Headphone Highlights

Maximo Park

Warp Records, Newcastle, UK

Conceived in 2003, Newcastle's angular pop quintet Maximo Park adapted their name from Maximo Gomez Park, a Havana meeting place for Cuban revolutionaries. Initially, the four founding members were an avant-garde band without a singer who didn't play shows and rehearsed just for their own pleasure, frequently switching instruments. On the verge of splitting up, they instead decided to look for somebody to provide more of a focus when drummer Tom Englishs girlfriend discovered Paul Smith in a pub while he was singing along to Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition'. In early 2004 they caught the ears of Warp Records, which despite being a mostly electronic label signed them and released their second single early in 2005. Like their friends and neighbours the Futureheads, Maximo Park craft smart, sharply catchy songs inspired by post-punk and new wave legends some of whom feature in their Headphone Highlights alongside a couple of unexpected surprises like Clipse and Bobby Bland! Take a walk in the park.