Patronage can be a mixed blessing - just ask the Blood Arm. Christened Franz Ferdinand's favourite band, daunting expectation surrounds the LA band. Still in their infancy, armed with only a self-released album of demos, they're having to justify the hype and make their mistakes in public.

Mistakes like falling off the stage, collapsing into the drum kit and lying prone until someone from the crowd helps you up. All of which singer Nathaniel Fregoso does with a slightly inebriated charm, as Alex Kapranos looks on.

But when Fregoso's on his feet, it's clear why the Blood Arm have captivated their famous fans. A steamy combination of the Doors, the Strokes and Franz Ferdinand, there's a retro feel to their pop melodies, a disco sheen to their indie sound.

And then there's Fregoso. A showman in a world of barely moving stylists, he's got the boisterousness of actor Jack Black, the low, sermonising rumble of fellow UCLA alumni Jim Morrison and the dangerous unpredictability of a toddler who's imbibed 10 tonnes of sugar.

"I give you the only band to have the sonic power to get a dead mother moving," announces MC Ben Lee Handler, launching Fregoso into a shamanic shuffle as the fitful sound of Can I Unwind begins. Shaking his head, lurching forward into the crowd, he intones over Dyan Valdes' stately keyboards, his voice turning from a dark, sensual, shadow into an uncomfortable, and sometimes out of key, shout.

Moving away from the usual synth sound, Valdes' piano adds an unexpected drama to Zeb Carlisle's predictable guitar chords. Fregoso turns Mark E Smith on Opportunity Knocks and adopts a swagger for Suspicious, Valdes hitting a blaxploitation groove, in what proves to be the band's most original song.

Jumping up and down, prowling around in the crowd, climbing a pillar, the bar and the bass drum, Fregoso can't be contained. But the music needs to free itself from the shackles of their contemporaries, whether they're fans or not.

· At Liar's Club, Nottingham (0115-950 5078), tonight.