Fight Like Apes: ...and the Mystery of the Gold Medallion

Fight Like Apes are the kind of band which have the entire mainstream musical press clamouring for dibs on.

Let's go through the checklist: (1) Fronted by a photogenic female with sex appeal. (2) Eclectic songwriting style. (3) Sweat-drenched frenetic live shows. (4) Loud, dancy, art-punk. (5) Witty lyrical style.

Sure the cynic inside us is screaming that perhaps it all seems a little too perfect, but we cannot argue with results: Fight Like Apes are a (moderately) unique voice bursting with excitement amongst the echelons of dross which constitutes the music scene.

Much of the attention will focus on front-woman MayKay, who is made up of equal parts Kathleen Hannah, Jemina Pearl, Karen O and (one for you seriously underground people) Ashley Chapman. Flexible and versatile, she throws her voice around acrobatically through a range of art-punk chants, vulnerable ballads, crime-averting screams,

Like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the band's output ranges from lush, sweetly sung balladry to brutal profane outbursts of pure adrenaline (Compare YYY's "Maps" to "Art Star"). The first thing, however, which strikes home about the band is their refreshing self-awareness. In just their first song they've already taken a hefty swipe at the media without fear of including themselves in the same world they are satirising. "Magazines are so over-rated yeah / And then try to tell you, try to to sell you /What's new and what's now obsolete / And they like their garish friends and yeah, they like those indie gems and yeah / They like whatever's cool or trend's gonna take those copies off the shelf" follows a verse in which they readily acknowledge that they fall into many of the trends and the "something['s] the music kids can steal" targeted by the aforementioned media.

"Jake Summers", their second track throws everything together in just a few minutes, breaking from a virtual lullaby into a kinetic, sardonic free-for-all with the speed of a shoplifting chav in Threshers. By the time the lyric "I'm sorry for breaking your ding-a-ling" comes around, it's nigh-on impossible not to be thoroughly charmed by Fight Like Apes.

Rather than always being prone to dual-personality syndrome, a trap many bands fall into (witness the glut of post-hardcore bands spewing out the same 'pretty-verse, screamy-chorus' formula or vice-versa) there are inspired times when Apes combine both sides of their personality into one magnificent whole. "Battlestations", "Snore Bore Whore" and "Do You Karate?" all feature throat-shredding sections over otherwise tranquil moments. This attention to variety ensures that the band's wide dispersal of influences never become tired in their presentation.

Upon first listen, ...and the Mystery of the Gold Medallion seems like one of the most refreshing releases of recent memory. While it never falls too far in our estimation, it certainly does begin to grate slightly in places after a few listens. The sequencing comes across as frequently odd , with the choice to consistently follow exciting passages with somewhat meandering sections. While the brain skips these criticisms initially, they do become apparent after a few outings with Fight Like Apes.

In the meantime, enjoy Gold Medallion for what it is: a fantastic slice of bizarre angular, eclectic punk-pop which ticks every single box on the "things you'd like to listen to on a Summer afternoon" questionnaire. Sure you may grow out of it one day, but the same was true with teenage fashion and books of angst-filled poetry, but that doesn't mean they didn't serve a purpose at the time.