Fire Engines: Hungry Beat

Scotland's indie-rock lineage is narrow but vibrant, and Fire Engines stand as one of the country's most storied post-punk groups. Having never issued an actual album, they've also been one of the most obscure—at least until recently. The 2005 compilation Codex Teenage Premonition concentrated on demos and live material, while Hungry Beat collects three enthusiastically amateurish singles and an EP. The classic is 1981's "Candyskin," whose jittery, trebly gallop and jaunty guitar made it a scene favorite. The one that deserves cult-favorite status is the well-titled "Discord," an excitable instrumental built on sour, unstoppable guitar runs. The rest mine the area between those two cuts—maybe not the broadest path around, but a surprisingly fertile one.