New Pornographers

Pure pop for now people, 2003 edition. The New Pornographers’ Electric Version is even better than their much-talked-about 2000 debut Mass Romantic—it’s easily the catchiest album we’ve run across all year, a sunny, soaring mix of harmonies and jangly chords that has more hooks than the state fishing opener. The Vancouver indie-rock supergroup—which takes its name from a Jimmy Swaggart remark about rock music being the “new pornography”—has talent to burn, with two fine songwriters in Carl Newman and Dan Bejar, not to mention the vocal power of singer Neko Case, who’s generating as much buzz for her solo country songs (and a recent fully-clothed mention in Playboy, who named her the year’s sexiest female indie rocker) as for the power-pop on parade here. When we first heard the NP’s single “The Laws Have Changed” last month, we must have listened to it 20 or 30 times in a row, and can’t wait to hear the group live; reports from cities earlier on the tour have been ecstatic. First Avenue, (612) 332-1775, www.first-avenue.com