Franz Ferdinand

• Website

  Franz Ferdinand

Though it wasn’t completely usurped by its heir apparent, Bloc Party, or any of the other bands that followed in its dance-rock path, there’s no doubt that Franz Ferdinand’s stock has gone down over the years. Then again, it just enjoyed some pretty high billing at Coachella, located just below Paul McCartney and Morrissey (and above Leonard Cohen) on the opening-night poster. Since releasing its 2004 self-titled debut full-length, the Scottish quartet has continued to crank out glistening, guitar-heavy pop songs, evidenced most notably on signature singles “Take Me Out” and “Do You Want To.” Its 2009 release, Tonight, gets a little synth-happy, but the band’s songwriting sensibilities haven’t faded.