Mando Diao/The Fratellis

Dirty Dog Bar, Thursday, March 15

Power-pop’s key ingredient is a jerk-worthy, bob-happy beat. Take away a band’s ace drummer, and the power component is gone. So let’s hear it for Samuel Giers and Mince Fratelli, respectively the drummers for Borlange, Sweden’s Mando Diao and Glasgow’s Fratellis. Despite a muddy mix that didn’t do justice to either band’s melodic prowess, the big beat carried the day. Mando Diao was onstage for less than 30 minutes, but keyboards and the occasional burst of trumpet gave the quintet a full-bodied sound as they plowed through contagions like “Long Before Rock ‘n’ Roll” from their new Ode to Ochrasy. By comparison, the Fratellis are a more elementally Britpop-driven trio with a song (“Flathead”) in an iPod ad. The threepiece’s cheeky, Supergrass-style charms were also evident in high-flying versions of “Everybody Knows You Cried Last Night” and “Chelsea Dagger” from their new debut, Costello Music. When you’ve got boundless, beat-driven energy in your arsenal, there’s really no need to sweat a bad mix.

This article appears in March 23 • 2007.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.