Pop/Dance - Best known as one of the Kings Of Convenience, masters of intimate make-out folk, Erland Øye has quietly (as he does all things) been cultivating a pretty solid dance music resume: he sang the infectious vocals on Röyksopp's "Poor Leno" and "Remind Me;" his 2003 solo album was a collaborative effort with an international cast of electronic musicians; he created one of the best-loved installments in the long-running DJ Kicks mix series by singing along with the songs that he spun; and he is the frontman (and presumably namesake, though all of the members are solid contenders) for The Whitest Boy Alive.

TWBA began as a programmed dance music project in Berlin, but has gradually evolved into a live (and somewhat lively) band with no programmed elements playing a mellow mix of disco and rock akin to Japan's Cornelius and France's Phoenix.Like Øye's work with Kings Of Convenience, The Whitest Boy Alive's sound is characterized by subtlety and restraint. Though their music falls under the "dance music" umbrella, nothing on Rules or its predecessor, Dreamsis destined to become a club anthem. You might tap your foot if you're sitting down or wiggle your hips ever so slightly if you're standing up, and maybe gyrate rhythmically if you're at a house party, but the electric boogaloo is out of the question. It's much better suited to sipping cocktails, flirting coyly, and driving with the windows down.

If Dreams, as one reviewer put it, imagined "if Kraftwerk had produced Fleetwood Mac," Rules sounds like Kraftwerk producing an obscure Island Records act from the late 70s: the streamlined German sound is front and center, particularly in the metronomic rhythm section, but the edges fray into sunnier southern territory. The sound is both Teutonic and tropical, like Heidi Klum in a bathing suit, and though the disco influences are apparent, the music overall sounds more like new wave's sensitive cousin. Syncopatedstaccato beats and stabbing strums of clean electric guitar underpin Øye's vocals, which rarely rise above a conversational level. It's a new new wave, but it's a small wave and it breaks ever so gently like kshhhhhhhhh.

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