Daily Download: "I Predict a Riot," the Kaiser Chiefs, single

A few weeks ago I went to hear a show by the Kaiser Chiefs, hotly tipped to be the next breakout British band à la Franz Ferdinand. They struck me as a bunch of posers. Actually, it was just singer Ricky Wilson, who was careening manically about the stage in a desperate attempt to make it look as if he was, you know, wild and crazy and about to do something dangerous. The opening of the show was particularly funny -- or embarrassing: The drummer counted off the song and then Wilson leapt high into the air while singing a single falsetto note, completely unaccompanied by the rest of the band. I thought, "Oh lovely, how avant-garde," before realizing from the sheepish looks on their faces that this was in fact a false start, and not at all the way it was supposed to go. Amazingly, Wilson saw fit to perform an identical leap upon the second (this time successful) attempt to start the song. The rest of the band actually sounded great, particularly keyboardist Nick Baines, who has a nice new-wave kitsch aesthetic, but Wilson is a bore, not only as a live performer, but as a singer and melody writer too. Still, to get hyped like these guys are, you need at least one great song, and the goofy, borderline obnoxious but ultimately irresistible "I Predict a Riot" is it.