Garbage

Shirley Manson and company are back with their best album since 1998’s Version 2.0. The new one, Bleed Like Me, is cool power punk at its best. On “Why Do You Love Me,” Manson screams, “It’s driving me crazy!”—an angry punk rocker calling her lover on lies. The hottest track is “Metal Heart,” which begins with start-stop electronica and morphs into heavy metal with screaming wild guitar. Another standout is “Boys Wanna Fight,” with its comeback refrain “But the girls are happy to dance all night”—a perfect dance track for the club scene. “Why Don’t You Come Over?” is very 1980s Blondie, with a driving beat and new-wave heat. Sure, there’s some filler here, but fuck the filler, iPod people! If you love new-wave punk and miss the crack of Shirley’s whip, there’s nothing to do but wallow in this Garbage.