Introducing Django Django

Name: Django Django
From: Edinburgh, Scotland
Story: The Beta Band's spiritual/actual younger brothers
Sound: Poly-genre dance jams of synths, handclaps, four-part harmonies

Django Django's effective leader —drummer/producer/founder Dave Maclean— is the younger brother of John Maclean, former keyboardist/DJ/visual artist for The Beta Band.

The erstwhile Scottish art-pop oddities may be, for many, forever associated only with this scene, but in Britain, the Beta Band hold the same kind of status, influence, and cultural/historical position as Grandaddy; a band who took Pavement-ish indie klang and Beach Boysy harmony and assembled it with cut-and-paste techniques influenced by hip-hop.

This is notable because, for all the comparisons to Hot Chip they encounter Django Django's most obvious spiritual debt is to the Beta Band. With a library-full of influences trickling into synthy, busy compositions equal parts shape-shifting and repetitious, they owe an obvious spiritual debt to the Beta Band, and —with their four-part harmonies lost in a crazy carnival of competing influences— they can often sound like them, too.

The Edinburgh-born, London-based quartet have been one of the year's breakout acts. In the UK press, there's much more in the way of crazy hype, but the buzz isn't some fabrication inspired by fashion. Instead, it's been born by their impressive debut, self-titled LP; in which 13 songs feel tight, and each of its 48 minutes well-earned.

• Listen: Django Django, "Default"
• Listen: Django Django, "Storm"
• Listen: Django Django, "Waveforms"