Just as every scene spews out countless bands that are a pale imitation of the initial trailblazers, Cut Off Your Hands take the angular sound successfully conveyed by Futureheads and Bloc Party and bland it out completely. Instead of cutting off your hands, perhaps lob off your ears instead, and thereby spare yourself this misery. [Graeme Blaikie]