Brooklyn's Bishop Allen want you to have a good time so they barrage you with hand-claps, glockenspiels, tambourines, and infectiously jangly guitars to prove it (and so you'll sing along). This is a retro band, and by retro I mean harkening back to a time when it was actually ok to show emotion (said emotion being happiness) at a show.

At times they sound like Modest Mouse, at other times like The Kinks, sometimes like The Velvet Underground and even sometimes like The Violent Femmes. Phew! This is one catchy rock 'n' roll band that wants to delight you with their charm. I guess that's why they named their one and only album Charm School. It's hard not to like these guys.

Bishop Allen plays Saturday, December 18th, at Mercury Lounge.