The Dodos: Visiter

Right about the time disgruntled critics started

complaining about contemporary white indie-rock being too white and

indie-rock-ish, African music emerged as the influence du jour for bands that might have

sounded more like The Shins five years ago. On Visiter, San Francisco's The Dodos

marry accessible folk-pop melodies with mechanical polyrhythms inspired by West

African Ewe drumming. While the result would never be described as

danceable—it's a little too stiff-wristed to qualify as funky—Visiter zips along with a

driving, forward-moving velocity that obliterates most traces of that pesky,

Caucasian-y feyness. On the invigorating, summer-song-of-'08 candidate "Fools,"

the tension created by Logan Kroeber's clanging chika-chika beat lifts Meric Long's

soaring tenor to even greater heights, giving an already hooky song another

irresistible entry point via the hyperactive rhythm section. It's a winning

formula The Dodos repeat throughout Visiter, and yet never run into the

ground.