The War on Drugs

Looking for a new catchy song? Well, you can always count on Secretly Canadian to dig up another fine band. This week's "it-band" is The War on Drugs.

I'm not sure which is dumber...the actual war on drugs in this country or taking the slogan for the name of your band in the internet age where you'll be permanently buried on the Google search pages. Whatever. Perhaps the Philly five-piece will become bigger than the war on drugs and claim their rightful place on the search engines.

The band's debut full-length, Wagonwheel Blues, hits the streets on June 17 but in the meantime they have three songs up on their myspace page with one foot-tapping tune available as a free download. Here's my best attempt at describing their sound...the lead singer sounds like Tom Petty fronting Arcade Fire but the production has a mid-80's Jesus & Mary Chain quality to it with cracking drum beats, echoing guitars and a layer of intentional fuzz. if the rest of the album holds up to these three songs, it'll be a fun summer album.

They also have an EP available for free on eMusic. However, except for the one overlapping tune, those tunes haven't gotten me excited as much as the tunes from Wagonwheel Blues.

Lastly, they'll be playing with Bishop Allen at the Iron Horse in Northampton on May 14.

The War on Drugs | Taking the Farm | Check Out More Songs