Remember the early days of CDs, when every CD package carried a set of three-letter markings establishing the disc's degree of "digital-ness"? Most reissues were marked "AAD", as only the final disc-remastering was digital. Many CDs were "ADD", which was intriguing, but a treasured few received the fully-digital "DDD", and those offered the greatest potential for listening excitement (amusingly, Rykodisc and a few others started marking their vinyl releases "AAA" during this time). What can I say -- we were young and it was new technology, right? To this day when I see the letters "DDD", I think of music before I think of, say, freakishly big breasts.

A new Poster Children album is exciting whether it's digital or analog. Few bands can pull off a combination of fierce-yet-melodic guitars, sweetly powerful vocals, jackhammer drums and spacy keyboards that's anywhere near as catchy as the Poster Kids' approach. It's power-punk-pop for connossieurs, recorded and produced by the band in the indie-rock studio they bought with major label money.

(A note for newbies: I find myself almost unwilling to refer to the Poster Children as the Poster Kids, though I've done so for the last few years, for fear of uneducated listeners assuming they're emo. God forbid.)

DDD seems to find the band in a more comfortable state than we've seen for the past few years. They still have the ferocious energy required to crank out fiendishly catchy tracks like the short-but-snarky "Zero Stars" and the brawling "The Old School and the New," but they also display a lighter touch on new-wave-flavored tunes like "Silhouette" and "Daisy Changed," the latter a particularly pleasing ode to the passage of time.

Acrobatic guitar work abounds, from the shredding, chiming, interlocking rhythmic string-mass of "Perfect Product" to the balls-out punk rock thunder of "Rock And Roll". The instrumental closer "Peck N' Paw" drags a disco-funk beat kicking and screaming into the mix, spewing sonic blood like a spaghetti western. You might not be sure whether your pulse should be pounding in time with the fevered drumming or the thrumming, resonant basslines, but you won't get your heart rate back to normal for hours. Any album that leaves you giddy is worth having, as far as I'm concerned.

DDD's big disappointment is non-musical. This appears to be the first Poster Kids album in years not to include a multimedia component. I've enjoyed the personal touch these extras have added over the last few years, and I miss it on DDD.

If you've never listened to the Poster Children before, I suggest that you imagine the best elements of Hüsker Dü, The Pixies and Big Black, subverted by a wry sense of humor that at least two of those bands lacked. It's aggressive, primal pop music that asserts punk rock's validity in a new millennium...and gives you a good reason to turn your stereo up as loud as it'll go. Sacrifice a pair of speakers to DDD as your earliest convenience.