Human Skull

Ann Arbor’s Human Skull is easily our best new punk band. The song “J. Ramsey,” for instance, off their first demo released eight months ago, begins with the line “She knows too many people now,” which drags you in right away because that’s seriously a good first line. With one clean guitar playing lead lines and another fully distorted helping create a wall of sound, drums that have a ‘60s surf feel, bouncy bass lines that are as much pop as they are punk, and a pleasantly hoarse, shout-singing vocal style that might remind you of Canada’s Constantines, there’s so much to like here — and that’s just one song. They’ve just finished recording their first record, and you need to see them now, if you haven’t already.