t’s been how long since you read a review of the latest—and “best yet!”—dance-punk, post-punk, post-post-punk group out there? Two days? Two hours? Two minutes? Well, sorry, here it comes again: Controller.Controller borrows liberally from Public Image Ltd. and Joy Division, expanding on these bands’ danceable brand of post-punk drawing influence equally from current bands such as The Rapture and Pretty Girls Make Graves. Only a few characteristics separate Controller.Controller from its copious peers: its residence in Toronto, its home on Paper Bag Records (birthplace of Broken Social Scene, Stars), its female lead singer, and, more arguably, its inclination towards PiL over Gang of Four.

Gaining notoriety in Canada for its “icy” shows, Controller.Controller allegedly represents the more threatening side of the disco-punk spectrum (the band has been labeled “death disco” numerous times). Aside from its performances, for which—living in the U.S.—I cannot vouch, there seems to be some basis for this, heard throughout the album in the heavy bass drums, and most notably on a few tracks, the pounding “Disco Blackout”, “Sleep Over It”, and “Bruised Broken Beaten”.

“Bruised Broken Beaten” attacks with guitars more suited for heavy metal than disco-punk. “Sleep Over It” is absolutely vicious, containing the crippling chorus “V-1-5-point-8-5”, which reportedly refers to a sexually dysfunctional patient’s medical code, but is more notable for vocalist Nirmala Basnayake’s commanding delivery. Meanwhile, “Disco Blackout” features a typically accentuated, Joy Division-esque bass line, complemented by the epochal post-punkers’ signature drumming, and their archetypal aura of doom.

Generally, though, History is closer to Second Edition than Closer, which makes Controller.Controller just a tad less doom-filled. The title track is evidence of this, highlighting the brilliant sort of bass/lead guitar interplay that lifted PiL into the figurative post-punk hall of fame. Basnayake augments the comparison by feigning John Lydon-style slyness, as on “Silent Seven” when she twists out a reference to 80s-one-hit-wonder Rockwell: “I always feel like / Somebody’s watching me”.

Skeptical readers are entirely justified in an age where “the next Rapture” is as ubiquitous a rock critic cliché as the egregious “American Radiohead”, but listen up: Controller.Controller is one of the most promising dance-punk acts out there. Unless you’re jaded to the point of no return—and I won’t deny you have reason to be—History is a worthwhile twenty-four minute document of a group brimming with shakeworthy bass lines, replete with commanding punk riffing and a knack for surprisingly memorable melodies. Believe the hype.