Mon. Aug. 13

You like being ahead of the curve? Sure you do, who doesn't?  I caught on to "The Simpsons" when it was an ugly-drawn, but hilarious bit on "The Tracey Ullman Show" on Fox. I got an advance of the first "real" episode, when it spun off into a series, and shortly was on the phone with creator Matt Groening, marvelling about how something this crude, sophisticated and multi-layered (and a cartoon) no less could make it to network TV. Well, the answer was, basically, Fox was new and had nothing to lose. Low costs, low risks. And look at it now. Heck, a big Hollywood movie and everything. And there's something inside that feels cool about being there just as it launched. Which is a longwinded way of saying you might eventually feel that way about the Wombats, an English trio that's playing Boston Monday August 13 at Great Scott, before their eponymous debut EP is even out. (Yeh, we scammed a copy ... ) But the Wombats, from Liverpool, have attracted all kinds of positive noise. It's fast, clever, dance-able, punk-connected, but full of bounce, snot and glee. And Beach Boys-ish harmonies, sometimes. One line we like from "Kill the Director": "Here's another song about gender you'll never understand." The song climaxes with a fury of "This is no Bridget Jones!" repetitions. They have another two, we havent' heard, called "Patricia the Stripper" and "Let's All Dance to Joy Division." So, we know there's cheekiness here. Singer-guitarist-keyboardist Matthew Murphy, bassist-singer Todd Overland Knudsen and drummer-singer Dan Haggis play the Fenway Recordings Sessions with Protectyourneck and the Fenway DJs. Starts at 9.

1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston, 617-566-9014   www.greatscottboston.com