AOTW: Franz Ferdinand - "Franz Ferdinand"

It's hard to believe that Franz Ferdinand's debut, self-titled album came out in 2004. It's been five long years since "Take Me Out" made its slow and steady way onto the Billboard charts and maintained a solid presence for the majority of the year. While that single may be once of the best of the decade (and it hasn't lost any of it's power), what makes Franz Ferdinand so great is its full realization as an album. As "Jacqueline" begins and Alexander Kapranos' too-smooth vocals lie atop a barely audible acoustic guitar strum, you wonder for a moment what kind of album this is going to be. Then the bass roars to life, snare hits accompany the oncoming burst of electric guitar, and Kapranos is belting out how "it's always better on holiday!" And you have your answer.

There isn't a bad track on the album, and if you're looking for dance-punk-disco-funk, you won't do any better than Franz Ferdinand. The band utilizes perfectly clean stabs of guitar and capitalizes on the negative space in between while simultaneously sounding big. For all the stadiumesque Britpop bands that shared release dates with Franz Ferdinand, most sounded too serious and few sounded as fun.

PS. All our "Song of the Day" entries this week will be either Dirty Projectors or Art Brut in honor of their Atlanta concerts this week. Art Brut is tomorrow at the Earl and Dirty Projectors are Saturday at the Masquerade. Check them out if you can!