Washington Social Club's first full-length album Catching Looks has a few things going for it.

For one, it rocks. Literally. The first two tracks, "On the Inside" and "Simple Sound" hit you like a jolt of Mountain Dew: perfectly nerdy, poppy, and unbearably sweet. But, don't put on your Weezer glasses yet.

Two, it could catch a wave of indie-rock madness along with say, dance-dweebs Franz Ferdinand gracing MTV with its video for "Take Me Out," pumping over the airwaves of VH1.

I clearly believe an album like Catching Looks could succeed in the parallel world that is the current music scene. But will Washington Social Club join the limited, highly exclusionary party? Maybe, but people can be finicky.

Hitting the Vans Warped Tour and enjoying some of its own MTV2 airplay, the stunning musicality of Catching Looks could add up to some sweet, sweet success. And its tunes ain't too shabby either.

As the band's Web site says, if you can't dance to Washington Social Club, you can't dance. As much as I want make a joke about the MC Hammer-ness of that statement, I listen to "Charlie the Russian" or "Modern Trance," and end up bouncing in my chair like a hyperactive eight-year-old. The songs skip at a fast tempo like a salt shaker over a fat man's French fries.

The vocals of lead singer Martin Royle, combined with backing from Olivia Mancini make for a witty interplay of seriousness and general fun that mimics everything from the Mamas and the Papas ("River and the Road") to Stephen Malkmus mixed with Sparta ("Backed to the Future").While you can namedrop more indie and punk artists that Washington Social Club sounds similar to, the band clearly has more of its own sound than other 'said' indie bands.

And, anyway, who can really complain about being compared to The Clash or The Pixies?

When I listened to the last song, "New Jersey Malls," exploding in fireworks of Royle's and guitarist Evan Featherstone's layered hooks with Royle's vocals about the copycat-ing and follow-the-leader mentalities of the youth in America, I realized something.

As Royle sings, "last night on the train/we all became the same," you know this conformity is exactly the kind of thing that Washington Social Club is trying to avoid.

And the Washington Social Club most likely has a little bit of a different goal: to make music, and enjoy the whole aura of being a different band regardless of how many albums they happen to sell or not sell.