The Scruffs

Add Date: January 12

Artist: The Scruffs

Album: Conquest

Label: Scruffsville?

Genre: Pop rock, power pop

Comments: While Vampire Weekend will likely occupy the attention of many of our DJs this week, don't let this fine record from The Scruffs pass you by. This Memphis-based group has been making music together since the mid-seventies (though the official group broke up in 1979, frontman Stephen Burns has been releasing records with The Scruffs name for decades) and Conquest is no exception to their prim and polished brand of power pop. And since the band features members of Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub, and Big Star, they should know a thing or two about pop music.

Polite, perky, and to the point (only toward the close of the record do the songs stretch past the 4-minute mark), give "The Radio Song" or "One More You" a spin.