#14 WU LYF - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain (self released)

Here is what we do know about WU LYF: they are from Manchester, England, there are four members, their manager is Warren Bramley who worked with the infamous late Tony Wilson at Factory Records, their record is self released for apparently philosophical reasons, and what lyrics can be descerned from their barked vocals appear to be political in nature, a suspicion supported by the overtly political nature of their videos, also LYF stands for Lucifer Youth Foundation, which is kind of cool. The rest is apparently a mystery, which is also kind of cool. None of this is nearly as cool as the band's ability to channel the sunnier side of post-punk into their urgent sounding call to arms. "Go Tell Fire To The Mountain" is solemn as fuck agitpop heavily indebted to afro-beat, making the band's rage as enjoyable as it is inspiring. While the band's earnestness is sometimes jarring, it's also incredibly refreshing in a musical landscape full of bands whose apathy and denial in the face of incredibly dark times finds them fiddling as Rome burns. WU LYF makes bands like Twin Shadow and Wild Nothings smaller than they already were. People are already predicting that WY LYF will take 2011 by storm. I kind of hope so, because it would be nice to have a band that actually stands for something other than faux 80s-nostalgia to rouse the sleeping giant of youth into action.

"Dirt"