Gang members
Nowadays Gang of Four should sound plenty familiar – these dance-punk and pop bands, from here and abroad, have obviously been listening.

By Kimberly Chun

Futurama: Futureheads, top, and Bloc Party may be the heirs to Gang of Four's danceable mix of polemics and funk.

Gang of Four's Andy Gill could have taken out a patent on that sound, and it's likely few would have argued with him, apart from perhaps the killjoys in Killing Joke, Wire, and the Fall – plus other post-punks, post-pops, pre-ops, black ops, Alley Oops, and other wannabe hyphenates. Combine Gill's this-is-a-real-emergency siren call, Jon King's wailing, theoretically everyman/college boy polemics, the brutish thunk of Dave Allen's bass, and the funky ash can-'n'-car crash school of Hugo Burnham's drumming – and you have the model for every ass-shaking dance-punker to have emerged in the past few years, furiously skanking, beating cowbells, and dragging Dionysus back into an indie space once deemed thoroughly "rockist" (though, one ventures, how hard, or well, something has "rocked" hasn't been a consistent concern or barometer of quality since the genre fragmentation/industry consolidation of the mid- to late '90s).

Ironically, Gang of Four have probably won over all those who have bothered to listen to them since the last stabs of 1995's Shrinkwrapped, with their distinctive admixture of the get-down Dionysian and the rigorously Apollonian – though mostly in the form of King's coolly austere vocals and passionately dispassionate lyrics. What other band can get you moving – and move you – with a song called "Paralysed," a bitter, strangled cry against impotence, the weight of history, and the oppression of poverty, punctuated by King's "The crows have come back to roost and I'm the dupe." Dope. Here are a few of the bands that were evidently listening.

Bloc Party

Who London twentysomethings get the Party started two years ago. After e-mailing Alex Kapranos and opening for Franz Ferdinand, they can now officially be called the hardest-working band at this year's South by Southwest, gamely climbing aboard the My Space bus after playing what seemed like hundreds of shows over a couple days.

Why It's those angular guitars again. They also match Go4's righteous fury.

Quote Before joining Bloc Party, bassist and graphic designer Gordon Moakes says, "I was responsible for a Web site on BMW bulletproof cars. They call it diplomatic sales – cars that sell to diplomats and gangsters."

Best album Silent Alarm (Vice, 2005)

Futureheads

Who Futureheads heads Barry Hyde and Pete Brewis drew band members from their tutoring work with at-risk kids in the Sunderland City Detached Youth Project. Detached, no more – these guys are an amazing natural energy resource, capable of impressive a cappella harmonies and brainiac lyrics.

Why Pulverize the glee club and Go4 with the Who and the Jam in a food processor. Then set it on fire. Oh yeah, and Go4's Gill produced a handful of their songs.

Best (and only) album The Futureheads (679, 2004)

Kaiser Chiefs

Who Leeds men Ricky Wilson and Nick Hodgson take time from their electro-punk party, Pigs, to form a band named after a South African football team.

Why They're from Leeds! There are also gentle brushes with ska. And vocalist Wilson barks like King rather than Carl (Wilson), though the band channel Pete Shelley and the Buzzcocks equally.

Best (and only) album Employment (Universal, 2005)

Numbers

Who Dance-punk, synth-pop poobahs Indra Dunis, Dave Broekema, and Eric Landmark relocate from the Midwest to the Bay Area. Sweaty house parties and crazed dancing ensue.

Why With their clammy clamor, Numbers encapsulate the dot-bomb-damaged chill, dehumanized ennui, and anticapitalist antisentimentality of the early '00s Bay Area underground, with songs like "We Like Having These Things," "Information," and "Prison Life" – and in the process come within barking distance of Go4's spirit and smarts, if not ferocity.

Best album Numbers Life (Tigerbeat6, 2002)

Rapture

Who Former San Franciscans Luke Jenner and Vito Roccoforte move on up to New York City, hook up with Matt Safer and Gabriel Andruzzi, and make progressively more beat-conscious recordings as they get in deep with the DFA production crew, climaxing with their House of Jealous Lovers 12-inch.

Why Writings on the Rapture include the first mentions of the phrase post-punk in years.

Quote Multi-instrumentalist Andruzzi explains the funky indie chicken phenom, in conjunction with !!!: "For some reason it's OK for white people to be funky right now. I think everybody wants to be in a hip-hop band."

Best recording Out of the Races and onto the Tracks EP (Sub Pop)

!!!

Who Dance-punk mavens from Sacto relocate to New York City and entreat a nation of indie rockers to shake their booty big-time.

Why More indebted to Talking Heads and African music than to disco and punk, !!! share Go4's politically conscious bent and deep reverence for the beat. Dubby instrumental offshoot Out Hud consolidates the Go4 association. Satisfied?

Best album Louden Up Now (Touch and Go, 2004)

Bloc Party play June 1, 9 p.m., Fillmore, 1805 Geary, S.F. $20. (415) 421-TIXS, (415) 346-6000.

Futureheads play June 18, 8 p.m., Fillmore, 1805 Geary, S.F. $18.50. (415) 421-TIXS, (415) 346-6000.

Numbers play June 2, 9 p.m., Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, S.F. $13. (415) 885-0750.