OK Go

While we can't blame you for looking at OK Go as the guys from that treadmill video ("Here It Goes Again") and that other one with the massive Rude Goldberg machine ("This Too Shall Pass"), there's much more to the Chicago band than carefully choreographed YouTube clips. For one thing, the power-pop quartet knows their way around a hook, from the former's guitar-grinding garage grooves to the latter's ecstatic choruses and heaven-sent harmonies. And then there's their first proper breakthrough, the skittish drums and window-steaming melodies of "A Million Ways." (Come to think of it, that one has a hit homemade video too . . .)

As for our Next Steps, they focus on fan favorites and EP efforts that you may have missed on the way to hitting refresh.

One of the ways OK Go first built their cult following wasn't through a word-of-mouth album or a music video meme. They did it like their heroes the Cars and Pixies — the old-fashioned way, through shows that made everyone in earshot want to scream along at the top of their lungs. Case in point: the live songs in the following set, from the screeching synths and "hey!"-hollering bridges of "Get Over It" to a soul-infused acoustic rendition of "Oh Lately It's So Quiet." And if you prefer OK Go's studio side, you can't go wrong with the low-end lashings of "The Lovecats" or the Franz Ferdinand-esque dance-rock direction of "White Knuckles."

Let's get one thing straight first: D.I.Y.-or-die bands didn't lose their relevance the second alt-rock stampeded across Top 40 radio stations and MTV. As OK Go has proved with their spastic concerts and steady stream of eye-grabbing videos, you can please a crowd by flooding their senses, but they'll stick around only if a band has actual hook-slinging songs. And OK Go's got plenty, from their scrappy self-titled debut — think: Weezer in thrift-store suits — to the Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev, the Flaming Lips)-produced Prince nods ("End Love," "Wtf?") that make Of the Blue Colour of the Sky their most experimental masterwork yet. Just don't listen to any of the above while driving. Unless you're looking to get a speeding ticket. In that case, you're golden.