Baddies: fast and furious

NEWMUSIC:Who's your favourite baddie? It's a truth universally acknowledged that a superhero in possession of a superpower needs a strangely monikered nemesis to do battle with, so it was inevitable that a band would pluck their name from the dark side at some stage, writes JIM CARROLL

There’s much to admire about Baddies, four sharp blades from Southend, the same Essex town that produced These New Puritans, The Horrors and Scroobius Pip.

For a start, any band who stomp into the arena sporting co-ordinated buttoned-down shirts are onto a winner. Then there’s the high-octane live show, which leaves barely enough time for band or audience to draw a breath.

New Music wasn’t the only one bowled over by Baddies’ Eurosonic wham-bam showcase in January. The band have ended up on a rake of European festival bills as a result of their blistering gig in Groningen.

Typical Baddies songs, such as Battleships(their calling card) or the new single, Holler for My Holiday, is taut, warped, twitchy and wired, a short and sharp maelstrom of high-speed whoops, punchdrunk exuberance and dastardly menace.

If you’re looking for an off-beam punk soundtrack for a white-knuckle car-chase in your next film, your search is complete.

Along with spending the summer taking the gospel according to the Baddies around Europe, there’s also a debut album to prepare for lift-off. The band describe it as “an insight into the struggle of getting to where we are now”.

Sounds like a riot.

• www.myspace.com/ baddies