Playing with the Queen of Hearts

Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads (Universal/B-Unique)

Sometime in the future, there will probably be a compilation disc of the Kaiser Chiefs‘ singles. On their first two albums, it was clear that their creative pendulum swings hard; songs were either fist-pumping, beer-swilling battle cries or groan-inducing, pun-laden clunkers. Their best tunes tend to be a balancing act between the two, and their new album, Off With Their Heads, is easily their most cohesive set to date. Possibly driven to stricter quality control by co-producer Mark Ronson, the Kaisers bring their best material to their shortest album so far. Ronson’s fingerprints aren’t as overt as you might expect (see: Danger Mouse all over the most recent Black Keys album), as string and horn flourishes pepper only a few songs on the disc. The majority of the songs are based in the classic Kaiser Chiefs trick of packing verses with indiscernible lyrics before launching into a minor-key, sing-along chorus (

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