News and Tributes (2006)

''Every day still feels like a Thursday,'' sings Barry Hyde near the end of his band's second album. The line sums up some of News and Tributes' workaday vibe — a noticeable contrast to the ecstatic TGIF post-punk found on their 2004 bow. The disc still showcases the quartet's hyper — Beach Boys harmonies and penny-cutting hooks, though their trademark vigor is often missing. Even so, they at times achieve a compromise between their manic and mature guises, as on ''Face,'' which seamlessly evolves from an acoustic ballad to a rush of guitar-mauling fury.