The Faint: C or D.

So, BWA is a classic, the other two duds.

I like the Fashion Fascism!! It works because the bands they're ripping off were well-dressed.
For playfulness, see "Posed to Death"
For humor, see "Your Retro Career Melted"

A lot of their songs are overly dramatic in a humorous way (on purpose, I think), see "The Conductor". I should point out that I don't think they're that great. But I'd defend them.

The vocals sound just as you might think, a midwestern white college kid trying to act sleazy sexy in a eurotrash kinda way. He just doesn't have the vocal presence to pull it off.

If the vocals were either 1.) more natural 2.) more over the top or 3.) treated freaked out like another instrument, it would perhaps work better.

As is, it is fair to middling...if you want synths that rock check out the last Six Finger Satillite album "Law of Ruins" or Add N to X which is kind of similar but a bit better done.

¹admittedly, this is because the dancefloors that play the Faint usually play Blur/Smiths/Cure/etc & are filled with anglophile indiekids

What was weird about seeing them last night -- they were good but Ladytron were better -- was that the crowd at the venue (pretty big size, totally sold out show) was completely, totally into them. Almost all the general talk about them I remember is from the early part of this decade but they clearly have not just an active fanbase but a total cult. Have they been more famous than I've realized these past few years?

I liked them for about ten minutes a few years ago. I liked "The Conductor," if memory serves.

they stick more tightly to the 80s aesthetic than anyone else these days. they're poppy & catchy. of course they have a cult following of retro geeks.