Are ya like me? Did you just miss that whole Britpop thing? It seemed more like a clever marketing gimmick than an actual musical genre. Sure, we've had a number of cool bands emanate from over the pond in the past few years (Oasis, Radiohead, Pulp, Supergrass) but what do they really share in common, other than similar geographical origins? And even if you do find some similarities between their musical styles, who cares? How has Britpop changed the face of music as we know it? Like New Wave before it, Britpop was a revolution in search of a point.

If it helps you listen better, try not to think of the Candyskins as the latest incarnation of the waning Britpop phenomenon. Think of it as just some really good pop music. On their latest record, Death of a Minor TV Celebrity, the Skins make it easy to fall in love with their sounds, even if they couple their catchy songs with a disturbing darker vibe. It's still a time-honored infectious recipie: clever lyrics plus snappy riffs and contaigous choruses all equal a fun hour of music.

That doesn't mean you won't hear some healthy echoes of other Britpop phenoms in the Candyskins. "Feed It" and "It's a Sign," the album's two explosive opening tracks, evoke memories of Oasis. Thankfully, they're the fun and edgy memories from What's the Story, Morning Glory? and not the bloated and self-indulgent ones from Be Here Now. "Loser Friendly" seems to borrow heavily from Pulp's 1995 hit "Common People" in its slow, synth-laden opening and build to a speedy fury. In general, if you dislike the sound of most of what we've come to call Britpop--heavy guitars, catchy choruses, smarmy vocals--then you're not the Candyskins type.

But derivative isn't always a bad thing. And neither is solid pop songwriting and performance. The double-barreled opening of "Feed It" and "It's a Sign" leaves little room for argument with the album. It dares you to turn it off, but you'll quickly find that you can't. There's also a good variety of sounds among the tunes on Celebrity, which adds some significant cred to the Candyskins as more than just a Britpop xerox. "A Song" starts with a jaunty piano riff and slides from that into a harmony and synth-drenched mid-tempo ballad, returning back to that piano riff after the chorus hits its climax.

As you spend more time with the record, you'll find a sinister darkness at the heart of these pretty melodies, which makes the album far more compelling than just your average collection of neat songs."Teenage Suicide" wraps a dark lyric in a sarcastic too-bright pop melody; the chorus "Everybody wants to hide/From a teenage suicide" is as catchy as it is disturbing, which is a pretty heavy set of meanings to rest on a simple pop tune. Nick Cope's lead vocals are also kept at a distance from the rest of the band through the healthy use of a slight echo chamber effect. In a sense, the songs and the singer never truly gel together. You can read a lot into that distance, or nothing at all; either way, it makes for an intriguing listen.

The catchy tunes are all well and good, but it's the darkness that will keep you returning to Celebrity after the bright pop glow of the songs has faded. I hate to rely on yet another cheesy metaphor in a record review, but they seem to help. (And they also make for some pretty snappy closing lines, the kind of things that may someday get quoted on a record sleeve sticker! Oh, I can only dream of such a tribute!) On their new record Death of a Minor TV Celebrity, the Candyskins are like a pretty girl who loves to cry: you want her because she's gorgeous, but you keep coming back because you need to know what she's so sad about.