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Breaking Artist: The Shackeltons

By 
January 30, 2008 6:19 PM ET

Who: Five twitchy post-punk (pink) flag-bearers from sleepy Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Sounds Like: The Shackeltons provide a stout combination of clean, straight-lined production and cacophonous bursts of sound on their self-titled debut. Their blasts of angst, which are equal parts danceable bliss and seering noise, are held together by the jittery, literate lyrical musings of frontman Mark Redding.

Vital Stats:

• The band is named after Earnest Shackleton, an explorer who most notably attempted to cross Antarctica on foot in the early 1900s.

• The band has a few obvious influences (Pixies, Joy Division), but according to guitarist Dan Schuchman, the group also draws inspiration from soul crooner Otis Redding and gutteral rapper Busta Rhymes.

• Redding's stage presence can get quite manic — he will often collide with his bandmates onstage. In one early gig, he had a bit of his scalp and some of his hair taken off by a ceiling fan.

Hear It Now: The band's self-titled debut is available for download at iTunes. Check out the video for "The Breaks," directed by Sam Jones (the same man responsible for Wilco's I Am Trying To Break Your Heart film) above.

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