Kaiser Chiefs

I saw the Kaiser Chiefs a couple of weeks ago, and they gave us an upbeat little show. They've had too much press, even if most of it has been quite good, so they can't quite escape the aura of hype that's attached itself to them, and a backlash seems ready to pounce. Thomas Bartlett over at Salon's Audiofile called them posers (although he also offered a free download of their lead-off single "I Predict a Riot" for your trouble). I'm not ready to argue with him--lead singer Ricky Wilson is much too enamored with himself onstage as frontman to offer easy rebuttal (of course, I thought the same thing the first time I saw Bono twenty-however years ago, and we all know how that turned out). But the charge did bring up the question (Article 19 regularly ridicules those who misuse the phrase beg the question, so there'll be none of that here) of what it means to be a poser amid the neo-80s post-punk revival we're currently experiencing. Too much Tommy Tutone squeezing out Gang of Four among your influences? You've got XTC on CD rather than vinyl? Morrissey returns your page rather than passing it over to his people? Somebody's going to have to identify the edges of authenticity of newer new wave for me.