Kelly Clarkson's <i>My December</i>
Photo: RCA Records

If you're in Southern California this time of year, you've probably heard the phrase "June gloom" — it's an expression used to describe the gray early mornings that bum out the beach bums and spoil the area's otherwise idyllic weather conditions. Well, there's certainly an artist who has felt a different type of June gloom this year, and her name is Kelly Clarkson.

You've probably heard a thing or two by now about her third album, My December, which was originally pegged for a July 24 release but moved to June so fans could become familiar with the tracks before she set out on her proposed summer tour. Well, the tour ain't happenin' this summer — but to make matters worse, fans were able to get their hands on the album early all the same when it leaked online a couple of weeks ago. Add in her firing of manager Jeff Kwatinetz and a litany of reports that she clashed with Clive Davis over the supposedly darker material, and you get an album that's been building exactly the wrong kind of hype.

But this week brings the release of the thorny My December and its 13 songs all the same — 14, actually, if you count the hidden track "Chivas." Also featured on the album — which Blender and Entertainment Weekly have been digging — is "Don't Waste Your Time," "Judas" and "Haunted." And if you've been scouring iTunes, you might have been able to get access to two remixes of her "Never Again" single, "Dirty Little Secret" and "Not Today."

Mark of the Beasties: Like the Beastie Boys but wish they'd just shut up? You're in for a treat this week — the act's first album in three years is an all-instrumental affair and its first to consist solely of vocal-free songs. Mike D smacks the drums, MCA plays bass and Adrock handles guitar while Money Mark lends some keyboard support and Alfredo Ortiz adds percussion. The trio's seventh album features "Dramastically Different," "Freaky Hijiki" and "The Kangaroo Rat" — but with no lyrics to go along with those names, you'll have to use your imagination. MCA is actually appearing elsewhere this week, even though he still has his lips sealed — he produced Bad Brains' first album in five years, Build a Nation.

Adams at It Again: While it's taken the Beasties over two decades to put out seven studio albums, it's only taken Ryan Adams seven years to crank out a staggering 10. Recorded with his band the Cardinals at New York's Electric Lady Studios but issued as a solo effort, Easy Tiger features Sheryl Crow singing backup on "Two" and also includes "Halloweenhead," "Oh My God, Whatever, Etc." and "I Taught Myself How to Grow Old." Unlike the Beasties, Adams is definitely a guy who has a thing or two to say.

Too Much Pearl Jam: As if Pearl Jam's exhaustive — and exhausting — "official bootleg series" and four additional really official bootlegs (as in, proper releases with decent packaging and stuff) didn't do the trick, the aging rockers are busting out a new concert set devoted to the beloved venue in their Washington home state. In classic PJ fashion, Live at the Gorge 05/06 sprawls seven and a half hours' worth of material over seven discs, ensuring that fans will be so suffocated with material that they won't even have the chance to listen to any other bands. If the cover image weren't so cool, we'd be giving these guys even more flak for incessantly weighing down store shelves with these esoteric live packages.

Frankly Speaking: Frank Black is much more than just a Pixie — the frontman has also maintained a formidable solo career over the years, and he's got two CDs' worth of choice material to prove it. Best of Frank Black 93-03 cherry-picks from his nine LPs and is beefed up with a bonus disc of live songs from his North American tour last year. There's also a new slice, "Threshold Apprehension," that Black recorded under his recently revived Black Francis moniker — his Bluefinger is due September 11.

Stock Tip: T.I. will soon be reaping the rewards of his way-anticipated July 3 release T.I. vs. T.I.P., but before he does, he creeps up on the first album by Dallas rapper and Dirty South Rydaz agent Tum Tum. Tip squeezes in alongside Lil Wayne and E-40 on "Caprice Musik Remix," which closes out Tum Tum's Eat or Get Ate LP. (TT might have taken another tip from T.I. — the sixth track on the album is called "T.U.M.") Jim Jones and Mannie Fresh also lend the newcomer a hand.

What a Concept: A slew of concept albums are hitting stores this week. Sinéad O'Connor's double-CD Theology "is an attempt to create a place of peace in a time of war," she said in a press statement. "It is my own personal response to what has taken place and is affecting everyone around the world since and including September 11, 2001." Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet's "Juliet Letters" DVD revolves around the album of the same name, which was inspired by a series of letters an Italian literature professor wrote for the Shakespeare character. Similarly, Queensrÿche's "Mindcrime at the Moore" DVD captures their live performance of the two-part album that describes a political puppet master who brainwashes the story's main character into assassinating corrupt politicians.

Also, Lisa Germano's Lullaby for Liquid Pig, which details her troubles with drinking, is reissued this week with a 20-song bonus CD; Bryan Ferry's Dylanesque is a full-on salute to His Bobness; New Orleans bluesman Bryan Lee's Katrina Was Her Name has an obvious concept; and Manticora's The Black Circus Part 2: Disclosure deals with a 19th century traveling circus.

Song Title of the Week:

"Eat or Get Ate" from Tum Tum's Eat or Get Ate

Album Cover of the Week:

Baroness/Unpersons' A Grey Sigh in a Flower Husk

Other Notables:

3 Inches of Blood's Fire Up the Blades
For all intents and purposes, the Vancouver, British Columbia, thrash band's third studio album is also a concept album — in a press statement, singer Jamie Hooper said, "With this album, the blacksmith is heating up the blades and we are preparing for battle. We are forging the steel that we'll use to annihilate the heavy-metal posers, and in every town we play, the streets will run red with their blood." Hooper might not be kidding — even if he and partner Cam Pipes are singing and screaming about warriors and dragons and other subject matter that'll delight the "D&D" set. With four more guys in their squad and a friend in Slipknot's Joey Jordison — he produced the LP — Ozzfest fans should be warned when the rip-roaring band tours with the fest this summer.

The Sharp Things' A Moveable Feast
Also sharpening up its third effort this week is this symphonic-pop band from New York. The Sharp Things' crew is even larger than 3 Inches' — 10 bandmembers recorded the album, but the ensemble also tapped the Hold Steady's Franz Nicolay, a 40-piece orchestra and Broadway star Michael Cerveris for the outing. Recorded in kitchens, living rooms, basements and elsewhere, the homemade LP features "Franz Agoniste," "Driving in Manhattan in My Car" and "What's the New Girl Wonder."

Mocean Worker's Cinco de MoWo!
The one-man eclectic-electronic sensation steps up with album number five — or, rather, cinco. Beyond his usual cut-and-paste approach, MoWo also integrated live instrumentation courtesy trumpet players Herb Alpert ("Changes") and Steven Bernstein ("Shake Your Boogie"), regular collaborator Rahsaan Roland Kirk and others. MoWo — a.k.a. Adam Dorn — is actually dropping this album on his own label, but given the strong radio play 2005's Enter the MoWo! received, and the love he gets from taste-making Santa Monica, California, radio station KCRW, expect to see this album very much in motion.

New Releases:

· 108 - A New Beat From a Dead Heart (Deathwish)
· 3 Inches of Blood - Fire Up the Blades (Roadrunner) [Buy Now]
· Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger (Lost Highway) [Buy Now]
· Ananda Project - Fire Flower (MVD Audio)
· Asia - Fantasia: Live in Tokyo XXV (two CDs; Eagle Rock)
· Automatic Automatic - Not Accepted Anywhere (Columbia) [Buy Now]
· Baby Dee - The Robin's Tiny Throat (two CDs; Jnana)
· Back Door Slam - Roll Away (Blix Street)
· Bad Brains - Build a Nation (Megaforce) [Buy Now]
· Baroness/Unpersons - A Grey Sigh in a Flower Husk (At a Loss)
· Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up (Capitol) [Buy Now]
· Tab Benoit - Power of the Pontchartrain (Telarc)
· Elvin Bishop - Booty Bumpin' (Blind Pig)
· Boys Night Out - Boys Night Out (Ferret) [Buy Now]
· Marc Broussard - S.O.S.: Save Our Soul (Amazon edition comes with bonus track; Vanguard) [Buy Now]
· Bob Burns and the Breakups - Terminal Breakdown (Gearhead)
· Carolina Chocolate Drops - Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind (enhanced; Music Maker)
· The Chapter - The Prewreck (Awthentix)
· Kelly Clarkson - My December (RCA) [Buy Now]
Read: "Kelly Clarkson On Her Revealing New LP: 'I'm Not Even This Open With Boyfriends!' "
· The Click Five - Modern Minds and Pastimes (Lava) [Buy Now]
· The Nels Cline Singers - Draw Breath (Cryptogramophone)
· The Cursed - Room Full of Sinners (Locomotive)
· The Charlie Daniels Band - Live From Iraq (two CDs; Koch) [Buy Now]
· The Drifters - Greatest Hits (MVD Audio)
· Dub Trio - Cool Out and Coexist (ROIR)
· Tinsley Ellis - Moment of Truth (Alligator)
· Epitaph - Remember the Daze (MVD Audio)
· Bryan Ferry - Dylanesque (Virgin)
· Steve Forbert - Strange Names & New Sensations (429)
· Adam Franklin - Bolts of Melody (Hi-Speed Soul)
· Gabby Glaser - Gimme Splash (Latchkey)
· Gore Gore Girls - Get the Gore (Bloodshot)
· Guff - Symphony of Voices (Go Kart)
· HeadQuarters - O and O (Vibratone)
· Adina Howard - Private Show (Arsenal) [Buy Now]
· Peter Karp - Shadows and Cracks (Blind Pig)
· King Wilkie - Low Country Suite (Zoë/Rounder)
· Greg Lake - Greg Lake (MVD Audio)
· Bryan Lee - Katrina Was Her Name (Justin Time)
· Sylvie Lewis - Translations (Cheap Lullaby)
· Nick Lowe - At My Age (Yep Roc)
· Charlie Manhattan - The Manhattan Project (RNB)
· Manticora - The Black Circus: Part 2 - Disclosure (Locomotive)
· The Minor Times - Summer of Wolves (Prosthetic)
· Mocean Worker - Cinco de MoWo! (Mowo! Inc.)
· Erik Mongrain - Fates (MVD Audio)
· My American Heart - Hiding Inside the Horrible Weather (Warcon) [Buy Now]
· Tony Naima & the Bitters - Dismember (Regain)
· Sinéad O'Connor - Theology (two CDs; Koch) [Buy Now]
· Operator - Soul Crusher (Atlantic)
· Orange Goblin - Healing Through Fire (limited edition comes with DVD; Sanctuary)
· Pearl Jam - Live at the Gorge 05/06 (seven-CD box set; Rhino) [Buy Now]
· Popa Chubby - Electric Chubbyland Volume One (Blind Pig)
· André Previn - Alone: Ballads for Solo Piano (Decca)
· Rasputina - Oh Perilous World! (Filthy Bonnet Recording Co.) [Buy Now]
· Duke Robillard - Duke Robillard's World Full of Blues (two CDs; Stony Plain)
· KJ Sawka - Cyclonic Steel (DualDisc; Wax Orchard)
· The Secret Meeting - Ultrashiver (Noiseplus)
· The Seventh Season - Liquid Water (Independent)
· The Sharp Things - A Moveable Feast (Bar/None)
· Spooky - Open (self-released)
· Symphony X - Paradise Lost (SPV)
· Tenderhooks - Vidalia (Rock Snob)
· Till We Die - Pressing On (Locomotive)
· Pat Travers - Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights) (MVD Audio)
· Tum Tum - Eat or Get Ate (Republic) [Buy Now]
· Waverly Seven - Yo! Bobby (two CDs; Anzic)
· Kelly Willis - Translated From Love (Rykodisc)
· David Witham - Spinning the Circle (Cryptogramophone)
· Pegi Young - Pegi Young (Warner Bros.)
· Various artists - Essential Dub (ROIR)
· Various artists - "Hannah Montana 2" soundtrack (two CDs; Disney)
· Various artists - "Ratatouille" soundtrack (Disney)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

· Frank Black - Best of Frank Black 93-03 (two CDs; Cooking Vinyl)
· Eric Carmen - Boats Against the Current/ Change of Heart (American Beat)
· Rodney Crowell - Rodney Crowell (American Beat) [Buy Now]
· DC Talk - Greatest Hits (Forefront) [Buy Now]
· Emerson Lake & Palmer - Pictures at an Exhibition (live) and Trilogy (Shout! Factory)
· The Emotions - Best of the Emotions (Mastercuts Gold)
· Lisa Germano - Lullaby for Liquid Pig (with bonus CD; Young God)
· Grateful Dead - Three From the Vault (two CDs) [Buy Now]
· Heatwave - Best of Heatwave (Mastercuts Gold)
· Robyn Hitchcock - Storefront Hitchcock (Noble Rot)
· David Johansen - Here Comes the Night (American Beat)
· Love - The Blue Thumb Recordings (limited-edition three-CD set; Hip-O Select)
· Yngwie Malmsteen - Fire & Ice (Noble Rot)
· John McLaughlin - The Essential John McLaughlin (two CDs; Columbia/Legacy)
· Metric - Grow Up and Blow Away (Last Gang) [Buy Now]
· Odyssey - Best of Odyssey (Mastercuts Gold)
· Jaco Pastorius - The Essential Jaco Pastorius (two CDs; Columbia/Legacy)
· Linda Ronstadt - Don't Cry Now (Collector's Edition) (Mobile Fidelity) [Buy Now]
· Tommy Shaw - Ambition (American Beat)
· Paul Simon - The Essential Paul Simon (two CDs and one DVD; Warner Bros.) [Buy Now]
· Social Distortion - Greatest Hits (Time Bomb) [Buy Now]
· Squeeze - East Side Story (American Beat) [Buy Now]
· Billy Squier - Emotions in Motion (American Beat)
· Trin-I-Tee 5:7 - Holla: The Best of Trin-I-Tee 5:7 ()
· Trio of Doom - John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius, Tony Williams (Columbia/Legacy)
· Steve Vai - Sound Theories Vol. 1 & 2 (two CDs; Epic)
· Various artists - Putumayo Presents Latin Jazz (Putumayo)

Music DVDs:

· AC/DC - "Back in Black - The Ultimate Critical Review" (Classic Rock Legends) [Buy Now]
· The Beach Boys - "Videobiography" (Classic Rock Legends) [Buy Now]
· Bob Berg Quartet - "The Geneva Concert" (MVD Visual)
· Randy Brecker Quartet - "The Paris Concert" (MVD Visual)
· The Clash - "Music in Review" (Classic Rock Legends) a href="/music/artist/clash/albums.jhtml">[Buy Now]
· Echo & the Bunnymen - "Dancing Horses" (MVD Visual) [Buy Now]
· Elvis Costello - "Live: A Case for Song" (Classic Rock Legends) [Buy Now]
· Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet - "The Juliet Letters" (Rhino)
· Country Joe Band - "Turned Up and Turned On" (MVD Visual)
· The Cure - "Rock Case Studies" (Classic Rock Legends) [Buy Now]
· The Drifters - "Greatest Hits Live" (MVD Visual) [Buy Now]
· Echo & the Bunnymen - "Dancing Horses" (MVD Visual)
· Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau - "Autumn Journey" (Kultur)
· Green Day - "Rock Case Studies" (with book; Classic Rock Legends) [Buy Now]
· The Gun Club - "Fire of Love" (Cherry Red)
· Elton John - "Rock Case Studies" (with book; Classic Rock Legends) [Buy Now]
· Tom Jones - "This Is Tom Jones" (three DVDs; Time Life) [Buy Now]
· Greg Lake - "Welcome Backstage" (MVD Visual)
· Madonna - "Music in Review" (Classic Rock Legends) and "The Performance Review" (Video Music) [Buy Now]
· New Model Army - "Live 161203" (MVD Visual)
· North Mississippi Allstars - "Keep on Marchin' " (Songs of the South) [Buy Now]
· Queen - "DVD Collector's Box" (two DVDs; Video Music) [Buy Now]
· Queensrÿche - "Mindcrime at the Moore" (two DVDs; Rhino)
· Tina Turner - "Rio '88" (Eagle Vision) [Buy Now]
· Twisted Sister - "The Video Years" (Rhino) [Buy Now]
· Various artists - "Pop Legends Live!" (three DVDs; Standing Room Only)

Digital Releases:

· Damien Dempsey - To Hell or Barbados (available in brick-and-mortar stores July 3)

Coming Attractions:

July 3:
· Kelly Rowland - Ms. Kelly (Columbia) [Preorder]
· T.I. - T.I. vs. T.I.P. (Atlantic) [Preorder]
Read: "T.I. Taking On T.I.P. With Help From Eminem, Justin Timberlake"
· Velvet Revolver - Libertad (RCA) [Preorder]
Read: "Scott Weiland Pumped For Velvet Revolver LP, Solo Collabo With Pharrell"
· Various artists - "Transformers" soundtrack (Warner Bros.)

July 10:
· Aly & AJ - Insomniatic (Hollywood) [Preorder]
· Interpol - Our Love to Admire (special edition packaged in hard-covered book form due same day; Capitol) [Preorder]
· Mike Jones - The American Dream (Ice Age) [Preorder]
Read: "The Dream Is Nearly Over For Mike Jones"
· Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist (Reprise) [Preorder]
Read: "Smashing Pumpkins Drummer Offers More Clues About Forthcoming LP"

July 17:
· All-American Rejects - "Tournado" DVD (Interscope) [Preorder]
· Avenged Sevenfold - "All Excess" DVD (Warner Bros.) [Preorder]
· The Chemical Brothers - We Are the Night (Astralwerks) [Preorder]

• Kelly Clarkson
• Beastie Boys
• Ryan Adams
• Metric
• The Click Five

Metric (file)
Photo: Chris Grimer

On November 2, 2004, George W. Bush was well on his way to a second term in office. That same day, politicized dance-rockers Metric were on their way to Canada, crossing the border as the election was being called. The symbolism of the situation wasn't lost on them.

"You can't plan that!" Metric singer Emily Haines exclaimed of the group's emigration from its Los Angeles base back to its hometown of Toronto. "It was so dramatic."

Now geographically dispersed — Haines and guitarist James Shaw in the Great White North and drummer Joules Scott-Key and bassist Josh Winstead in San Francisco — the group reconvened this past winter in its Toronto home studio to record Live It Out.

Due October 4, the follow-up to 2003's Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? acts as an emotional flipside to the frustrated, feisty, call-to-arms temperament of their debut (see "Metric's System: Beats, And Political Subtext").

Much like the mood in "blue states" the day after the election, the disc features a mix of resignation and resolve.

"We're acknowledging that yes, there's an endless supply of disappointment and justified concern, angst and sadness," Haines said. "You can fight it, but sometimes you need to create an alternate world to survive."

"What we're trying to get across is, 'fight off the lethargy,' " Shaw said, quoting the lyrics to "Combat Baby," a manifesto from their debut. "Don't feel beaten down by the world, use what energy you have to create the life that you want. Live It Out is an extension of that."

"I fought the war, I fought the war, and the war won!" Haines sings on the band's uptempo, guitar-fueled first single, "Monster Hospital." Metric are considering a menacing Roman Polanski-like video treatment for the song, which speaks to their uphill battles while trying to make a mark in the music industry.

Record label struggles, touring fatigue and general career disappointment had left the band emotionally fractured, and a breakup seemed imminent. The band scattered: Emily wrote and contemplated a solo career, while Shaw escaped on tour with compatriots in Toronto indie collective Broken Social Scene (see "Broken Social Scene's Hard Road To Windsurfing Nation").

"We were a little bit at our wits' end" Haines said of their last tour. "I didn't feel like fighting so hard and we went through hell for a long time. It was a feeling of being in a forest, making your own path and just believing that it was a worthwhile pursuit, then realizing that every road leads to a six lane highway full of 15-passenger vans."

Eventually, a renewed sense of purpose came from a re-energizing trip to France, where the band received encouragement from its idols in Sonic Youth and filmmaker Olivier Assayas ("Demonlover"), who included the band in his upcoming film, "Clean." Then came the realization that fans wanted more. "What inspired us to continue was getting perspective and realizing that we resonated with people," she said. "I feel an intense loyalty to those that understand the emotion behind what we're doing."

While the Metric system hasn't changed drastically on Live It Out — perhaps a soundclash of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Blondie and Stereolab — the songs are more diverse. "Too Little Too Late" is the straight-up love song Haines said she would never write, "Poster of a Girl" features a chorus sung in French, and "Ending Starts" is a slow build to a hyper climax." Old World is this upbeat dancey record, whereas on this one there's a whole range of tempos," Shaw said.

"It's more soulful and introspective," Haines explained. "It's more abstract ideas of being alive instead of specific ideas about, say, the government. It was a valid pursuit to spend a great deal of poetic energy to point out what was flawed, dishonest and wrong in the world, but I couldn't contribute anything positive by just being pissed off. We needed positivity."

Not afraid of what almost killed them last time, a massive 45-date North American tour kicks off September 22. "Metric is not an easy band, and we've known that all along and it's kind of our point: We're trying to be courageous, and that's a hard thing to keep alive."

Live It Out track list, according to the band's label:

• "Empty"
• "Glass Ceiling"
• "Handshakes"
• "Too Little Too Late"
• "Poster of a Girl"
• "Monster Hospital"
• "Patriarch on a Vespa"
• "The Police and the Private"
• "Ending Start"
• "Live It Out"

Metric tour dates, according to the band's publicist:

• 9/22 - Guelph, ON @ University of Guelph/ Peter Clarke Hall
• 9/23 - Hamilton, ON @ McMaster University/ Quarters
• 9/26 - Kingston, ON @ Stages
• 9/29 - Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix Concert Theatre
• 9/30 - Ottawa, ON @ Capitol Music Theatre
• 10/1 - Montreal, ON @ Club Soda
• 10/2 - Boston, MA @ The Paradise
• 10/3 - Providence, RI @ Century Lounge
• 10/5 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 10/6 - Brooklyn, NY @ Southpaw
• 10/7 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
• 10/8 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
• 10/10 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle
• 10/11 - Atlanta, GA @ The Loft
• 10/12 - Birmingham, AL @ Zydeco
• 10/13 - Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
• 10/14 - Cincinnati, OH @ Top Cats
• 10/15 - Cleveland, OH @ The Grog Shop
• 10/17 - Detroit, MI @ The Magic Stick
• 10/18 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
• 10/19 - St. Louis, MO @ Creepy Crawl
• 10/20 - Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
• 10/21 - Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
• 10/22 - Minneapolis, MN @ Ascot Room at the Quest
• 10/23 - Winnipeg, MB @ Ramada Conference Centre
• 10/24 - Saskatoon, SK @ Louis Pub/ Univ of Saskatchewan
• 10/25 - Regina, SK @ Riddell Centre/ Univ. of Regina
• 10/26 - Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall/ Univ of Calgary
• 10/27 - Edmonton, AB @ Starlite
• 10/30 - Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore
• 11/1 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Café
• 11/2 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
• 11/3 - San Francisco, CA @ Slims
• 11/4 - Los Angeles, CA @ The El Rey
• 11/5 - San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
• 11/7 - Tempe, AZ @ Big Fish Pub
• 11/8 - Tucson, AZ @ Plush
• 11/10 - Dallas, TX @ Gypsy Tea Room
• 11/11 - Austin, TX @ The Parish
• 11/12 - Houston, TX @ The Meridian
• 11/13 - New Orleans, LA @ The Parish
• 11/15 - Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum

• Metric
• Sonic Youth

Metric (file)
Photo: Everloving

Clad in chic black, superficially Metric resemble stylish fashionistas and pulsate like a synth-pop band you can dance to, but there's more than meets the eye. Just because they rock the body doesn't mean they can't stimulate the mind.

"The idea is, we're taking [René] Descartes and kicking him down," frontwoman Emily Haines said of the French philosopher who said the psyche and body were mutually exclusive. "We're saying soul, mind and body are together and kicking him where it hurts."

Whatever their manifesto declares, the music works on multiple levels. "If you want to dance to it, then go ahead," said guitarist James Shaw. "But if you actually want to sit down and listen to it, you can do that as well. That's the point."

Musically, the group isn't easily pegged, either. Outwardly, the band's sound is glammed-up 4/4 synth rock, but closer inspection reveals songs within songs, poignant emotions and taut, complex rhythm changes. "It's probably two more steps of refinement than a simple pop song," said Shaw. "It's not that much harder, it just takes a little more work."

The group started in Toronto as a creative partnership between Haines and Shaw in 1995, and the urbane duo refined their cosmopolitan sound over the years by living in New York, Montreal, London and Los Angeles. Along their nomadic path, the pair gave their soft electronic sound a bolt of rhythmic energy in drummer Joules Scott-Key and, shortly after, bassist Josh Winstead in 2002.

While inspiring, their global trek wasn't without adversity. What was meant to be their introduction, Grow Up and Blow Away, fell victim to record-label limbo. So when a new deal was struck, the group scrapped the disc entirely and set off to make what is now their second "debut" album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?

Reflecting such diverse influences as Duran Duran, Stereolab, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Blondie, Old World Underground bounces and buzzes with new wave romanticism and feral punk snarl, but an undercurrent of stirring melancholy permeates the melodies and lyrics.

"['Combat Baby'] is about disappointment," Haines said of the group's dynamic first single. "Observing things — the blending of twilight, the laming of neighborhoods and the fatiguing of youth."

While Haines reminiscences nostalgically about the past, her observations also perform double duty as incisive social commentary. Politically aware and disillusioned by recent world affairs, Metric created a song in "Combat Baby" that says, "We're not going down without a fight."

"We're not political in the sense where we're not going to say really obvious statements, but having any energy to express [politics] or even talk about it means that you're entering the political realm," Shaw said. "Most people don't even feel entitled to their own opinion. That to me is the biggest crime."

On one track, "Succexy," Haines sings, "All we do is talk, static, split/ Screen as the homeland plans enemies"— a sardonic salvo against apathy and the media's "shock and awe" coverage of the war in Iraq.

"At the time we were making the record ... we were overwhelmed with the amount of bad news [packaged] in a highly entertaining form," Haines said. "Like the glamour of aggression and the gross sex of invasion and making it entertaining. The rhythmic constancy of images made us really bummed about the state of things."

Seducing with their glossy sheen, Metric subvert listeners by reeling them in and then provide them with an almost subliminal subtext to chew on. While confronting ill-motivated adversaries, from velvet rope scenesters ("The List") to those who fetishize retro sounds ("Dead Disco"), it's all balanced with painfully real human emotion; one moment Haines is sarcastic and caustic, the next reflective and bittersweet.

And now that the fashionably tailored members of Metric are ready for their close-up, the distinguished are starting to take notice. French director Olivier Assayas ("Demonlover") has already featured the band in his upcoming film "Clean," their former Brooklyn roommates in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have given them props, and fellow hipsters in the Hot Hot Heat have taken them on tour.

Haines sums up the band's musical goals in the form of a hypothetical over-the-counter drug. "It would give an amazing burst of real energy that was sustainable," she said. "Not like a fleeting caffeine high; you would recognize that your body and mind was young and you'd act accordingly.

"With no hangovers of course."

• Metric

All Points West Festival At New Jersey's Liberty State Park

• Radiohead
• Trey Anastasio
• Kings Of Leon
• Metric
• Ben Harper