Kevin Bronson on June 10th, 2009

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I witnessed two of Band of Skulls’ approximately 1,000 shows (OK, they played five, I think) in L.A. in the past week, and it was hard to not to get a little bit excited. The U.K. trio’s no-frills but high-skills take on blues-rock is simply a lot catchier than some of their contemporaries doing the same type of music. Imagine Wolfmother or the Black Keys with pop songs (and boy-girl vocals). A friend likened them to the 22-20s (ah, Coachella 2003), an astute jog of my memory. This is the video for “I Know What I Am” (which, if you are a purveyor of the iTunes Single of the Week, you might already have), off their debut “Baby Darling Doll Face Honey.”

Speaking of catchy: Trying to stay away from Brakesbrakesbrakes’s new album “Touchdown” for very long is like trying to keep your hand out of the cookie jar. The Brighton, U.K., quartet features members of other Brighton bands long held in high esteem at Buzz Bands HQ, the Electric Soft Parade, British Sea Power and the Tenderfoot. As frontman Eamon Hamilton shows on this single, “Don’t Take Me to Space (Man),” and there’s no shortage of hooks in the port town. The band plays Bonnaroo this weekend; no West Coast dates right now.