"Blink and you'll miss it" is the m.o. on Nothing Hurts, the hectic little debut from London trio Male Bonding. The longest track here is still shy of three minutes, and the whole affair wraps tidily up inside a half-hour. In an age of accelerated listening, Male Bonding deliver an entire album in the time it takes contemporary Green Day to get through a single song.

What's remarkable about Nothing Hurts is just how many different elements they manage to cram inside each song. These aren't just whiplash punk numbers: Male Bonding nod to everyone from My Bloody Valentine to Satellite Heart-era Flaming Lips, but the singing is more cuddle party than acid tab. And the whole affair is over and done with in two minutes, 19 seconds.

It's refreshing that Male Bonding don't seem to have the patience for fucking around: It's airborne singing and gravel-pit guitars, again and again and again — the sonic definition of "pretty ugly." And… read more »