Mp3 of the Week: Hooray for Earth

DOWNLOAD: Hooray for Earth, "Warm Out" (mp3)

Hooray for Earth: odd band. Get 'em drunk, and they're liable to belt out a Justin Timberlake hit, or maybe one of Jacko's. Left on his own, their singer has been known to crank out Magnetic Fields covers. In their own right, HFE have carved out a unique niche that's equal parts indie breadth and metal brawn, like a second coming of Queens of the Stone Age. "Warm Out," taken from their new Cellphone EP, staggers forward on a clawing, atavistic, baritone-guitar riff, the rhythm section lurching like mechanized infantry. But the bridge that follows is a thing of beauty: the guitars turn taut, lithe, and synchronous. Clusters of ascending notes flank and overwhelm the main theme; and the lyrics, a short paen to renewal that evokes the majestic/melancholic Mag Fields of "Love Comes Home To Paris in the Spring," turn sad and then frantic, just before the whole thing starts all over again. Grab the mpfree above, check out the video below, then see if you can help yrself from stampeding their EP-release gig on Leap Night -- that's tomorrow -- at the Middle East.