If you listen to only one song this year about the inner turmoil of 19th-century classical composer Franz Liszt, make it Phoenix's "Lisztomania." These diabolically crafty French rockers use the composer (a major teen idol in his day) as a symbol of creative conflict, with singer Thomas Mars emoting over an exuberant rush of guitar pop. But the band sounds more musically confident than ever, building on the breakthrough of its 2006 album, It's Never Been Like That. The 10 songs are sleek and clean, as if the Strokes had kept pushing a little longer and maybe bought some old disco records. Case in point: "Fences" spikes the electro beat of Daft Punk with an urgent acoustic-guitar breakdown for splendidly danceable melancholy.