Kevin Bronson on July 23rd, 2010

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The Answering Machine are a U.K. quartet that does its Manchester heritage proud – brightly biting, melodically inviting, their 2009 debut album “Another City, Another Sorry” races through 36 minutes of punky Britpop as if the Libertines, Arctic Monkeys and Cribs were thumb-twiddlers. They aren’t, of course, and TAM will sound familiar to you Anglophile hearts, but a fresh dose of ragged attitude is always welcome: Singer Martin Colclough and mates are already working on a follow-up, due later this year or early in 2011. In addition, the foursome recently convened with the Smiths’ Mike Joyce to do some Buzzcocks songs live in Manchester and slipped into the studio to record a couple, including “Sixteen Again” and (with vocals from the Charlatans UK’s Tim Burgess) “Just Lust.” The foursome heads to L.A. next week.

||| Download: “Sixteen Again” and “Just Lust” (Buzzcocks covers)
[audio:http://www.mediafire.com/file/bgx0u40e7g4qx57/The Answering Machine_Sixteen Again ST.mp3]
[audio:http://www.mediafire.com/file/pg916dj1owjgg72/The Answering Machine_Just Lust ST.mp3]

||| Also download: “Cliffer,” the first single from their 2009 album.

||| Live: The Answering Machine play July 30 at Club Underground at the Echo.