New Black: Time Attack

New Black says they're big in Chicago and Hot Springs, Arkansas. The rest of the world, however, has yet to realize that the quartet's brash indie-pop is the wave of the immediate future. But with the recent release of "Time Attack" (the band's second album on Thick Records), it's New Black in 2006, and their fall tour in support of the record will alert everyone first hand.

Rachel Shindelman, Liam Kimball, Nick Kraska and Patti Gran are more prepared this time around. Their self-titled album (2003) was recorded only a few months after the band had formed, even though listeners would never be able to tell.

"We'd barely been together and then we were all of a sudden on the road living with each other," Shindelman says. "Now that we've been playing together for longer, we're that much better as a group, and better individually."

But "New Black" was pure pop-punk perfection, which means "Time Attack" has a lot to live up to, especially when Shindelman and co. claim to have improved. The best thing about the new album is that it's a natural progression of a band with a pre-established sound that sets it apart from other Chicago bands. New Black's dueling male and female singing and screaming makes their live shows truly performances and not just recantations of recordings.

"['Time Attack'] doesn't have a theme as much as the self-titled," Shindelman says. "That one was built around love, loss…long distance love. This one was us being kinda goofy."

But what "Time Attack" does have is Gran's distinguishably demanding vocals, Kraska's dangerous drumming, Shindelman's mocking keyboards, and high-energy guitar riffs and bass lines ala The Clash.

"A lot of people who've heard the record are noticing a difference because ['Time Attack'] is much louder, more complicated, and closer to our live sound," Shindelman says. "We wanted it to sound live, but we can't ever match that."

On New Black's fall tour, show attendees will see that they're pretty damn close. As for the future, Shindelman has a few fantasy picks for touring.

"I'd like to go out on the road under a bigger band's wing," Shindelman says. "Like Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Gossip, Interpol or The Ponys. We're always establishing connections."

It seems like an attainable goal for New Black, if the other bands don't mind being upstaged.