Program 91

At a time when it seems like most of their indiepop contemporaries are obsessed with the international indie scenes of the late '80s/early '90s, be it the UK's C86 boomlet or New Zealand's grimier, dronier bands centered around the Flying Nun label, Norway's Razika reach back a musical generation. Barely out of their teens, these four lifelong friends have somehow steeped themselves in the sound of England at the dawn of the Thatcher era. But they haven't simply adopted the sound or pose of one strain of post-punk: the jittery double-time guitars are pure Two-Tone, while Marie Amdam's vocals -- emotionally varied while taking a less-than-purist view of the concept of pitch -- owe more to first-wave female-centric post-punks like The Slits and The Raincoats. (The handful of songs sung in her native Norwegian are just as endearing and catchy as the English-language tunes.) But crucially, they're also genuinely talented songwriters, with a remarkable knack for ear-candy choruses. From the sweetly sexy "Taste My Dream" and the winsome "Why Have We To Wait" to the comparatively minimal acoustic reverie "Walk in the Park," each track is instantly memorable and completely beguiling. Program 91 could be the dark-horse debut of 2011, and it bodes even better to come.