Last night I was driving to Palo Alto, as I am apt to do on any given Monday evening, heading to Stanford to mount tiny tiny crystals in epoxy. Anyway, I had my iPod on shuffle, specifically in my "New Music" playlist and I noticed that there are now a bunch of songs from the UK populating this playlist that I can only describe as "cute rock." They're charming, vaguely witty, catchy, and sort of throwbacks but also modern-ish and I'm sure they're lining up at borders waiting to invade (if DHS lets them in). NME loves 'em in the "they will conquer the world until we're bored with them next week" way.

You've heard of at least one, namely Lily Allen and Jack Penate (which is odd way to start, considering my dislike of them). However, a couple songs really have gotten stuck in my head without driving me mad.

One you've seen here before, namely the Rumble Strips' "Girls and Boys in Love." I still love this song:

All of the UK is ga-ga over Kate Nash, and her song 'Foundations' sure is cute (sadly she's dating Jack Penate, who is much less interesting):

So, trend or faux-trend, all the cool kids will be crowing about it.